final drive shaft removal

[brokentoe]

I'm wanting to remove the final drive shaft. Two reasons. First, I'm troubleshooting and so far I haven't found any trouble. Second, some careless non-mechanical person accidently tore the rubber joint boot and I want to replace it. I'm not naming any names but his handle ends with "toe".
Anyway, it's been 11 years since I've done much of anything with the final drive and I want to double check on something. I have in mind that I will remove the circlip which is next to the u-joint and slide the drive shaft out through the swingarm housing. I've already removed the other circlip and the splined joint. Am I forgetting something? I would rather not remove the swing arm itself if possible. I realize this is probably a dumb question for those of you who are into these things all the time.
Thanks in advance for any help.

[robin1731]

Shaft comes out the front. You can do it without removing the arm but you have to swing it down at pretty steep angle.

[Whiskerfish]

yea disconnect both shocks and anything else that might get in the way and drop the swingarm to about 40-45 degrees and it will come out the front but you have to have the back sleeve off, so you have to remove that clip up inside there first.

[brokentoe]

Thanks for the replies. Taking it out the front surprises me. I have the muffler loosened and hanging a little lower than usual, so I can see I'll have to remove it, which is not a problem. Thanks.

[brokentoe]

Worked perfectly. Thanks again.

[Whiskerfish]

good deal!

[Old Fogey]

I have to say, if I'd been that far into it I would have had a look at the swing arm bearings too. It's only slackening two lock-nuts and unscrewing the two pivot bolts. The swing arm will just drop out.
You might want to look here:
http://www.wingovations.com/ruined-sa-b ... 4579471091

If you find they look like that, you really want to look here:
http://www.wingovations.com/wingovation ... 4589918806

[brokentoe]

That's some good information there Old Fogey. Thanks. I also noticed my rear brake line was cracked in a few places.

[Old Fogey]

Kits are in stock if you need one. Roughly 10 days shipping from me to you.