no one knows how to do it?

 

The easiest way I have found to change it out is to unbolt the rear shocks, unbolt the rear end from the driveshaft part of the swingarm, unbolt the axle bolts from the swingarm. Then take your brake cables loose, and you can move the rear end and axle assym. out of the way. Be careful the driveshaft will fall out when you remove the rear end and axle assym.
With all that out of the way you can remove the rubber boot between the engine and swingarm, and the u-joint will come out at that point. You may have to move the swingarm up and down to get the u-joint in, but it will go in this way. I find it easier to do it this way instead of fighting the swingarm bolts and getting them torqued back down corretly. Because when removeing the swingarm, to do it correctly you would need a special tool to torque the swingarm like Honda recommends

 

when u say unbolt the axle bolts from the swingarm, what do you mean?

im thinking u mean like on the left and right side of that center tube that houses the driveshaft in it, are the axle bolts the supports on each side of the swingwarm where it connects onto the axle tubing?

 

You wont bend an output shaft. If anything you'll snap it clean in half like I did. It didn't really take much but some wheel hop going over a log.

Checking the driveshaft is easy enough. Unbolt the axle from the swingarm (4 bolts for the differential and 4 bolts for the actual swingarm). Then disconnect the swingarm from the frame of the bike (You'll need a 17mm allen head wrench). Thats all you need to do to reach the u-joint. However, if your going to disassemble it that far, you should go buy new swing arm bearings because your old ones will be shot if you take it in the water alot.

You will also need to buy diff fluid since it'll all run out when you unbolt the swingarm from the diff. I used Mobile 1 Synthetic 75W-10 I believe for the diff.

 

alrite unstuckable, ive read a few threads and post so far and i think i can manage to do this...i think ima just end up undoing the shocks at the top then undoing the brake lines, not sure why i would need to reconnect them since i have no rear brakes at all, or maybe i should just replace the drum brake pads while im working on it...but undo the brake lines, unbolt the 4 bolts on the diff that connect up then unbolt the bolts that hold the swingarm to the rear axle tubes and i think then it can be rolled out of the way...and the shaft should come out of the tube and everything...my swingarm has no play it in at all so i dont think the bearings need to be replaced on it yet

unstuckable is there any other bearings or seals that i would need to order when i get the u-joint? or is it just get the u-joint and everything else is good to go?

also how do u know if ur front bearings are shot on a bike? i have no side to side play in it at all, the only thing i have is if i jack the front end up i can turn the tire like 1/4" and then it will catch and start to spin the other side, not sure if that just means the bearings are bad or if there is just a little slack or play in it, rides like a charm so i dont think that is it at all

thanks for the help though

 

Thats normal for the tires to have slack in them. Since you still have an open differential in the front, they should have a bit of lag time between each other.

As for as I can remember, the swingarm bearings were the only things I replaced. However, you will have to remove the swingarm from the framerail of the bike. If you notice, the section of the swingarm tube where the u-joint sits is larger than the rest of the tube where the rest of the driveshaft goes through.

In short, when you remove the rear axle from the swing arm your drive shaft will come out (in two pieces). Then you will need to remove the swingarm from the framerail completely. Once you do that you will see that the u-joint is connected to the output shaft. All parts of the driveshaft are splined at the ends and slide together easily. It's not hard at all once you get into it. If you can get a hold of an air ratchet you will have it done in about 2 hours or so.

P.S.-I unbolted the shocks from the bottom. I just connected everything back togther when I was done and then jacked up the rear end a little bit so the shock fit right into place.

 

Cliff, you don't have to drop the swingarm if you don't want to. Once the rear axle assy. is out of the way like unstoppable better described, remove the 2 clamps on the boot between the motor and swingarm tube. You can then move the boot back, and fish the u-joint out. You may have to pull the u-joint off the output shaft, remove the boot completely and then pull out the u-joint. I know it can be done this way because a buddy of mine broke his u-joint at Mudstock (Mud Creek) down at the sand pit. We pulled it apart and put it back together in about an hour or two at the sand pit.

 

Cliff, you don't have to drop the swingarm if you don't want to. Once the rear axle assy. is out of the way like unstoppable better described, remove the 2 clamps on the boot between the motor and swingarm tube. You can then move the boot back, and fish the u-joint out. You may have to pull the u-joint off the output shaft, remove the boot completely and then pull out the u-joint. I know it can be done this way because a buddy of mine broke his u-joint at Mudstock (Mud Creek) down at the sand pit. We pulled it apart and put it back together in about an hour or two at the sand pit.

 

Cliff, you don't have to drop the swingarm if you don't want to. Once the rear axle assy. is out of the way like unstoppable better described, remove the 2 clamps on the boot between the motor and swingarm tube. You can then move the boot back, and fish the u-joint out. You may have to pull the u-joint off the output shaft, remove the boot completely and then pull out the u-joint. I know it can be done this way because a buddy of mine broke his u-joint at Mudstock (Mud Creek) down at the sand pit. We pulled it apart and put it back together in about an hour or two at the sand pit.

 

Not sure what happened, but it posted 3 times.

 

I know of about 4 output shafts that were bent... including mine.

