Position/Phasing of MT Driveshaft

I finally got the trike out during a break in the rain after replacing the front wheel, lubing the heim joints, replacing the pinion seal, replacing the air bags digital circuit board, and removing, cleaning, greasing, and replacing the drive shaft. I now have a slight vibration from 0-25 to 30 MPH that wasn’t there before.

The two pieces of the drive shaft separated when I removed it so I’m guessing at the position of the two halves. A Manual of my MT Spyder Coversion written by another MT owner said if the vibration happens, to remove the drive shaft and slip it one spline on the shaft. Would moving the drive shaft make that much difference? Any suggestions from anyone that has removed and replaced the drive shaft are appreciated.

Not a Honda person but I've read that several times.

OldRider2 said:

I finally got the trike out during a break in the rain after replacing the front wheel, lubing the heim joints, replacing the pinion seal, replacing the air bags digital circuit board, and removing, cleaning, greasing, and replacing the drive shaft. I now have a slight vibration from 0-25 to 30 MPH that wasn’t there before.

The two pieces of the drive shaft separated when I removed it so I’m guessing at the position of the two halves. A Manual of my MT Spyder Coversion written by another MT owner said if the vibration happens, to remove the drive shaft and slip it one spline on the shaft. Would moving the drive shaft make that much difference? Any suggestions from anyone that has removed and replaced the drive shaft are appreciated.

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if the joints on the drive shaft are out of sync it will cause a vibration. the drive shaft joints should fall right in line with the one on the opposite end. the cups that are held to the shaft should be right inline with the joints on the other shaft. the cups that are attached to the rear should line up with the cups are attached to the shaft that goes into the engine. there used to be a diagram on that but right now i cannot find it. if you don't understand what i am trying to say maybe i can define it better once i find the pic.

This is what they are talking about in phasing the drive shaft.

trike lady said:

View attachment 133238
This is what they are talking about in phasing the drive shaft.

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this is definitely different from what i have always done. been turning wrenches for over 40 years and i have always lined the yokes up with one another. that drive shaft in my opinion is 90 degrees out.

Thanks for all the comments. I understand what the phasing means but after I cleaned the driveshaft up and lubed the spline they just weren’t perfectly lined up. I tried flipping it 180 degrees but it looked identical. I would think MT would have marked each end of the shaft knowing it would be taken apart every year or two.

The attachment shows some verbiage, the sketch, and a picture of my actual driveshaft in a MT Spyder Manual.

OldRider2 said:

Thanks for all the comments. I understand what the phasing means but after I cleaned the driveshaft up and lubed the spline they just weren’t perfectly lined up. I tried flipping it 180 degrees but it looked identical. I would think MT would have marked each end of the shaft knowing it would be taken apart every year or two.

The attachment shows some verbiage, the sketch, and a picture of my actual driveshaft in a MT Spyder Manual.

View attachment 133241

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that pic looks proper, the new drive shaft that MT makes is splined so that it only goes back togather one way. i had an MT kit for 20 years and never had to advance it a tooth. i just lined the yokes up. like in the pic but perfectly in alignment.

Vibration problem solved, thanks again for everyone’s suggestions. So when I pulled out the driveshaft I found what you see in the first picture. 3W-lonerider will see the problem in the blink of an eye. As I looked at I immediately thought, “How did I do that?” I know better but I was rushing or half asleep or both, I lined the wrong yoke up to the rear yoke.

I thought the second picture was interesting, 6 little dots on the small sliding end of the driveshaft that I thought would match to six dots on the long part of the shaft. I could’t find any other dots on the shaft though.

The last picture was the correct assembly of the driveshaft just before I put it back in kand after a short test ride confirmed it fixed the problem. It may not be evident looking at the picture but the sliding end is off one spline in the direction of rotation.

Yep

Good job people with solving this guys issue.