ATF in the transfer case

[Eagle59]

So how come the Model Specific thread begins with the model year 1983? The Sabre came out in 82. You-all won't kick me out for that I hope!

I've owned my 82 Sabre for 21 years. Bought it used in 83. I've experienced all of the "issues" this bike came with so far except the top-end oiling thing. I have not made the top-end modification to this engine but it still runs great.

I'm running with ATF in the rear transfer case to try to deal with the constant oozing of 90 weight gear oil that seems to constantly trickle out of the vent. This keeps the rear shaft constantly covered in dirty goop and makes the rear tire look awful.

Now I know the specs call for gear oil in the transfer case. Service bulletins were modified to reduce the oil capacity to deal with this problem of pumping oil out of the vent. ATF has been used in manual transmissions for years now so I'm thinking it will be okay here. I've been running with it for about a week now and the oil-pumping has stopped. Do you think there will be problems with excessive wear over time?

The rear shaft case always gets very warm to the touch after a good highway run and that continues to be the case here but what do you-all think about this? Any petroleum engineers out there?

[PPE]

:o Hey there eagle !!

We may very well be the last 2 guys to actually be riding 82 sabres !!!

I run 80w90 gear oil in mine.....I fill it to near the bottom edge of the plug.....no problems. I have a slow leak around the three stud junction from the rear end to the drive shaft housing, it was easily fixed with a good smear of RTV silicone. If yours is ACTUALLY coming out the breather, not from somewhere else.....what we did in the case of this happening on a snowmobile chaincase was to glue a golfball size wad of dense foam rubber over the breather outlet. It caught all the blowby, and ya just squeezed it dry with a shop towel as needed.

My sabre has 34 thousand on it and is startin the flat cam situation now....runnin real good 20w50 tryin to make her last another year....its my "Work Horse".
DONT ride a Nice 3rd generation VFR.........or newer.......cuz........ Well, you would see !!!!

A new Sabre without the oiling issue problem would be my first choice for a commuter / touring ride. But my VFR out does my old Ducatis on any point......for half the price !! ;)

[Eagle59]

Fuzzee

You are the third person I know of thats owned an 82 Sabre. I've only ever seen three. That makes us a pretty rare breed I guess.

Mine has about 55k on it and all but the first 300 are mine. I'm not sure if my cams are wearing out or not. How can you tell without pulling the top covers? The last time I adjusted the valves was a few years back but it runs great. I hope to run it every day it doesn't rain. Gas prices are soaring and it's getting expensive to fill the F-150 once a week!

I've had this dumb oil pumping problem pretty much since I've owned the bike. I even tried making a new vent by soldering a 45 auto case on the end of a brass tube about 3 inches long. I drilled holes in the end of the tube for venting, turned the case upside down on the end and soldered it in place. The case was slightly bigger than the tube and allowed air to pass but kept water out. I JB welded this into the vent hole but centrifugal force even overcame the added lift of the tube. I had the bike at a dealer about 15 years ago. The guys there noticed the modification and said there was a service bulletin that came out calling for the replacement of the vent cap. We took my finely engineered piece off and replaced it with the updated Honda part and I thought all was well. The update never made it home. When I got back to my driveway, the cap was gone. It probably launched itself somewhere on the first bump I hit! Anyway, I made another, epoxied it in place and just decided to live with the condition. Well I just can't live with it anymore so I decided to try ATF.

If you think about it, ATF is going to have all of the qualities you need in a gear case lube. It flows well, can take heart and is designed to work under high pressure. It's getting used in similar applications in manual gearboxes so it should be good here too, right? That's my question.

I know the VFR guys here are probably cracking up about now but I figured this is going to be a good place to get in touch with others who are "wired" to the sport.

Did you do the top end oil mod? I was not sure this was a problem on the 750 bikes. All of the discussions and pictures I've seen, the updates were going on the 1100cc engines.

What exhaust system did you wind up with on you bike? I had to put a MAC ceramic system on mine after I launched my baffles one fine spring morning. I was getting the bike out of winter storage. During one of attempts at getting it started, it back-fired and shot both baffles clean out of the megaphones! They bounced off the garage wall 4 feet behind the bike!

It's good to hear from a fellow Sabre man!

[PPE]

No, I still have stock exhaust, a few very small holes, JB welded over em, has held for allmost 2 years now.

Honestly, I would run 80w90 gear oil, and do the foam vent trick. I know, I know.....I have heard about the great atf stuff......but its really a form of hydralic oil, for the sake of making the torque converter work. Think about how expensive if even possible factory Honda parts will be if it eats itself up !?!?
Were dealin with 22 year old antiques here !!! Even a boneyard is a shot in the dark for these semi rare old birds !!! Funny, as I was a Honda dealer mechanic back when these bikes were brand new....saw lots of em in the day, about 3 to 1 ratio to V65 sabres at our shop. (The 65 was a FREAKIN MONSTER !!) The only behemoth that Honda had that rivaled its super destroyer feel was the VF1000F !!!! The CB1100 F seemed light and agile in comparison !! LOL

Im guessin you can tell when your cams have worn through the surface hardening by, when you do a valve adjustment, and after several hundred miles later they allready are starting to have a little more clearance. I have not measured yet, but after maybe 3 k im gettin a little rocker arm tic noise at low revs.....maybe a few thousands to much clearance allready. No, no oiling mod on mine, and VERY heavy abuse by the idiot owner before me.

It shock linkage is worn too, I just lube it with thick chain lube and keep ridin!!! This bike was $500 at a local garage sale !!

I just love this old beater !! Shaft drive silent...silent stock exhaust, with that glorious v4 intake honk at big throttle !! If I cruise country roads at 50 to 55 to work and back.....it AVERAGES 62 MPG !!!! If I use a constant throttle on the flat stretches and stay out of the hilly areas avioding shifting down.....I can get 70 MPG !!!!!! REALLY !! I checked it several tank fulls, as I could not believe it !!

My 93 VFR750 with a 2 Bro pipe gets about 40 MPG !??

With premium gas at about 2.25 a gal here......the ol Sabre is gonna pull workhorse duty to work all season long !! ;)