Boxerworks.com

Jean wrote:Bill, Native /5 AND Justoneofthe guys now have confessed to operating a tranny without the slippery stuff.
Do not do this.
I only mention this because we make comments every so often about "Don't forget the OIL!!", so now you know why it's funny.
If you can find a gas station that sells REAL gasoline w/o ethanol, trade with them.

i BOUGHT A r100rs IN THE 1980'S...oops...that felt a little rough on the gear change on the way home. I bought it from a riding buddy, who had just redone the gearbox because the detente spring snapped. Following the mantra of "always change the oils on a new bike purchase" I did...to find he had forgot to put any oil in the tranny. He was very embarassed, but that trans worked beautifully until I shoved the front end up the exhaust of a bimmer, just shy of 100K ks later.!

SteveD wrote: i BOUGHT A r100rs IN THE 1980'S...oops...that felt a little rough on the gear change on the way home. I bought it from a riding buddy, who had just redone the gearbox because the detente spring snapped. Following the mantra of "always change the oils on a new bike purchase" I did...to find he had forgot to put any oil in the tranny. He was very embarassed, but that trans worked beautifully until I shoved the front end up the exhaust of a bimmer, just shy of 100K ks later.!

You, sir, were having a VERY lucky day that day.

Major Softie wrote:

SteveD wrote: i BOUGHT A r100rs IN THE 1980'S...oops...that felt a little rough on the gear change on the way home. I bought it from a riding buddy, who had just redone the gearbox because the detente spring snapped. Following the mantra of "always change the oils on a new bike purchase" I did...to find he had forgot to put any oil in the tranny. He was very embarassed, but that trans worked beautifully until I shoved the front end up the exhaust of a bimmer, just shy of 100K ks later.!

You, sir, were having a VERY lucky day that day.

Yep. I was very worried, and dodged a bullet I expect. It wasn't a long ride luckily...about 5 ks. There were 2-3 oil changes over the next 2 weeks from memory.

3 Places for quanities of oil: Engine, Transmission, Rear drive.
Let's hear from anyone who has NOT put replacement oil in the rear drive on their airhead.

Don't forget the 2/3 of a cup in the driveshaft!

these bikes can go a long ways without oil in the driveshaft. We saw it often.

Duane Ausherman wrote:these bikes can go a long ways without oil in the driveshaft. We saw it often.

How long is "a long ways" and what might the tolerable low level be?

Whilst low oil levels in the other places will likely result in damage in the short term, will a low level of oil in the driveshaft eventually result in a longer term problem?

While granted, "these bikes can go a long ways without oil in the driveshaft", I find checking and measuring all the oil levels important in monitoring the condition of the seals along the driveline. I want to know where it's going, ie: before it starts pumping out the rear drive vent hole.

Tim is right, I too want to know where the oil is going. Thank goodness it is very easy to find out.

I think that keeping 50 cc in the shaft will cause no problem, but I don't know that from direct experience over a long time. We found quite a few bikes that had no oil in the driveshaft for thousands of miles and no damage was found in the next few years.

There is no way to directly check the driveshaft. The indirect way is to check the final drive level. If it is too full, then the driveshaft housing is that amount low.

It can go into the transmission, but only if some idiot put the seal in backwards, or the swing arm vent is clogged.

In the past month I've gone from being nervous getting more than a mile from the house to traveling more than an hour and a half away up into the Jasper/Ellijay area. Beautiful ride. Got oil changed and valves adjusted. Engine looked very clean inside. Still haven't found whole gas yet. I have no objectivity or comportment remaining, just motorcycles on the brain. Keeping the airhead. About to get another bike to join it.