FrontRangeRider
Member
The final drive leak that others have experienced showed up on my bike at 23,000 miles. Went for a long dirt ride 3 weeks ago; at one point, we were 50 miles from pavement. Got home and as I checked the bike over, I saw gear oil all over the rim and rear wheel and loads of gear oil on the bottom of the drive. Opened the fill port and there was no gear oil left inside the final drive. Luckily, the final drive did not seize during the ride nor did I have an accident from all the gear oil on the back tire. I trailered the bike to my local dealer for repair. There were no parts available in the US to repair the final drive so parts had to be ordered from Japan. Two weeks later, I got the bike back. Finally got a good weather day and went for a ride on Saturday. 30 miles into the ride, I stopped to have a look at the final drive. It was leaking gear oil and there was goo all over the rear tire and rim again. Headed home, verified there was gear oil inside the final drive and took it back to the dealer. Waiting to hear back from them as to what they think the issue is.
My question to the assembled wisdom is how common is this final drive issue? And more importantly, is a seizure of the final drive common as a result of the leaks? When I searched, I found a number of posts but can't tell how common the issue is; most of the posts seem to be from the early years of the Tenere. My wife and I do a lot of back country rides here in Colorado, most of them out of cell phone range and far enough from civilization that getting a tow truck recovery would be a challenge. Until three weeks ago, I never gave the reliability of my S10 a second thought. Now I'm a bit less cocky.
My question to the assembled wisdom is how common is this final drive issue? And more importantly, is a seizure of the final drive common as a result of the leaks? When I searched, I found a number of posts but can't tell how common the issue is; most of the posts seem to be from the early years of the Tenere. My wife and I do a lot of back country rides here in Colorado, most of them out of cell phone range and far enough from civilization that getting a tow truck recovery would be a challenge. Until three weeks ago, I never gave the reliability of my S10 a second thought. Now I'm a bit less cocky.