Did my intial Differential Fluid change

May 14, 2015
125
12
Sunrise, Florida
Performed the initial 3,000 Mile Differential fluid change on my CSC Viper conversion. Took 30 minutes including a phone call to CSC Tech. department. The manual needs to have an update at the least.
First of all CSC tech. department says the only safe way to lift the rear end is under the differential but the instructions say Place the trike onto the center stand on a suitable lift. What center stand and what's a suitable lift??? Then take the left wheel off then drain the oil. Not that easy since the plug is directly where the jack would go, so I drained it and re-installed the plug before I jacked it up and took the left tire off to get at the side fill plug. I also turned down the pre-load to 0 so the tires wold come off the ground sooner.
I think next time I could hook up a 2 foot piece of tubing to the bottle of gear oil and gravity feed it into the fill hole. That way I would not even have to jack it up or take the tire off.
And to think the conversion shop wanted $89.00 to change the rear end oil.

The manual pictures a differential and a gear case to be drained (total 5 plugs). I did not see a gear case so to be sure I called and behold the 2015 viper kit does not have one (only 2 plugs). I was pretty sure but did not want to screw anything up.

How hard would it be to review and update the manual or even create a couple different versions of it to fit each model.

Here is the actual wording.
1. Place the trike onto the center stand on a suitable lift.
2. Remove left rear wheel and support trike.
3. Drain rear-end oil from both gear case & differential see diagram for drain plug locations.
4. Remove both the check level and the fill plug on gear case
5. Remove the fill plug on rear differential
6. Install both drain plugs.
7. Refill with 80/90 GL5 rated oil (non-synthetic)
8. See diagram for oil amount do not over fill.
9. Replace gear case check level plug hand tighten only.
10. Replace both differential & gear case fill plugs.
11. Replace wheel.
12. Remove from center stand and enjoy the ride.
 
Good write-up. I opted to have the dealer/installer do the 3,000-mile kit service since the unit is under warranty. If I happen to have any issues I don't want the maintenance to be called into question. Since they've already gone to bat for me over the Honda brake recall issue I want them in my camp if I happen to have any problems caused by the kit.
 
Good write-up. I opted to have the dealer/installer do the 3,000-mile kit service since the unit is under warranty. If I happen to have any issues I don't want the maintenance to be called into question. Since they've already gone to bat for me over the Honda brake recall issue I want them in my camp if I happen to have any problems caused by the kit.

After a buddy of mine was warned about the same thing I called the CSC Tech. department and was told it was no problem doing it myself. My installer is 4 hours away and I was not about to go just for that unless I had to. I wish I had one closer but the closest it 2-1/2 and he did not have the greatest reputation. Funny, mine did and it got screwed up anyway. :mad:

I found the email sent to me back in May 2015. I also questioned the drive shaft issue that has been corrected.

"We have a completely new drive shaft design which we brought out when we introduced the Viper kit for the 2010 Honda. It is an automotive design and is very strong.

You can change the break in oil yourself as long as you use the right oil and the correct amount. Please contact our service department to speak with a technician more in detail about this. 434.263.8866 "


Regards,
Dwight Harrington
General Manager
 
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