Final Drive Fluid?

[cworley5150]

When I had changed my final drive fluid this last time, there was a little bit of greyish sludge clinging to the drain plug. The fuild was a little discolored too. I'm assuming this is a sign of wear somewhere in the FD. What is it and is it anything to be alarmed about?

The bike has 30k miles and this is the 3rd time I have changed the FD and tranny fluids. Never noticed anything on the drain plug of the tranny and the fluid always looks like new.

Thanks for responses in advance.

Chris

[bransan]

No Worries! Just don't want to see any sparkles.

[cworley5150]

No Worries! Just don't want to see any sparkles.

That's kinda what I was thinking. No big particles that I could see. Thanks!

[FloridaBeakster]

What you are feeling is finely ground metal. My experience with airheads says that if it's soft, there is nothing to worry about. Just clean it off well and re-install. If you start feeling sharp flakes, then you can start worrying, as the bearing is on its way out. It's a little odd, I think, if you never had it before and it just started showing up. I would think that you would always get a little bit (especially the first fluid change after break-in). Maybe one of the experts will chime in on that.

The typical drain plug on the transmission (the lower plug on the side of the transmission) doesn't have a magnet, so you won't get anything there. The magnetic plug on the transmission is underneath and directly above the catalytic converter and most people never remove and clean it. I didn't even know it was there the first time I changed my transmission oil, but next time it is coming out.