Okay, I'm reporting in on my (first) spline lube experience.....

6K original miles on a '96 VN750 ... pulled wheel (had to remove bolts from exhaust hangars and pry a bit with a broom handle on the right side to get some clearance) and examined the splines... rear splines appeared to be in excellent shape, fairly well greased but kinda dirty looking. Front splines relatively dry. Performed spline cleanup and lubrication using Honda 60 Moly grease. I marked the front shaft and coupling then pulled it off the splines so I could lube those well also, and lubed universal with Lithium grease.

O-ring looked in good shape so I left it on (even though I had a new one ready... I'll use it the next time). Took about two hours total.

I compressed the front forks using a come-along type tie down and that gives enough working room to easily remove the wheel, I highly recommend that method over trying to put the center stand on a block of wood i.e. safer).

Thanks for all the good advice and knowledge from this great website!

Next project: replace the front tire.

Did you take any photos of the front forks compressed? I'd be glad to add that to the procedure as an alternative way of doing things. It is a difficult stunt to get the centerstand up on a 2x12, I'll give you that! But I've never felt like it was a safety issue, just a pain! Thanks for the report.

I put mine up on a larger square of 3/4" "cheap wood", (it was a shelf from an old entertainment center we had) and that gave enough lift to get the wheel in and out easily.

Compressing the forks works too; another choice in "getting there".

Glad you got it done, and next time probably won't take two hours. That's one of the jobs that looks worse in print than it actually is.

When I did mine, we put it up on a chunk of 2x12, but it took both my buddy and me heaving on it to get it up on the center stand. Not pretty.

--FA

When I did mine, we put it up on a chunk of 2x12, but it took both my buddy and me heaving on it to get it up on the center stand. Not pretty.

--FA

Ahhh! GrassHopper You need to work Smarter not Harder..........

This is with the Bike sitting on the center Stand.

What you should of done was tip the bike to one side, an stick one end of the 2x12 under the leg of the center stand that was up. Then tip the bike to the other side (The leg on the 2x12) and swing the 2x12 under the other leg.
Then sit the bike down and it will be on the block.

Thats the way I did when I was taking the engine out and needed the bike sitting up Higher. Did it by Myself.

Or a 2x4 across a floorjack would of worked to lift it too.

Or work even smarter and use two 2x pieces of material. One you drive the rear wheel up on to, that way the bike is higher, then you put the other under where the center stand will hit the ground and place it that way.

Ahhh! GrassHopper You need to work Smarter not Harder..........



Unfortunately, stupidity reigns when I try to wrench on the bike (or do much of anything, actually) before I've had my requisite starter-pot of coffee...

--FA

I'm planning on doing my soon as well.

Why oh why does Moly60 cost more to ship a little 3 oz tube than it does for the product itself!?

And why does my local Honda stealership not carry it!? :doh:

I'm planning on doing my soon as well.

Why oh why does Moly60 cost more to ship a little 3 oz tube than it does for the product itself!?

And why does my local Honda stealership not carry it!? :doh:

Since it's a Honda product, can't you ask them to get it for you? I would try.

I'm planning on doing my soon as well.

Why oh why does Moly60 cost more to ship a little 3 oz tube than it does for the product itself!?

And why does my local Honda stealership not carry it!? :doh:

Like Fergy said, it seems so that the Honda stealership ought to be able to order it for you and have it in a couple of days...

--FA

So this process should take 2-3 hours?
Knowing what you know, would you consider this for a bike with less than 1K miles?

How old is it? If its 10 years old or more I'd do it anyway, if not do it it at 6K like the manual says. With experience it can really be done in little more than an hour. If you had to break the procedure down, most of the time is spent taking the wheel off and putting it back on. The actual lubrication procedure takes only minutes.

So this process should take 2-3 hours?
Knowing what you know, would you consider this for a bike with less than 1K miles?

I'll take it a step farther. I personally don't care how old it is, since there was a problem at the factory with some of them leaving without any lube on the splines. It does seem to make a difference on age as the "sleeping lube guy" seems to have been there in the 2000-2006 era, but there have been a few found that were lubeless in older years. So my answer would be, how long do you want to wait to find out? Not trying to be harsh with my answer, but believe me, if there's no lube on them, you don't want to find out after its too late! Take my advice, it's never too early to look! And while you're in there, slap some moly 60 on them because the lube they used, if any, isn't good enough! :rockon:

Ahhh! GrassHopper You need to work Smarter not Harder.......... This is with the Bike sitting on the center Stand. What you should of done was tip the bike to one side, an stick one end of the 2x12 under the leg of the center stand that was up. Then tip the bike to the other side (The leg on the 2x12) and swing the 2x12 under the other leg.
Then sit the bike down and it will be on the block.

Yeah, this is what I ended up doing too.