Mistery grease all over rear wheel?

A friend & I road to the Vintage auto races at Willow Springs Raceway Saturday, about a 230 mile round trip for us because we took the long way through the mountains of Angelos Crest Forest, nice two lane twisties and long fast sweeping roads. Anyway on the way home I got off the freeway for gas & the right side of my rear hub and rim were covered in black grease! It had not yet gotton onto my tire thank god becouse I had been at as much of a full lean as I ever do trying to keep up with my friend in the twisty bits. I can only asume this came from my speedo drive (?) but why now? I have ridden lots of long fast freeway trips and mountain roads since the last time I greased it. Why would it come out now? Has this happened to anyone else? I did hit some long fast, 85/90 mph straights but mostly the normal 75 on the freeway. Kind of scares me to think this could of gone on to my tire.

gtsun said:

Has this happened to anyone else?

Click to expand...

post18782.html
post31984.html

And for that exact thing possibly happening, I removed my speedo drive and cable 15 years ago.

Tach rpms are quite sufficient, and my speedometer always stays nice and non quivering at zero!


I know, I know. Not many would remove it completely as I have.

I just see it as one more poorly designed thing on my Norton that either needs radical improvement or complete removal if "unnecessary".

Thanks for the links L.A.B. I should have done a search. Guess that must be it. My speedo drive didn't move out of position and it's still working fine but I did snug up the Axel just a bit before I left that morning. Maybe I crushed the "top hat" spacer a little. I'll take it all apart & check it out. Mine had a small star of grease like in those pictures but also a huge amount on my rim that started from a blob on the hub & was working it's way onto my tire! Could have ended badly if my friend hadn't noticed it & I cleaned off the most of it.

You need to very carefully check the wheel bearings.............if a bearing is starting to fail, then its going to get hot and melt the grease. Unlikely to be speedo drive as there isnt much load on these, and if one has got hot enough to melt the grease, then its probably not going to still be working.

Hot wheel bearing is possible but not as likely as heat from rear drum drag.
If it is bad bearing or also a bad bearing, then be pensive of what its hi freq vibration might have done to the stress riser of dumb axle. If you like the factory speedo to function as I and most others do, think of the speedo drive as a rear tire you know you will need another in 4-6000 miles so shop for bargain spares, like me. Rivet or bolting the thing together can extend its life dramatically.

As to the danger of hub grease getting to rear tire patch, not a chance, so not the risking event alluded to. Now oil filer blowing its seal or oil line coming loose or broken fork slider spills, now that'll be noticed on leans.

I had that exact problem on my speedo drive, black grease splaying out. Mine was because I left the top hat washer out & the casing bent making the felt seal carrier rub against the alloy wheel plate. The casing has become thin, so I have put a bronze washer to fill the gap inside & bored out the hole to a tight fit on a new top hat washer. It is working fine now.
I did buy a new pattern one to put on, but didn't use it, it is crap.

I have the same problem I've checked that all the spacers are present and correct including tophat spacer in speedo drive.It looks ok but I have nothing to compare it to. Could someone kindly confirm it looks ok before I put the wheel back together.







Thanks
McVic

Well turns out my speedo drive was toast & I think I had crushed it a little bit. I got a new "Top hat" spacer and I had a spare drive I found on flebay for $20.00 that looked good & spun smoothly so put it on with a new freshly lubed cable. Road 250 miles yesterday at everything from 85 on the freeway to just plugging along up the Pacific Coast Highway enjoying the ocean veiws and all seems well, no grease coming out at all. I think I had just over tightened the old one. Glenn.

Before I took my 1st Cdo apart, I didn't know speedo drive was missing the top hat spacer, but logic made me avoid clamping down on axle with ridiculous torque so it lasted as long as any other till I got the top hat installed. Best drive preserver, besides sitting still is to replace the wallow prone rivets with bigger screws or more robust rivets or JBWeld. But its still an over stressed gizmo so keep an eye out for the next one at a bargain, just like a rear tire. Some times its the worm drive end caps that go away so cogs disengage intermittently before nothing.
Possible to recrimp, sorta but its stop gap till dead as another door nail speedo.

There ought to be some left front Japanese speedo drives that could be adapted . . . . . . just wondering.

Not unless a new hub created to clear the gear wheel. Digital with analog looking clock is available or just biycle simple digital magnet pulse to hi end display.

I am having the same problem.. :?
now, the speedo drive (BG/5330) should always have a felt “seal” installed in it. That, along with the felt “seal” in the hub is what keeps the grease from running out like it has on my bike. The one in the speedo drive is the one that does most of the work. these should be the dimensions:
ID: 1-7/8”
OD: 2.5”
Thickness: 5/16”

Now, this is my question to who may know it:
as this is very needed, do you think it is possible to purchase it separate from the speedo drive?
do anyone know the part number?

Thank you for help! :wink: