The Final Drive Is Done

I popped open the final drive and nothing was sketchy - it looked good to my untrained eyes.  I was afraid I'd find rust, chipped gears, etc. While I was in there I replaced the cover gasket and the ring gear seal.   Don't forget to protect the new seal with a Coke can or something when you put the cover back on.

Heat is the key to getting these things open and then back together.  I heated the cover in the oven and installed it twice, but the ring gear bearing still didn't seat right either time.  Finally, I took the combined advice of Vech and Duane Ausherman and put the whole final drive in the oven for an hour at 200* and then tapped both gear shafts and gave it a couple good thumps with the ring gear facing down.  That settled everything.

I've still got some Honda moly 60 paste from my last shaft drive bike, so I coated the wheel splines with that.

I hit the final drive with some sand paper, grit infused nylon wheels with some Neverdull and then finished off with some Scotchbrite pads and Flitz polish.  I also got new polished stainless swingarm and drive plugs.

Next up is to get some wheels on this thing!