81 kz1100 a shaftdrive

I bought this bike 2 weeks ago and have rebuilt the brakes changed oil and plugs and rewired most of the negative electricals and a new ic ignitor apart from that the bike needs a new exhaust as the balance pipe between the two systems has rusted out which is getting done friday however i got the bike all running quite nicely and went around the block today only to hear a grinding noise from the drivetrain i am thinking the final gear case needs adjusting from what i have read so far i believe this is a job that requires shimming to the right setting has anyone done this themselves and if so do you have any advice for a newcomer? or do you think it is a job better left to a bike mechanic i really love the bike and cant wait to sort these last two issues out so ican finally go for a ride.... (photos to come)
Please help

I used to have a KZ1100 shaft drive and really liked it. Have you had a chance to change the oil in the rear end? If not, that might be a place to start. How many miles does it have?

Robert

gday robert cheers for your reply. would you buy another kzshaft drive ir do you think there to much trouble ie maintenance i am changing the oil tomorrow but it does look and smell clean, i think i read somewhere something about if you over fill with oil noises like this can occur. so failing oil do you recall ever having to re- shim your final gear drive and if so was it difficult to get right??

oh yeah and its done 75000 kms
everything else is in good nick and the sea has all been recovered to original condition as i keep saying i just want to get this noise sorted it wasnt a nice noise if you know what i mean!

My KZ1100 was too big for me, but as for reliability, it was very good and I would buy one again. I put about 35,000 kms on mine and never had a problem. The starter clutch would make some terrible noise every now and then. The differential never made any noise on mine. I would drain the old oil out and catch some of it and see if you see any metal particles in the oil. Sorry, don't really know what advice to give you except to start with the oil. Oh, I forgot, the electric speedometer on mine went out about 20,000 kms. Have a good one!

Robert

Am uncertain whether applicable to '81 KZ1100 shaft, but am thinking some shaft drives have a splined connection which requires periodic greasing as part of routine maintenance.

Should be covered in shop manual.

Good Luck!

Patton wrote:

Am uncertain whether applicable to '81 KZ1100 shaft, but am thinking some shaft drives have a splined connection which requires periodic greasing as part of routine maintenance.

Should be covered in shop manual.

Good Luck!

Good point! I believe there is a slip joint that needs a little grease periodically. You may have to take things apart a little to get to it. Don't remember there being a grease fitting.

Robert

It may be possible that you have a bad universal joint? I would be suprised if anything is actually wrong inside the differential.

Robert