Back in 2013, Tim Davies had the U-joint fail on his Honda Pacific Coast PC800 motorcycle. As our beloved PC800s get older, we will start experiencing more U-joint failures in the fleet. In the last year, one or two people have experienced this failure and reported on it in the Facebook group and on the IPCRC. Below is Tim’s description of events when his U-joint failed.
In case you wondered what a PC800’s blown universal joint looks like, here is mine from 2013 after it self destructed on the Pacific Coast Highway Just south of Santa Barbara, California.
I knew it was going bad before I left New York State, but I was hoping it would last until I got home. You can feel it going by turning the rear wheel by hand on the center stand and there is a notchy feel to the spin.
It failed at about 55 mph and felt like I was riding on skinny, 6 inch high speed bumps spaced close together. Fortunately I was a few feet from an exit off the multi-lane roadway and stopped immediately on the exit ramp.
There was no other damage to the final drive. It was repaired in 3 days and I was on my way.
Tim Davies
As I write this post in the summer of 2019, it is starting to get a little hard to find genuine Honda parts for our bikes. Mother Honda no longer stocks this part but you can occasionally find new old stock at Honda dealers and good condition U joints are showing up on eBay. Sometimes the part is listed as a yolk joint rather than a U joint.
The part number for 1989 through 1996 Honda Pacific Coasts is 40200-MR5-003. There may be other Honda bikes from that era that use a similar U-joint although I have not yet done the research to identify a replacement. The final drive is fully interchangeable with later bikes so I expect that this U-joint might be, too.
How do you replace the u joint on the pc 800. I’m not sure if the u joint is bad. I don’t really know what it is supposed to look like when trying to put it back together. It looks like the u joint moves up and down and side to side.
Howdy Charlie!
I believe the u-joint should not have any “slop” in it. What you’re describing sounds like a failing u-joint. Do you get vibrations when you’re riding?
The entire drive shaft with the u-joint pulls out of the transmission.
Cheers,
Douglas
How do you pull the u-joint , mine seems is bad . I developed a LARGE knot on my dunlop and a slight click when rolling the rear wheel on the center stand . I decided to change the final drive to a VT1100 while putting the new tire on and changing the u-joint . When I pulled the final drive the u-joint stayed on the bike . Do I have to pull the rear swing arm to change the u-joint ? I have a manual but cannot find info specific to replacing the u-joint .
Howdy Danny!
You should be able to pull straight back to remove the u-joint and drive shaft from the swingarm. At least that’s what I recall doing before but that was over ten years ago. You might try asking on the iPCRC at https://groups.io/g/ipcrc to see if anyone has done this job recently.
U joints can fail but it’s pretty rare. How many miles do you have on the bike?
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Douglas
Thanks for the response . The bike ( a 1996 )has a little less than 16,000 miles . There was a clicking /slight knocking noise when I spun the wheel with it on the center stand so I decided to go back with a VT1100 c-2 final drive . When I pulled the original final drive the shaft came out with out the u-joint . I will try and make a tool to hook the u-joint and remove it . If it is bad I’ll have to find a replacement somewhere . It will have to be the u-joint or the “differential” (?) because I have changed everything else out and the noise was there before I started . The VT1100 final drive came with a u-joint but it was about 1″ to long and the drive shaft was 1″ to short which I don’t think will work . Thanks again
Hi Danny,
I think you can find a used u-joint for a PC on eBay or similar. Or there is likely a drive shaft shop near you that can rebuild it. Have you been able to isolate the noise specifically to the u-joint?
Cheers,
Douglas
Actually I have repaired it . The noise I heard were apparently normal for a PC when on the bike is on the center stand and the wheel is being turned by the motor . I did however go ahead and replace the final drive with a unit off a VT 1100 and ( surprise) I found out the bike had a severe high frequency vibration that caused all types of rider discomfort that I assumed was normal until the swap . This has almost completely gone away with the change in the final drive .