Rear Wheel Grinding Noise

seratt · August 26, 2011, 02:39:49 PM

I noticed a noise going down the highway the other day, but it was pretty quiet. Got home and realized my rear wheel has a grinding sound to it whenever I push the bike.

It will grind about half a circle, then stop, then start again. I'm going to dig into it tomorrow. Besides checking the drum brakes and bearings, is there anything else I should maybe be aware of?

1988 Super btw. 17k miles.

roboto65 · August 26, 2011, 04:27:12 PM

More than likely rear bearings.

Jigger · August 26, 2011, 04:54:12 PM

I'll second the rear barings. While you have the bike off the ground. Check to see how much pad is left on your rear shoes. Be a good time to change them seeing you already have the wheel off.

Magnum Magna · August 26, 2011, 08:34:56 PM

I don't know what it is but shaft drives have some maintenance that need to be done

hootmon · August 26, 2011, 08:52:38 PM

Quote from: Magnum Magna on August 26, 2011, 08:34:56 PM
I don't know what it is but shaft drives have some maintenance that need to be done

AND require HIGH moly grease that you can't just find anywhere.. Honda sells it in a tube.

roboto65 · August 26, 2011, 09:02:18 PM

Themoly grease is debatable as long as it is done in regular intervals I used RP syn grease in the Valk and never had a problem.

seratt · September 10, 2011, 08:31:21 PM

Finally had time to yank the back wheel off tonight. I couldn't see anything wrong. The bearings moved easily and weren't loose. I checked the brakes and they both looked good. I'm stumped.

Put it all back together. The grinding noise is no longer there, but now there is another weird noise, almost like a rattling noise that seems to be coming from my shaft whenever I push it. It doesn't do it constantly, but sporadically whenever I"m pushing the bike. Can't hear anything whenever I have it engaged, so I think I'm just not gonna worry about it. /shrug

hootmon · September 10, 2011, 09:38:29 PM

Quote from: seratt on September 10, 2011, 08:31:21 PM
now there is another weird noise, almost like a rattling noise that seems to be coming from my shaft whenever I push it. It doesn't do it constantly, but sporadically whenever I"m pushing the bike. Can't hear anything whenever I have it engaged, so I think I'm just not gonna worry about it. /shrug

You do have a shaft, so there is one or two u-joints involved as well. Odd noises mean something.. What I don't know, but if you ignore it, you will discover the problem sooner or later.. Hopefully not at 55 MPH!!

seratt · September 11, 2011, 12:00:21 AM

Kinda what worries me. I'm gonna play with it some more tomorrow and see if I can't pinpoint it better.

Jigger · September 11, 2011, 06:33:24 AM

I have not seen a schmatic on the out lay of rear drive. But from a picture of an axle I looked at. Are there any type of carrier bearings in a houseing were the power tranformation takes place from the axle to the drive shaft ?

redneck-tek · September 11, 2011, 10:36:38 AM

Just a thought, but i would recommend that you pull the shaft out and grease up any splines, and check for free play, alignment, broken or missing splines on the shaft, u-joints, (if its not a direct drive) and then finally, BE SURE EVERYTHING IS TIGHTENED!!
Initially my thoughts were a loose axle bolt, or warped rotor, but that was dismissed pretty quick! Although I would still take a look at the pads to see if there is any uneven wear patterns present.

seratt · September 11, 2011, 12:11:28 PM

Thanks for the replies. I'm gonna jack it back up today and see if I can pinpoint the sound.

I just had a shop pull and replace the seals in the angle shaft. I'm wondering if maybe something was put together incorrectly. No clue really.

I do know, taking that axle nut off last night took everything in me. I have no clue why it was on so tight. After some pb blaster and getting my wife to help me pull, it finally broke.

seratt · September 11, 2011, 01:15:52 PM

Ok, just pulled the wheel off again. I could still hear the noise with the wheel on and the bike jacked up. Pulled the wheel off, took the flange and put it back in the shaft. Whenever I turned it, the noise wasn't there.

Soo. The bearings look good. I'm thinking I may be looking at my brakes wrong. I don't have a tool to measure the thickness on them, but I may go ahead and order new brakes and see what that does. Once I get those in, I'll grease everything back up and see what happens.

TLRam1 · September 11, 2011, 01:47:18 PM

Use a make shift stethoscope (Screw driver, wooden dowel, etc.) to isolate where the noise is coming from as your wife turns the wheel or rolls the bike, this is key so you know you are looking in the right area. You will know for sure if it's coming from your brake area, u-joints, wheel bearings, and so on. You need the noise back.

hootmon · September 11, 2011, 07:51:56 PM

Quote from: TLRam1 on September 11, 2011, 01:47:18 PM
Use a make shift stethoscope (Screw driver, wooden dowel, etc.) to isolate where the noise is coming from as your wife turns the wheel or rolls the bike

An Old mechanic taught me this trick when I was younger.. IF you take a long screwdriver and hold the pointy end on a non moving metal part and then hold the plastic end so that the inside of your thumb joint is in the middle of the end of the handle, then you can push the outside of the joint against your ear, closing your ear canal and pushing against your the skull bone just in front of your ear you can get a good stethoscope effect.. move the metal point from place to place, the louder the noise, the closer you are to the source..
Good call Terry!

This guy almost has it right, except his thumb should be over the top of the screwdriver handle and not on the side of the handle. you get better conduction of the sound and you can vary the pressure applied to the part with your head to get the best sound.