Pinion Seal

[doctorgski]

I believe I may have a leak starting in my final drive. I have read past messages and I looked on the gadget page microfiche's for a part #. What part is it that usually is the problem. I had a drip of oil, smells like rear end oil, from under the left side cover at about the kick stand. I had changed the rear oil in Illinois about two weeks ago, no problems until we did a 100 mile ride out here in the mountains of Colorado. Not much of a drip but after taking off the side cover I found about a teaspoon. What is strange; under the boot I did not find much... Also not much when the acorn nuts were loose. Could this be just a altitude thing with the increase in pressure. What do you think?

[lomax]

doctorgski
Are you sure its gear oil? The spot you say you are seeing the leak, at the kickstand, is an unlikely spot to be seeing gear oil leaks. If there is no oil at the boot at the front of the driveshaft, chances are it is not from the final drive. The clutch slave cylinder is a likely suspect and this would be a brake fluid leak. The other possibility is an engine oil leak coming from the clutch push rod seal which is in the same area. Both of these fixes are not real tough. I suggest you check to see if you can nail down for sure what the fluid is that you see leaking. Then you can go after the repair. :)
Mike

[doctorgski]

You know, I did find a small drip at the banjo fitting. I removed the fitting, went to NAPA, ordered two new crush washers as they did not have the correct size in stock, back at the bike I turned the washers up side down, put them back in and so far... no leak. The initial leak was oil, smell and thickness of rear end oil. When I changed the rear end oil back in Illinois, I had just read the message about not over filling the rear end due to the chance of causing an over saturation of the seal thus causing it to leak prior to its time. Perhaps I had already caused the problem during a prior change, I change the rear oil every other oil change, (ie: 6k) and I have 45k on this 2006. The engine oil was good, but so was the rear oil level. No leak was found around the clutch push rod. What is strange is that all this happened after going from 860 elevation to 9200.
Thank you for your reply !

[doctorgski]

I stand corrected! After much investigation I found a leaking "Clutch Push Rod Seal". I have removed it and found a replacement down in Denver for $4.88. So... life is good again.
Unless I mess up and push the new seal too far in, I should be back on the road by noon tomorrow. Thanks for your help and this forum ! :)