[Horton]

Final Drive on a 82 gl500i. How hot should the final drive case get? Oil level full to bottom of large hole. Riding at 65-70 mph, head wind 20 mph. Traveled about 75 miles non-stop, 220 lb. driver.

Ev.

 

[InWeldingWeTrust]

warm to the touch, but not hot. If however you have done a freeway or motorway ride where you have had a lot of high speed braking, additional heat can be fed into the shaft casing as its dissipated through the brake drum

 

[HotFoot]

Back when the original choppercharles forum was active we had a discussion on final drive operating temp. I think it was fall 2008.



I rode my '80 cx500D for an hour or so and then stuck a meat thermometer into the final drive oil thru the fill port. Ambient temp was around 80F if I recall correctly. And the oil temp was around 115F-120F. The results did not alarm those who participated in the descussion.



Hoppy

 

[Shep]

As above.Warm to the touch so that you can comfortably put your hand on it.I seem to recall I measured one last year on around 20 Deg C day and it was between 30 and 35 Deg C after a ride but will check again some time soon.



Note:I change my drive oil same time I change my engine oil around 3,000/4,000 miles.This is well before the normal service point but engine I use is oil is cheap a sis the Hypoid gear oil so why not treat the bikes nice

 

[drneo]

Ambient temp. makes a difference too. I've had mine run burnable hand temp - but I also run at interstate speeds for 600+ miles.



It's most advisable to switch to a fully synthetic gear oil - right now I run Amsoil in mine.



~Thom

 

[senile_seinen]

You actually want it to be a little bit warm - not only does it thin out the gear oil, which improves efficiency, but it also helps to drive off moisture.