| Author | Message | ||
     Tone |
Hi everyone, 2002 S3T The long and the short of this post is that I slathered some Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease onto the needle bearings of my transmission. It says on the tube that this is for stuff like wheel bearings, chassis, suspension. It also says it has excellent resistance to water wash, rust, and corrosion under SEVERE duty conditions blah blah blah and it can even cook me breakfast too I think. So... am I out of my mind? What do you expect the long term effects of this to be on the bearings / shafts? What can I say - this is just bound to happen when inexperienced mechanics take their bike apart. Something 'seems like a good idea' so they try it. What could go wrong? I just thought I'd check if anyone has any knowledge on this that I don't. long version of this post: I had my transmission out of the bike last night troubleshooting a shifting problem. (I determined it wasn't shifting properly out of neutral to 1st and 2nd due to a worn detent plate and detent arm spring) (hopefully that's all it is... man this detent plate design is just... sub-standard from what I can tell... either that or there's something I'm not understanding, but I'm pretty sure it's just a design that fails once the parts wear a little.) So the transmission shafts looked okay, except for a small (~2 mm wide) band of corrosion presumably (I didn't measure to determine exact location) where the output shaft contacts the outermost needle bearing (The output shaft is supported by a pair of needle bearings at it's right-side end, both bearings spaced about an inch or two apart from each other.) I'm partly color blind so I don't know if it was rust coloured or not but I will post high quality pictures later on maybe you can tell me. But anyway, since the band of corrosion was not looking really deep and it was not by any means as wide as the needle bearing it's self, I think it can't be that serious. Sure I could sand it off but I'm feeling lazy and I'm not sure how much that would help and for all I know I might screw up fit tolerances or something in the process. So I slathered some of the aforementioned grease onto the needle bearings (the bearings on the right side of the transmission only) and put it all back together with a little thread locker on the bolts. good idea? bad idea? indifferent? thanks! | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Tone, In my book you did a good thing. Whenever I have the primary open on any of my bikes or any I'm working on, if the clutch comes off for any reason, I pull the tranny and do the same thing. I use Mobile 1 synth just like you did. I pulled my S2 apart a couple of weeks ago to replace a toasted stator. Of course I pulled the tranny since I was in there. There was still grease in the 5th gear bearing assembly from the last time I had it apart. That was to replace the primary shoe about 12,000 miles ago. I just freshened it up a bit and put everything back together. If you already have the clutch hub off for something else, it takes less than 10 minutes to pull, pack and reinstall the tranny. Takes about another 5 minutes to set the shifter and you are back to where you started. Cheap insurance in my book for the 5th gear bearings. You may want to check the seal on the output shaft (pulley) You shouldn't be getting any moisture in there to cause rust. That's a BAD thing. The pully end seals are cheap and easy to change. I've seen it where they have come out and are letting in moisture. This also is BAD. Brad | ||
| Bombardier |
Why? Grease is oil held in a stabiliser. It is actually only about 10-20% oil and the rest of it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Some actually use kaolin(clay!) If you are getting rust in there perhaps you should try using a better brand of oil or change it out more often. The best way to eliminate moisture is ride it all the time! | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
"The best way to eliminate moisture is ride it all the time!" Sweet! From now on, when someone asks me why I'm riding in the rain/snow/heat/etc I'll just tell them it's all to prevent corrosion! |
