By
marcosphoto
Hi folks, a little disparity brought me to this forum. To set the stage, I'm a 35 auto tech in the industry 37 years now. Licensed motorcycle tech also, 20+ years. I race superbike and motocross. Always done most of my own standard work (outside of specific race machine works) including building my own race bike engines. Now that skills are out of the way, onwards and upwards.
Helping a neighbor with his old quest 500, right front axle seal leak. Well, looks like everything else - right? Wrong! Initially I noticed the CV joint was lacking large lands to place prybars on to pop it out, rather a thin shield like ring very close to the diff seal. Knowing the ring appeared quite delicate, I only pried gently and the CV popped out. However this is where things get weird. Came out only around 7-9mm then hung up again, felt like the clip was catching inside the diff. So spun and pulled, spun and pulled until I was blue in the face but no success getting it out. Also while it was out, I could see that the delicate ring around the outer circumference of the joint was actually the sealing surface where the seal contacts, instead of the norm where the seal rubs inside the diff much deeper and stays cleaner. I've never seen a joint like this, also the service manuals photos which apply to 650 also reflected a standard joint I am accustomed to rather than this one I was fighting with. Rather than break something in the diff, I decided to stop while I was ahead and reassemble the machine before something broke. (The joint would pop in and out of place easy enough, just wouldn't slide out further than 7-9mm). While the joint was a little out and sealing surface exposed, I cleaned the seal and sealing surfaces clean as possible before putting back together. Seems to be holding for now, but eventually I'm sure the leak will come back. Any thoughts as to why that CV joint just refused to come all the way out?
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