'00 Voyager Shaft/Final Drive curiousity...

[VoyagerCraiger]

Recently I think I'm feeling some FeedBack from my Shaft/Final Drive on my '00 Voyager 45K mile scooter.

Vibration in FootPegs:
on take-off, and
on sudden back off on throttle (Hwy Speeds).
Also, a little shuddering from time to time (and at change to bike input; throttle, lean, turns from standing start).

I could SIMULTANEOUSLY be wrestling with Forks too. Though rebuilt 1K miles ago, the Bike (forks) was cinched down (TIGHT) on a bench for about 6 mos... might've blown those seals as I've f'n oil on the forks again.

I hate to order 'all the parts', jack the Bike up and take all that stuff off to only find it was ONLY one or the other.

Thoughts on my proper Diagnosis of above please?
... on indicators of DriveShaft going south (or needing maintenance)?
... on indicators of Forks going south (in addition to wallowing at 80+mph, pretty okay with right handle-bar input at 70mph though).
BTW, the forks are NOT under air pressure from the Kaw OEM Suspension System.
Likewise I installed conventional after-market rear shocks insteada rebuilding the OEM ones, though was schmart enough to keep those OEMs. That means no AirRide avaible on them either.
Tires are solid.

Thanks!

[GrandpaDenny]

Vibration in foot pegs could be, believe it or not, a worn bumper for the center stand. Took me a while to figure that one out, I was wondering what the kronk was going on. I just turned the bumper 90 degrees and it's fine.

Are you saying you're running stock front springs with no air pressure in them? That will indeed cause wallowing at high speeds.

What rear shocks are you using?

If you've got oil on your forks, you need to at least replace the seals.

[triton28]

As well as GrandpaDenny's idea about the rubber damper several things/questions come to mind for me.
There was a time when the factory didn't install enough grease in the universal joint bearings. It seems to me it was around the time of your bike's manufacture. This would lead to symptoms similar to those you describe. Let's hope it isn't this.
As well the rear wheel splines/cushion rubber could be exhibiting problems and are easier to check than the uv joint.
In so far as the front end, did the oil appear during the time of being cinched down, or was the oil not a problem until AFTER the bike was uncinched and operated on the road for a distance?
If the oil appeared during being cinched down I would think that was normal pressurized bypass and may not occur again during normal uncinched operation of the forks. If however oil is appearing in the uncinched operation repeatedly then I would wonder if the oil seals were installed upside down. The OEM seals, and some aftermarket seals, have a double lip on one side/face/edge of the seal which goes down against the direction of oil pressure.
If the seals were installed correctly and oil is still making it's way onto the lower fork leg then perhaps there is a scrape/scratch/pitting of the fork tube where it contacts the seal and oil can bypass the seal.
With respect to the wallowing I had one that would wallow and it turns out that one of the fork tubes was bent .025" and the lower triple tree was bent a slight amount, almost imperceptible. The way it showed up was the fork tubes were NOT parallel to each other when viewed from one side or the other. Once I changed the tree and the fork tube the bike ran straight as an arrow; see attached BEFORE photos.
Let's hope this may not be the case for you and perhaps it is worn tire tread or low/too high air pressure.
Sorry I can't offer more concrete ideas for your particular bike but have a look at the ideas I presented as they may lead to a solution of your finding something other than only my ideas.
Dave

[cushman eagle]

Not all after market fork seals have the garter spring,as I found out on the GS850 GL I used to own.
I wanted to save money ,installed them ,and the first ride they leaked,upon disassembly,I found they had no garter springs to keep them tight against the fork tube.

[VoyagerCraiger]

Okay... that's a HUGE list ya'll! CRIKEY!
I'll start w little and move to bigger as I eliminate culprits. 'S just as well I put eyeballs on all the above anyway.

No Air in nuttin' suspension-wise; after-market shocks by I can't remember the name but it ain't SHOWA, and Forks get no Air. I've never messed w Air in shocks and am old school regarding them (they blow fork seals). I reckon it's time to learn more about that (low pressure hand-pump and a just plain checkin' 'em once-ta-while). I retained Rear OEM Shocks upon removal, so they could be rebuilt and I guess I'll look that up here on this Kawa-pedia website ya'll've developed (hard to go through it all but there is a LOT of good info here).

I'll likely tangle w all this when I get my GS back together (soon).

And I want to see if anyone PHX/MESA/??? has "THE TOOL". There is a Steering Stem tool I need to tighten that SteeringStem nut down proper. I drove it back around with a punch/hammer upon re-assembly front end and the gd 'knock' sound on almost any input to the front tire (manhole covers, potholes I don't miss, etc) is worse than when I removed the TopTripleTree to improve on the much-less-KNOCK sound. Yeh, yeh... no substitute for the right tool

SO, IF YOU HAVE "THE TOOL", I would love to ride over, put a deposit on it w ID shown, and bring it back in a week or so as the guy (Gene Kappucinski) who 'makes' them charges $50. I hate worse paying a Dealer for OEM parts, but after that, I really hate paying for a ONE-DANG-USE TOOL!

'Preciate the Insights/Experience/Help folks!!!

[triton28]

Here is Don Medina"s tutorial on preload of the Voyager XII steering stem bearing. It is well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMrFJeGQtRg

[VoyagerCraiger]

DONE SEENT IT... 'Tis EXCELLENT indeed. This time I'll REALLY have to pay attention to it though! Hitting/Tightening/Securing that Steering Stem Nut with a Drift Punch weren't the way to go. I don't thiiiiiiiink my Steering Race Bearings are shot (or whatever they're called), but at 45K it's possible. While a different platform I had to replace mine on my '03 KLR. It was hard but easy... finally got that right tool to drive out the bottom Race and things improved quickly from there (and easy-to-access Steering System Lock Nut. Thanks!