Hello fellow xj bikers from Richard in Bastrop, TX
Really glad I found this community with all this wealth of info.
I just picked a 82 xj750 seca and have been going through the bike in hopes of making it a daily commuter. Everything is going pretty well so far.
The bike has 17k on the guage. I have put about 300 miles on it now. I noticed now that it has what I can best decribe as a whirling sound at verying rpms while going down the road. I'm thinking maybe from the shaft drive. I have changed the final drive oil with a synthetic 75-90 gear oil. When I had the rear tire off for brake inspection the splines on the drive gear look pretty good to me. One of you guys have any ideas.
Also where do I fill out my signiture.
Thanks
Richard

Welcome, Richard!

The whine you're hearing is completely normal. It's coming from the clutch basket to crank gears, and you'd be hard pressed to find a XJ650 or 750 that doesn't have it to some extent. Some of us consider it music to our ears

The rear end on these bikes is damn near bullet-proof, and typically outlasts the rest of the bike with little maintenance.

don't forget to post pics... and your signature can be changed here.

Thank you I feel much better now. I also thought maybe clutch as I changed the oil and filter and used sae 10w40 motor oil. Maybe the anti friction additives have somthing to do with the whine. I will flush and replace with some good MC oil. I need to rebuild the petcock as po must have had problems. He has a inline shutoff valve and leaves it in pri position. I'll post some pics soon
Thanks

WELCOME! Definitely change oil type. Lots of different opinions, happy with Rotella myself (Walley-World)...

skillet

Hello and welcome aboard. My bike sounded the same way...and either it stopped or I got used to it. I'd like to think it stopped after numerous oil changes. I suggest using the recommended oil for your machine, which is SAE 20w for the engine and SAE 80w for the final gear. Nice bike!

Welcome aboard!
You may wnat to flush the old oil out good before dumping the Motoryccle oil in. The friction modifiers in automotive oil is what makes the clutch slip, so you will need to clean those clutch discs off good or they will slip.