Subject: DriveShaft Boot Leak
Author: Keith Ruff
Date: May 31, 2005, 7:09 AM
Post ID: 1718949669
Great Ride to/from the National but had a few issues shake out. As John
P mentioned in his post, my charging system was not charging and I did
not know it as the dash light was slightly lit but not enough for me to
realize. At 250 miles in, the bike stalled and cranked slow. At 300
miles, she completely died at a light on Rt 30, no lights, no nuthin.
Swapped batteries with Cam (all credit given to Dave W for this idea)
and made it the last 100 miles to the hotel after a total of 13 hours
after leaving home. A great Guzzi guy named Wes helped me trouble shoot
the charging system at the rally site and it turned out to be a bad
voltage regulator. Swapped it out and all was well.
Other bigger issue I had was a leaking split driveshaft boot (just
replaced it before leaving for the National). Don't know why so much
oil is getting in there and leaking out, but thank God the battery died
along the way cause when we stopped, I noticed gear oil was spued all
over my right muffler and all over the entire right half tread of the
rear tire. Would have been lights out if I went around a right hand
sweeper! Mark E said the clamps I was using were too big, so he used
some zip ties to try to stop the leak. Front one worked, rear one did
not. In the link to the pix I sent earlier, the 1st pic is what I did
to the boot to keep it from leaking oil on my tire during the ride home.
Worked great! So, my question is, I plan to rip the rear apart to
replace the split boot with a solid original one. What else should I
check along the way, i.e., is there something that limits the migration
of gear oil out of the rear drive? I'm pretty sure that's where the oil
is coming from as the tranny oil level is perfect, but the rear drive
oil was a little bit low. Also, is there any special tools needed to
take the rear end apart to replace the boot?
Keith Ruff
70 Cafe Racer Ambo
Manahawkin, NJ