1979 gs850 gn drive shaft boot

[joe penoso]

I'm working on 1979 gs850 gn drive shaft boot is ripped. I don't have much experience with shaft drives, is it like front wheel drive rubber cover or can I just put some duct tape over it and forget about it? Thanks for help in advance
joepenoso

[Grimly]

It's not holding oil in, it's just keeping dirt out.
Have at with the duct tape.
The rubber might be so knackered it will just split somewhere else.

[Steve]

You <might> get by with some duct tape, but don't bet on it.

Your best bet would be to replace it, but as Grimly says, it's mainly there to keep gunk out of the u-joint area.

You should also know that changing it is neither quick nor easy, but it's not all that bad. You only have to remove the rear wheel, final drive unit, and the swingarm. Remove the damaged boot from the swingarm, put the new boot on, re-assemble.

.

[alke46]

Skip the duct tape. This job calls for the Gorilla tape. Holds mo betta.

[bwringer]

Yep, it's only there to keep water and dirt out.

A new one is only about $20 from Suzuki:

https://www.onlinecycleparts.com/oemparts/a/suz/50d40154f8700230d8b4e486/rear-swinging-arm

As Steve noted, replacing this involves removing the swingarm. It's not something you're going to get done in 20 minutes, but it is a fairly straightforward project. Plus you'll have the opportunity to re-grease the swingarm bearings. Make sure you follow the procedure in the manual to adjust the tapered bearings correctly during reassembly.