black greasy stuf from speedo drive

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FastbackLR

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May 4, 2009
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Hi all,
After at least 5 years of not riding my commando's I've been riding them again last weekend.
So new engine oil, battery, spark plugs and all is well.

I have a question, probably a no-brainer for you lot, hope you don't mind.
After riding approx 100 km I noticed that black, greasy stuff came from my speedo drive and formed a nice black star on my rear hub.

My technical knowlegde about my bikes was rather low and 5 years of not bothering with the has not increased this knowlegde...
Is my speedo drive disintegrating, is this just dirt and grease, need I worry about this? Search function didn't give me the answers.

Also, what is the easiest way to flush the oil tank? Do I need to take it out? On the 1970 bike where you take the gauze filter out to drain it, I could feel some grid-like deposit on the bottom of the tank when I put my finger in.

regards,
Thomas
 
FastbackLR said:
After riding approx 100 km I noticed that black, greasy stuff came from my speedo drive and formed a nice black star on my rear hub.

My technical knowlegde about my bikes was rather low and 5 years of not bothering with the has not increased this knowlegde...
Is my speedo drive disintegrating, is this just dirt and grease, need I worry about this? Search function didn't give me the answers.
Click to expand...


There's a very good chance that the "Black Star" of grease has been caused by the drive box overheating?

We've had a couple of members report that problem before, one not all that long ago, and the cause is probably the rear face of the drive box being pressed against the hub?
 
That's just what happened when my speedo drive went crispy critters. The grease liquefied and it completely locked up, twisting my speedo cable right out of the drive. Either repair or replace, posthaste.
 
Thanks for your quick replies!

We'll see what the damage is first, before I'll go riding it again...

Any tips on easy ways of flushing/cleaning out the oil tank still welcome. Allthough I'm afraid there are no easy ways/shortcuts in that department either...

regards,
Thomas
 
I think the best way is to have a radiator shop or machine shop boil it out. That can also remove the paint in some cases.
I have a friend who fills oil tanks with kerosene and then washes them out with soap and water after, final drying by a heat gun.
 
Cookie said:
I have a friend who fills oil tanks with kerosene and then washes them out with soap and water after,
Click to expand...


That's what I'd do.
 
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