Middle gear drain plug

I changed my engine and final drive oil today and it went fine. When I looked in my manual it said there is a plug for the middle gear, my bike doesn't have such plug. It this plug only on later models ?

 

This is not the middle gear drain plug you are looking for <waves hand in Jedi Mind Trick fashion>.

Consensus is that you should not mess with it. Your 81 DOES have one, don't look for it and you will have no problems. I removed mine and got it back in place with no issues, others here will tell you horror stories and how it is not necessary to drain the small amount of oil that is captured there.

It is very good that you have a manual. Ask a lot of questions here, there are a lot of brilliant folks that are happy to help.

When is the las time you looked at your rear brake pads?

 

RickCoMatic
Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:26 pm Post subject: Re: My New (Old) 1982 XJ650 Project
Don't ... don't ... don't mess with that Middle Gear Drain Plug. You'll just snap it off and be cursing the darkness for ever.

There's less than a Test tube full of Oil in there.
That Oil will be NEW Oil less that 5-seconds after you start the Bike after doing a routine Oil Change.

If you break that Plug ... and more than 4 People have ... so far ... you'll have to pull your Exhaust System off to make repairs.

It is NOT worth the hassle.
Forget about it!

Push it out of your mind.
Hate the idea of having to do all that disassembly because you snapped the head off that Plug!

_________________

 

If you are really concerned about the oil in there, and your bike has roll bars on the front, roll the bike onto it's left side, CLEAR over, after you have drained the major portion of oil, and most of what is in there will drain out, without pulling the plug.
Do this with less than a quarter tank of gas.

Hypoid oil is non detergent, and will not hold the wear particles in suspension, so eventually all that stuff will accumalate down where the plug is, and fresh oil will not dredge it up, under normal operating conditions.
On the elevens I have dealt with, the plugs are magnetic, so you have that going for you.

CZ

 

I didn't worry about the middle gear plug at all, I just did a standard oil change and was concerned with that small amount. I used some good valvoline conventional 20W-50 that I got from work and some 80W-90 for the final drive.

 

It just ain't worth the hassle.

Or, ... the possible consequences.

 

I think you might check the manual for the recommended oil for the middle drive. I'd hate to see you burn yours up because of wrong oil choice. :cry:
While it looks like a bevel gear set up, it is a hypoid bevel gear arrangement, and thus needs the protection that hypoid oil provides. The middle gear and the final gear both use the same oil, at least on the 1100's.

CZ

 

The "middle gear" gallery is engine-oil lubricated on the 650/750/900s which is why the discussion. It has a hard-to-access and easily broken plug.