Drive Shaft seized on the final drive splines

[Ray]

In the spirit of, "A good mechanic is like a little old lady; he/she worries about everything," I decided to load-test my 5 year-old Yuasa battery (see Lee's post in a separare thread - it passed) and take a look at the drive shaft.

But first, a 12-h ride to Chicago and back on Saturday. After seeing Olgry's garage on Saturday, Sunday's plans went from wrenching to cleaning my garage and then spending another 5 h riding the bicycle to take a look at the confluences of the Illinois, Missouri, and Mississippi rivers.

So today I took the bike to my mechanics and for 1.6 h of their labor, had them drop the final drive and take a look, while I worked and made enough money to pay them, as well as slip one of the managers an extra hundred for the mechanics' beer and lunch fund. (I mean, these are the guys I trust with my life.)

Summary:
Front of shaft disconnected, as expected, when they dropped the final drive They've noticed most of the RS's missing the circlip, and have speculated about possible reasons including need for a little play in the system. Their practice has been to leave the circlip off. (Maybe Darrell's early build was the only one our bikes with a circlip....)
Like every other 6 y-old bike, lubrication was reduced to dust and a little rust.

Instead of fishing around with string and a screwdiver to reconnect the shaft to the transmission, they simply unbolted the shock, which gives better access for inspection and any lubrication. If I remember correctly, the rear swing arm bearings are needle bearings, and worthy of attention when we have the chance.

"FRONT DRIVE SHAFT YOKE SLIPPED OFF DURING DISASSEMBLY SO THE FOLLOWING WERE CHECKED
FRONT AND REAR DRIVE SHAFT U JOINT BEARINGS SMOOTH
FRONT AND REAR SPLINES NO ABNORMAL CORROSION, CLEANED AND GREASED
REAR SWING ARM BEARINGS SMOOTH AND RE GREASED AT REASSEMBLY
FRONT SWING ARM BEARINGS SMOOTH"

And the best part, I didn't curse once.

Ride on....