Clutch Spline/Input Shaft Failure R1150GS

Out for a blast last Sunday, just after Bala, I changed up from 5th to 6th, let the clutch out - nothing.

I thought I'd missed a gear so dropped back to 5th - no drive - just the engine revving freely.

Come to a standstill - no drive in any gear and expesive sounding noises from down below.

Recovered by RAC, trailered bike to dealer in Crewe on Monday.

Turns out clutch splines are stripped and input shaft damaged. Trawling the web, I find this is not an isolated case.

Anyway, bike is now fixed and I picked it up today.

Couldn't get the broken bits off them. I did manage to have a word with the mechanic (or 'technician' as they call them) and he showed me the bits.

The lad who did the job was OK, but his mate, who seemed to be senior, insisted it was down to owner abuse and said I was lucky BMW had paid for the parts and I should be thankful to the dealership for arguing my case. He also said that they wouldn't be able to send the parts to BMW 'cos "as soon as they see them they will know it's due to owner abuse"..... I couldn't convince him that it wasn't.

This is how to treat a customer, put them in their place!

So the bill for the labour was just under £400 ....

Anyway, took my camera and managed to get a few pics of the damage.

Another pic

(2nd attempt, apologies if it appears twice)

Colin.

Colin,

scary pictures. Did you post this on the ADVrider site, or is there an epidemic of this?

MikeO

Yes I put it there too.

There's not an epidemic, but there are quite a few occurrences on 1150GS's 2000 - 2002, one with only 10k on it.

Also an R1100S had the same problem 3 times.

By the way, in the run up to this I was having problems with downshifts, so that's a possible indicator of trouble looming.

Colin.

Ouch, looks bad!

I got 2 theories:
1. Hardening failure.
2. The damaged parts is not on line, just look like they are. They are a little aslant.

If it happends again on the same bike, I think it aslant. I have heard that have occured before...

I'm sorry!
I'm not an expert; let's hope I'm wrong.

Klem/hug: Liv.

Colin O said:

The lad who did the job was OK, but his mate, who seemed to be senior, insisted it was down to owner abuse

Click to expand...

How the hell can an owner "abuse" an input shaft?
The engine produces power. The clutch lets the power through to the gearbox via the input shaft.
Even if you pulled wheelies every time you pulled away by dumping the clutch, I would expect it to last around 50K.

I replaced mine (airhead) at 62K and it still had a bit of life left. And judging by the number of times I've broken my g/box and shaft, it can't have had an easy life.

I would ask what lubrication it had on assembly.
" " " " they mean by abuse.

This smacks of typical BMW "there's nothing wrong with our design" syndrome. I'd give 'em some "abuse" if I were you.

I've done about 5 clutches and their respective input shaft splines on the gearbox, on various BMW bikes. Including the 1st model R80 G/S in 1981 after 50,000 Klm's.

In all cases, I've put it down to hard riding and nothing more, nothing less. By hard riding I mean pushing the machine to the limits of possibilities on whatever surface is available.

If you are the type of rider who drops the clutch for fast starts or wheelies then it is inevitable that somewhere along the way sometime, the driveline will fail. Also very hard riding and fast gear changes along with huge inputs of throttle, eventually induce clutch failure.

How many times have you seen someone on a race track with the best clutches money can buy, suffering clutch failure on the start line?

All bikes that I've owned have had this problem, but BMW with their single plate dry clutch do suffer more, if the rider doesn't ensure smooth changes as much as possible.

Yes your anger is warranted, but, maybe a reality check of your riding style could be assessed. I know from personal experience that aggressive riding will bring about clutch failure.

The last time was on badly corrugated sandy roads where I was screwing the throttle to induce wheel spin of the rear wheel so that I could steer the bike. I was two up and travelling with a group of friends who were all solo. It was obvious that the combined rider and pillion with the hammering that the drive line was getting was too much, so the clutch female splines gave way. You win some, you lose some!

Mick.

I've just had the metallurgists report:-

"Reason for failue is wear.

This has been caused by lack of lubrication.

Consequently there is metal to metal contact, producing particles and debris which exacerbate the wear.

The clutch splines will be slightly softer than the shaft. Once the surface hardening wears through failure will follow very quickly."

NB: The shaft is coated with special lubricant on assembly. There is no way to lubricate this shaft during it's life (which in this case was 18000 miles)

Colin

I think owner abuse should be brought into this scenario, tell your dealer that after getting 400 quids worth of labour that he is an ungrateful b*****d and take your business elsewhere. Not many dealers will do you a favour for nothing!
If all dealers refused to send the part to BM, in this case, how can they be expected to recify faults on future bikes.