oil on rear tyre - Drive leak.....what to do....

[Treeman]

I'm relatively new to my R1200GS so not that familiar with it and it's my first shaft drive. After returning from a trip to France this month I noticed some oil had dropped onto the rear tyre. Then crawling underneath I notice a few drops about to fall from the shaft drive housing.

I've put on a few pics to show.

I'm guessing a leak from the shaft drive mechanism - is this a big/common problem? Would it be advisable to top up the read final drive part before driving any further or to the dealer (if that is where it is coming from?)

Is this something a hopefully competent owner like myself could rectify?

Any advice appreciated.

 

[filbe]

Unusual, and obviously not a good sign.
Others on here will have some idea of what to do...

 

[DrFarkoff]

That could be either the Gearbox output seal OR the Final drive

Take out the filler plug on the gearbox and see if its way below the lower edge

If it is you have your answer

To work out if its from the final drive you will have to tell us what year it is So we can tell you the appropriate method of checking oil volume

As to riding on with oil on the rear wheel ???

That is a bit of a recipe for disaster

 

[Bendy toy]

Mine had a small weep on the gearbox seal but main leak was in the wheel bearing looked just like this. Check for side play at the wheel rim. If its excessive you've almost certainly found the cause.

If it is the gearbox you need to get the swing arm off the bike and remove the seal with a self tapping screw. Its not much more work to remove the FD so either way you have some spattering to do.

Rather than just replace the wheel bearing, I had the whole final drive rebuilt by MikeBoy. Belt and braces maybe, but he said all of the internal bearings were "ready" (i.e. worn out) so money well spent IMO. If you go that way, take off the FD, package it up with padding all around and send by parcel post to Mikey. I used Hermes, though some people swear at them.

 

[Treeman]

To work out if its from the final drive you will have to tell us what year it is So we can tell you the appropriate method of checking oil volume

As to riding on with oil on the rear wheel ???

That is a bit of a recipe for disaster

2006 R1200GS

Rear tyre cleaned of oil, luckily only on the inner rim so none on contact surface.

 

[Treeman]

It's booked in for the Flange recall work next week at CW in Dorchester so I'll try the checks you've mentioned first then it'll be with them to have a look at the rear end / FD anyway so hopefully they'll know. If the levels look OK hopefully it'll be ok driving the 18 miles over to them.

Thanks for all the help and tips so far.

 

[Joe narvey]

My friends RT was recovered from France last month. Oil noticed on rear wheel and later dripping down steadily.

Diagnostic was that bearing had failed and the metal bits had torn the piston seals leaking oil.

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

That could be either the Gearbox output seal OR the Final drive

My money is on it being the gearbox output seal

 

[Bendy toy]

Mine had a weeping gearbox seal but the oil there was clean. Final drive oil was dirty. So clean the rim and wipe the newly dripped oil with a clean tissue. Dirty = most likely FD.

If you have access to a mechanic's camera you could have a look inside the swing arm. No oil (or not much) = it's unlikely to be gearbox oil dripping on the floor. However the O/P seal can still weep, so might was well replace while bike is stripped. I also replaced my swing arm bearings. They were also shot so always worth a look.

 

[DrFarkoff]

Mine had a weeping gearbox seal but the oil there was clean. Final drive oil was dirty. So clean the rim and wipe the newly dripped oil with a clean tissue. Dirty = most likely FD.

Tut Tut @ Bendy!! Supposition Dear Boy! Supposition!!

Investigation is what is called for!

There may be dirty gearbox oil ect ect

Or he might have a "Durty Tube"

Diagnose! not Suppose!

 

[Bendy toy]

Very true but my tissue test will narrow the places to start looking. My little phrase "most likely" gave the clue. and perhaps my second paragraph.

 

[Treeman]

Well...

Checked the rear wheel for play - all seems tight, tried to wiggle it as hard as I could but no noticeable movement or play in the wheel.

Took the gearbox filler plug out and oil is right up to the rim of the whole - so looking ok there. Gearbox oil was very clear and clean so I have cleaned all previous signs of oil and will see what drips out next!

It's a 2006 model with 35k miles on it so wondering if it could do with the FD rebuild as discussed above - although I'm guessing these things depend on type of use and bad luck.

Mystery continues.......

 

[DervMan]

I had the FD bearings replace a few months ago, a day after putting the FD back on the bike I noticed splashes of oil on the rear wheel rim. On closer inspection oil was leaking past the large oil seal on the outside of the FD. Went back to the shop, they replaced the oil seal in 5 minutes, test rode the bike and has been fine since. It appears the new oil seal was faulty from the factory.

My point is your bearing sounds ok (no play) so it might, just might, be a failed oil seal which would take a few minutes to replace......

 

[Bendy toy]

I thought the wheel bearing was grease lubricated.
But regardless if there is no lateral play in the wheel it's more likely to be the gearbox seal. That's much easier to fix and you get chance to grease and/or replace the swing arm pivot bearings.