Final Drive Oil Change

I bought my Silverwing with 5400 miles on it and overall great condition...a few scrapes on the body work but no laydowns. I just changed the final drive oil and was it dirty>>whew! Glad I changed it..Just pulled the oil fill bolt, took out the drain plug and rotated the rear wheel>> put the drain bolt in..shot a bit of gear lube in and rotated the wheel and drained again..still dirty. filled it up till the gear lube ran out and reinstalled the drain fill bolt. easy to do..
Changed the engine oil and it was dirty as well. Used a syringe and emptied the brake reserves..wipe them out and filled with fluid. Will flush system when my son has time to assist. Low miles and time passed calls for full service.
Changed out coolant>>Replaced with Honda Coolant..
10-40 Amsoil MT oil
75-90 Amsoil Gear oil
Valvoline Synthetic Dot 4 brake fluid.
K&N Oil Filter..5 bucks on clearance Chrome no less...

Why not follow the book and use engine oil in the rear end?

I run 75W-90 gear oil in the final drive of my '06 SWing, as I did in the very similar final drive on my '03 Burgman 400--for over 50k miles. I realise the recommended lube (for both) is the same motor oil recommended for the engine; however I believe that is more for the convenience of dealer service departments than any consideration of what is the optimal lubricant for that specific application.

Motorcycles are not expected to, and are generally not made to, to last 100k miles. Over the years I have seen numerous examples of motorcycles manufacturers' choice of materials and maintenance specs, such as recommendation of acceptable vs. optimal lubricants, that highlight that fundamental assumption.

The viscosity of 75W-90 gear oil is very close to that of 10W-30 motor oil, however gear oil is formulated to provide optimal lubrication for the special needs of gear boxes (surprise)--anti-friction bearings, high pressure and shear loads--and provides more anti-foaming additives; so as to provide optimal lubrication for gear drives.

Motor oil is for motors...

cliffyk,


Why not do what you d*** well please based on your experience and research. Oh, that's what you do. Good man!

Still say after over 1.5 million 2 wheel miles---good to stick with makers' recommendation.....but I do use Walmart house brand 10-40 in my engines, including those with wet clutch. So far over 500,000 miles-----most here really do not ride enough to wear anything out.....even though they are riding older bikes.