[Mattman]

Hello all,

I am trying to remove the coupling from a used driveshaft to replace the one on my bike, which is shot but am having a bear of a time getting the circlip off. I even bought the Klein pliers referenced in the spline lube procedure and even with the driveshaft on my lap, in a well lit area in the comfort of my air conditioned living room I cannot seem to get it off. Any hints?

Once the clip is off, how tough is it to remove the coupling itself?

If it is this difficult indoors how tough will it be to get the bad one off of my bike? Am I better off just replacing the driveshaft?

What is involved in swapping out driveshafts? Is it a lot more work? I'm doing all this in the parking lot of my apartment complex so I was hoping to minimize the amount of time wrenching out there as it takes considerable effort to set up shop in a parking lot for a protracted project-- and garage space is not available to me anywhere-- so I have to accomplish things like this in discrete chunks so I can put the bike back together (more or less) in between fixin' sessions.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[niterider]

You have to open up the clip to remove it.

 

[Mattman]

Thanks for the quick reply, but yes, that part I get. The pliers seem to be skinny enough to do the job but getting purchase on the ends of the clip and lifting it off well within the hard-to-see end of the coupling is proving difficult. Will the clip pop off with the action of the pliers only, or do I also need to be yanking on the coupler itself to get the whole thing to pop off the driveshaft?

There was mention made in the spine lube write up about an O-ring back there, is that the case? They seemed to make it sound like the coupler still needs to be pried off even after the clip is off, is that the case, or did I misread it?

Thanks

Matt

 

[niterider]

If you open it up it should come right off. It is a fight thought. Keep working on it. It will give up.

 

[Homer]

If you get the pliers in the holes on the clip and get it spread it should come right off. There is a washer behind the clip that holds the coupler on the shaft. My bike was one of the ones that wasn't lubed when built so I had a bunch of rusty dust in mine. The coupler wouldn't come off and I ended up with a pair of needle nose vise grips clamped to the old coupler, pulled the driveshaft back so it was still on the front splines and had room to move forward. Then I took a long punch that fit in the hole in the center of the back of the driveshaft, held the punch and vise grips with one hand and tapped the punch with a hammer. That drove the shaft forward and the old coupler popped off the shaft. It took a sharp tap with the hammer on mine. It would have been easier with a spare pair of hands but I was alone when I did mine. Make sure you have the washer on before you put the clip back on when you change the coupler.

Sam

 

[Mattman]

Thanks Sam

Thanks, Sam, knowing that it can be *that* tough makes me feel a bit better about it


Cheers,

Matt