Burgman 400 rear drive shaft...

[Data]

Ok you guys with Burgmans. Anyone ever noticed how much end float there is on a Burgman 400 2007+ rear drive shaft. Or to be frank would be glad to hear from anyone with a Burgman of any year. To be clear, I'm referring to the shaft that carries and drives the rear wheel. I have what I consider to be a lot of end float. I haven't measured it exactly yet but it's probably around 1.5-2mm!! Yes, that much. I suspect this may be the cause of my final drive whining when hot, or may be a symptom of something else in the box that's going. Could be a shim problem. I noticed one day sometime ago that when hot I could hear a clicking noise from the gearbox when wheeling the bike. This noise persisted for just a couple of days after which I noticed the bike weaves a little at high speed which it had never done before. Play in that shaft could promote that. And no, the clicking noise wasn't the inner clutch needle roller bearing either. I checked that. I also replaced the outer rear right hand exhaust hanger bearing with little if any effect. The bearing was actually still quite good but replaced it anyway as I had the bearing. There is no lateral play at all on clutch gearbox input shaft or rear wheel output shaft but of course the reduction gear that runs between those shafts in the gearbox could have a bearing going which may be responsible for the noise. To be honest, I've had loads of rear wheels out of Burgmans of all years but have never really had the need to take notice of end float on that final drive shaft. There is no listing in the workshop manual of any end float, which makes sense to me as in reality I don't think there should be any real end float apart from a couple of thou. This is a job I've been putting off so it gets nice and bad and I can see where the problem is when I strip it. And after my several visits into hospital I haven't been riding much anyway. But nows the time for me to get going again. Any info/input appreciated. Ta!

[Bluebottle]

I don't have an answer but I do remember that when I bought mine (new) I was suprised at the amount of play and/or float at the rear wheel.
I went round all the local dealers and they were all the same.

Where are you measuring it at, shaft or wheel rim?

[Data]

Hi Bluebottle, I'm measuring it at the end of the drive shaft, that's of course with the wheel off. I can take hold of the shaft and slide it back and forth with a huge clunk as it does so, but as I mentioned in the earlier post, there is no lateral play in the drive shaft bearing. The amount of play seems excessive to me. In all the gearboxes and engines I've stripped over the years I've never seen anything quite like this. I'm sure it shouldn't have this much end float. There is no movement noticeable with the wheel in situ. I too have the usual Burgman to and fro rotational play in the gearbox. I was also quite alarmed by this when I first moved to Burgmans but like you discovered it is perfectly normal.