 

I tried not unbolting the swingarm when I was putting my u-joint back in but I couldn't get it to fir. The swingarm just wouldn't ben at enough of an angle for me to get my u-joint in there.

And I just figured if you had enough power to bend the shaft it would break. Mine didn't take a whole lot and it had a clean break.

 

well lets all say a prayer for me and hope that its not bent at all, cuz if it ends up being bent ima prob just bring that thing to the junk yard and drop it off how it sits

 

also how does that u-joint get oil to it? or is it suppose to get oil to it somehow? when i took the boot off a little bit poured out onto the ground? was that engine oil or diff fluid? it was kinda darker looking that diff fluid...also when i put the u-joint back in, do i pack in and around it with grease or do i do something else?

 

The tube fills up with diff fluid when you refill the diff I believe. I saw no grease or zerk fitting on my u-joint so I just installed it how it came out.

 

The tube fills up with diff fluid when you refill the diff I believe. I saw no grease or zerk fitting on my u-joint so I just installed it how it came out.

Also, the output shaft isn't hard to replace (and it's actually a fairly cheap part). It's just making sure the back side of the case is 100% sealed that makes it a pita. I didn't seal mine up very well . The only gears that come out are the 2 starter gears and I believe that it.

 

yea but in order to change out the shaft if it does break or bend, do you have to end up taking the motor out of the frame and splitting the cases? or at least the back casing?

 

There are pictures myself and others have posted on this. But to answer your question, NO you will not have to remove the engine.

You'll need to drain the oil out of the motor and then remove the oil seal that surrounds the output shaft (just rip it out and order a new one for $10.00). Unplug your battery and unbolt the starter. Then unbolt the pull start case cover (6 bolts or so) and using an impact gun remove the pull start bolt in the center. Then unbolt the rear crank case cover (about 10 or 12 bolts). Once you remove the rear case cover you will be able to remove the output shaft (it'll slide right out). Be sure to catch the 2 starter gears that sit in there in case they decide to fall out of place.

The only issue I had was that I didn't clean the bottom of the bike as good as I thought and it took me forever to dig through the mud to find all the bolts. The starter gears are not a big deal so don't worry about that, they are kind of self-explanitory as far as how they go back on. A new shaft was $43.00 at my local Honda dealer.

Go to Hondapartshouse.com and look up the "rear crank case cover" or "rear transmission cover". It'll show you the breakdown of it. It'll cost you well over $500 at any shop to do it for you so I suggest doing it yourself. Just be sure to buy all new gasket and spend the extra time making sure it's 100% sealed up.

EDIT--Here ya go....<a href="http://www.hondaforeman.com/phpBB2/view" target="_blank">http://www.hondaforeman.com/phpBB2/view ... 95&start=0</a>

 

gah, if only i lived near you, i could just be ur friend for a week and buy u lots of beer to help me change it, haha...i am not totally retarded when it comes to mechanics stuff but id rather not tear into a motor unless i really really have to mainly becuz when i put my clutch kit in, i broke like 2 or 3 of the crank case bolts and never could drill them out

 

Hey, I'm the same way. This was the first time I really got into a motor besides changing the shift shaft on my old 80cc dirtbike and reeds on my old CR250 dirtbike. That was basic stuff.

Have a buddy help you because another set of eyes helps alot when you think your missing something. I would've brought mine into a shop if they hadn't said it would cost me like $700 or some sh!t.

Just get sandwich bags andd label them like "bolts for pull start cover" or "reverse cable bracket" or "Rear crank cover bolts". Make it simple so it doesn't get confusing.

 

well good news unstuckable, i tore into it tonite so that if anything did happen to come up and something else be broken i could hopefully get the parts at the local honda shop if they had any, i got the rear end off and rolled out of the way and i managed to get the busted u-joint out of it and i called it a night, i also checked the output shaft, i could not find any signs of it being bent or broken, i tried pushing it with my hands up and down and side to side, also tried to push it in and pull it out and nothing at all...does that mean that its good to go or is there any other way to check it? also when i was taking the rear end out of the swing arm a bunch of grey fluid came out of the tube, i didnt see much diff fluid like i thought i would see, tomorrow ima undo the drain bolt on the rear diff to see if it comes out of that...also they had a ton of grease in the tube and all over the ujoint...would it be a good idea to slap some grease on that as well....i noticed that there looked to be some kind of seal on the front of the diff that might have kept the fluid in

thanks for all the input, it all came apart alot easier than i thought it would, now to bash my knuckles up trying to get the new u joint in

 

After we got my old u-joint out i just turned the bike on and put it in 1st gear so we can watch the output shaft spin to see if it was bent.

I have also seen several output shafts straightened in place by being re-bent

 

alrite thanks dead mullet, any idea about the grease stuff?, would u pack some grease in the tube or on the joint?

 

The part I didn't really understand about the diff was that it seems like when you fill the diff you also fill that swingarm tube. However, there lookes to be a seale for the pinion to keep the oils seperated from the diff and the swingarm. Not 100% sure on this but it's worth double checking. If there was grease around the u-joint from the factory then it would be safe to say you should re grease it. Just use some axle grease or ball joint grease if it has a zerk fitting.

 

After we got my old u-joint out i just turned the bike on and put it in 1st gear so we can watch the output shaft spin to see if it was bent.
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Exactly!