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Rear hub(?) leak


MrGrumpy83

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I noticed a wet oil stain on the sidewall of my tyre yesterday after the bike had been parked for a few hours. I had a look and found a drip on the bottom of the hub.

 

I rode it home and parked it. The oil is actually clean (it shows as black in the photo but it had collected dirt on its journey to the low point to form a drip) and is very thick and tacky and has a similar smell to car gearbox oil. In fact I'd say it's so thick that it can't possibly be oil, has to be grease - how it's forming into droplets I don't know.

 

It appears to be originating from behind the hub assembly, around the area of the chain tensioner.

 

Has anyone seen this before? Any tips on anything simple I can do to get me by until I can get it in to Honda?

Bike has ~16,000km.

 

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Could be I guess, but I can't see how? Chain lube would tend to fling away from the chain when riding and not leak down like that, wouldn't it? And if it was chain lube should there be evidence of it elsewhere?

 

I don't use huge amounts of lube on it, it's not overly 'wet' and it hasn't been done for a few weeks, but yesterday was the first time I've seen the drips and it has leaked more overnight.

 

The pics don't really do it justice at all but it certainly doesn't look to me like it's coming from the chain.

 

Either way it's due for a clean and re-lube so I'll do that and if that's all it is then awesome. 

 

 

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Maybe some of the grease in the rear wheel bearing is coming out due to the bearing running hot???

I have never noticed it myself but that is an area that tends to get mucky.

Next time after a good ride feel the hub to see if it is excessively hot.

 

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  • Member Contributer

FYI, the bearing carrier is not filled with grease, but it could be liquified excess grease, I suppose.  The only way for bearing grease to migrate out of the bearing carrier, though, would be past the axle seals (the carrier itself doesn't have a drain hole or anything like that).

 

Ciao,

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It looks to me as though there has been a pooling of whatever at the pinch bolt head area and has dribbled down the back of the swing arm. Could you have possibly accidentally oversparyed chain lube onto that area. The chain lube I've used for years is Maxima Chain Wax and as you described (smell of gearbox oil) it does have a smell of Hypoy Gear Oil. Does your rear wheel feel nice and smooth when turning by hand? Might pay to clean the area thoroughly then re-assess the situation. 

Cheers and Good Luck.

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4 hours ago, Egg on Leggs said:

Maybe the previous owner was smart enough the lubricate the area to avoid it seizing up.

I'm the first owner ;)

 

8 hours ago, Grum said:

It looks to me as though there has been a pooling of whatever at the pinch bolt head area and has dribbled down the back of the swing arm. Could you have possibly accidentally oversparyed chain lube onto that area. The chain lube I've used for years is Maxima Chain Wax and as you described (smell of gearbox oil) it does have a smell of Hypoy Gear Oil. Does your rear wheel feel nice and smooth when turning by hand? Might pay to clean the area thoroughly then re-assess the situation. 

Cheers and Good Luck.

 

It looks like that in the photo, but there's no evidence of that when you see it in the flesh. The fluid runs through the crack in the middle and pools there before running. There's only a little bit around the pinch bolt.

 

I'll clean it up over the weekend and see how it fares.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • Member Contributer
15 hours ago, MrGrumpy83 said:

Finally got to clean it up and go for a decent ride. Now it's time for some humble pie. It was chain lube. Must have been heavy handed last time around!

That is good, keep it oiled to stop the eccentric  seizing in the SA.

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