Front Bevel Gear

[Blind_hawk]

1994 Voyager. Anyone have any idea how much it costs to replace the front bevel gear? i have called all over town and no one can give me an estimate. or how about how long it takes to get to it and replace it. i was figuring 8 hours for total time. 80 dollars an hour would be 640 dollars before parts. i'm worried about taking it to someone who has no idea what they are doing. 4 places i called wouldn't work on it because it's over 10 years old. I have had this bike since 21 jun and its been in the shop longer than it has been in my garage. My uncle passed and i bought it from my cousin. I expected problems because it's 20 years old. But this is ridiculous.

[mountainman]

So what is wrong with bevel gear that it needs replaced?

[Blind_hawk]

I took it to a trike mechanic and he only works on the trike part. I'm not sure. The mechanic said he thinks it's the bevel gear, but wasn't sure. I know nothing about motorcycles and trust the guy. He does great work if you own a honda gold wing or a trike of any type. He works mainly on gold wings but will always work on a trike. But only the trike part if it isn't a gold wing. I really don't know if its the bevel gear at all. I have alot of noise in that area. Right where the shaft meets the motor.

[doug of so fla]

Bevel gear, maybe, but u-joint or drive shaft or rear end (ring & pinion) should be ruled out first. Give Carl Leo a call he would be able to give you some tips on what to check and would be able to help you with parts & advice.

[Highway Rider]

I would like the think that it is the drive shaft. the front bevel gear gets bathed in oil with a oil tube that sprays oil on it. I have replaced mine not because of mileage or ware but because the oil pan was removed the repair a leak and when it was put back together the mechanic did not notice there was not a hole in the gasket to feed the front final drive. Well after 1500 miles of insufficient oil it seized the bearing and hosed the pinion shaft. so i got a front final drive unit complete with 17000 miles and cost 250.00 It was cheapest and easiest way to go but still a lot of work just to replace it. I would not mess with the process of setting one up from scratch a lot of work and it could still be a problem. I did also replace the u-joints in the drive shaft and that may be all you need a lot easier to do. but you will have to remove the swing arm to remove the drive shaft to replace the u joints.

How many miles are on it

[Blind_hawk]

OK. It's a true trike. It is a motor trike conversion. I have a guy that works on this. He only works on the trike part. From the u-joints at the front of the drive shaft to the back. He said my u-joints were good. He said I had some rust on some parts and he greased them up. The air bags had holes in them and he patched them up and put in about 15 pounds of air. Shocks were good. The back end was loosy goosy and he fixed all that. It rides solid big time on the highway. When I drop down to first, second and neutral I hear a lond clanking sound. I had a friend of mine that knows motorcyles ride it. We took the shaft cover off. As he was riding it, at around 5 to 10 miles an hour, he could hear the sound and felt it in the the bevel gear asssembly area. Now, what if the tubing is clogged and not enough oil is getting back in. How would you check this? How do I get in touch with Carl Leo? It has 45,500 miles. I love the bike it rides great on the highway. I rode it back from the mechanics shop in Glenpool to Tulsa. About 25 miles. The only time I had an issue was when I slowed to about 30 mph. I could hear the clanking sound when I would pull in the clutch and downshift from 3rd gear to second. Pull in the clutch, hear the clanking sound, and down shift to second. Do it again to first. Pull in the clutch to coast to the stop sign or light from first and it's really bad. As you slow down so does the speed of the clanking. It's either the clutch plates or the bevel gear. I can get the 2 gears and the housing for about 200 bucks. I can get all the clutch plates for about the same price. It looks like the clutch plates are easy to put in. Should take an hour or so by a good mechanic. Based on the manual, it looks like it could take about 6 to 8 hours to work on the bevel gear assembly. Whether it be the gears or bearings. Would this be true? I called our Kawasaki dealer and he won't work on any bikes older than 10 years. I called a couple of other places and they didn't work on Kawasaki's at all. I finally found 2 places that would do the work. If they know their stuff, you would think, they could tell me what was wrong with the bike. If anybody lives in the Tulsa, Ok area I would appreciate their advice and maybe giving the bike a look see.

[doug of so fla]

I sent you a PM message..

[davidl]

Just my two cents but before I do anything, I would put a call into Carl Leo. Considering how much knowledge and skill he has, not knocking anyone on this forum because there is a wealth of knowledge on this forum. Things I can fix, maybe not a call but if I were going to crack open the motor or anything major, first on my speeddial is Carl Leo.

Just my 2 cents,
davidl

[Blind_hawk]

I would like to thank Carl Leo for his help. I hope to take the bike in this friday. Hopefully it will be a simple fix. I will let everyone know the outcome. Also I would like to thank everyone for their helpful advice.