Ok so I'm burning through the spline lube and got the rear axel nut off only to find that I cant get it off without removing the exhaust pipe that comes from the rear cylinder. Can I just pull that baby off and put it back on when I'm done with the lube or will I need new crush washers or other parts?

Inspect your gasket if they are the mesh ones I reused them with no leaks. If they are deformed or crushed flat then order new ones. If you don't have a Kaw dealer close harley gaskets will fir. I am sure nsomeone will pop in with the part number.

I have Jardine Rumblers and I did not have to remove mine. I loosened the nuts at the manifold, removed the bolts that hold the mufflers and held them out of the way enough to remove the axles. Put it all back when I was done with no problem. I did not have to replace the crush gaskets as I did not remove the pipes from the header.

Ok I'll see what happens.
By the Way, what torque settings did you use on the manifold bolts? I can't find them in the manual?


Thanks!!!

It's a 12mm acorn nut, according to the book torque it to 11 ft lbs. Don't over tighten. Use anti-seize on the studs.

X2 to what Cliff said, I also have Jardine Rumblers and do the same thing to remove axel bolt.

Thanks guys, I got it to work and didn't have to loosen the studs on the exhaust manifold at all. The spline lube was a success! The splines were in decent condition (to be expected since they have 21,500 miles on them. And they weren't really that dry and it looked like they had some lubrication on them. The whole task went pretty smoothly and the only holdups I had were mating the rear end with the drive shaft, because of the spring and getting the teeth to line up and getting my pipes in the right position so I could replace the mounting bolt that held them together.

The bike rides wonderfully and it feels great to have accomplished a somewhat complicated maintenance task by myself (Along with the help of Fergy, Cliff, wkrizan, and rctmtn!)

Thanks so much for your help guys!

I undo the shocks at the bottom end. This allows the wheel to move up above the exhaust and out comes the axle.

Great Job! Feels good to accomplish a big task like this. Glad I could help in some small way. Love my Jardines!

I have an 03 with 15k. got it 2 months ago. was running fine until I took a 150 mile then a noise developed near the driveshaft. only happens when I release the clutch and accelerate and let off. runs fine otherwise. anyone know what this might be? I started to take it apart and cant get rearend housing off.

I lubed my splines about 2 years ago, and put about 3,000 miles on it since then. How often should they be done? and what do you guys use to lube them?

I have an 03 with 15k. got it 2 months ago. was running fine until I took a 150 mile then a noise developed near the driveshaft. only happens when I release the clutch and accelerate and let off. runs fine otherwise. anyone know what this might be? I started to take it apart and cant get rearend housing off.

Check your gear oil in the back. It might need to be changed or might be low. But if it was that, then i would think it would do it all the time, same goes for the driveshaft.

Follow Fergy's well-written write-up on how to do a Spline lube to get the final drive assembly off. You may have dry splines. I'd pull them and get some Moly60 and lube them. There's a link to his write-up in his signature line. You can search his name to find it.

When you said you couldn't get the rear end off, exactly what do you mean? The procedure is below in my sig. Let us know exactly what you are dealing with and we can help!

The spline lube normally can be re-done every other rear tire change, or somewhere around 12,000 miles. No real science to this number. Most importantly making sure it has lube and the teeth aren't worn out, then about every 12k after that. Once you get moly in there, they won't be dry after another 12K.