1200 final drive failure poll.

[Pauly S]

We all know that the final drives fail on the 1200's, but i was interested to see what years are the worse.
So i thought i was post a poll and see what model years are the most common.
All the best Paul

 

[DrFarkoff]

2004 R1200GS 22,000miles Alloy Brake/wheel carrier worn onto the splines and new carrier proved ineffective repair BM gave 50% goodwill and owner had to carry can for 50% parts plus all labour, the Replacement was a 2006 FD

Same bike @44,000miles has just stripped the clutch splines and damaged the gearbox input shaft requiring strip and rebuild and on rebuild the 2006 FD front seal is gone and it would appear bearings are notchy

General opinion is 2 up laden with luggage 75% of time is the likely cause!

So if there is an option to add riding style i.e. mostly solo mostly 2 up and mostly 2 up with luggage???

 

[Pauly S]

Dunno...

we'll wait and see wait data appears, then we'll break down the worst years by weight, load and speeds and riding style.
This should be an interesting project,it would also be interesting to see if the same data appears on the RT range also.

 

[Pukmeister]

A shame I can only vote once. My 2004 bike had 3 final drives (2 under my ownership, one when a demonstrator) and 1 on my 2008 bike.

 

[mfg]

No failure, is another you have left out. I'm guessing that the vast majority of FD's will have been OK but it would be interesting to see. Mike

 

[Wapping]

A flawed poll from the outset.

Mine failed twice, but I can only vote once. The causes of each failure were quite separate, one of which may not have been what one might declare as a final drive failure per-se, in that the drive itself was fine but a swarf build up within the drive effected the speed sensor, which triggeed the red triangle of death warning that the ABS had failed (which it hadn't). This was when BMW were declaring the final drive oil as being sealed for life, or whatever it was they said, and not fitting a drain plug. I do wonder how many, 'My final drive has gone' complaints have nothing whatsoever to do with the drive itself?

I have since sold the bike, the new owner would say that there have been no failures in now I guess 60+ thousand miles, blissfuly unaware that it had failed twice*.



*Actually, he does know, so he could vote twice, too. So doubling up on my votes. Tricky this statistics gathering. just to be on the safe side I will not vote at all.

Have fun

 

[(RIP) Johno23]

No failure either...................met many GS riders on my travels, never met one with a FD failure yet. only ever heard it on here.

 

[Pauly S]

The idea was...

To see if in a particular year the final drives were failing more abundantly than others,true you could have more than one failure in a year,however the forum tools arent comprehensive enough,to fully evaluate the data presented.
So the idea was to then post a second more comprehensive poll when i had time to compose the questions after numerous posts were put on here,and i dont doubt there will be many.
After finding the common denominators, i wonder if we can check vin numbers to see if there are any batch issues here as well, well at least you will know there could be a problem heading your way, and get the bike checked,and repaired as nesscessary.
Also if there are certain years where the failures are low,we ask the question ...why?
bring it on.

 

[Skid06]

mines failed today 08 gsa 12007mls due a service i will do it myself and with money saved get the fd repaired

 

[Pauly S]

have you checked it yet

mines failed today 08 gsa 12007mls due a service i will do it myself and with money saved get the fd repaired

which bit died?

 

[Rasher]

Obviously older bikes are also likely to be higher mileage as well so you would expect more, assuming even sales year on year

Still some data is better than none and a worthwhile poll, it would also be interesting to have a mileage poll, but again this would end up averaging earlier failures (before oil changing) with later ones, but still interesting.

Of course it only gives an average mileage for FD's that have failed and will not include any that have not failed, but still interesting to see the average life at which FD's that have failed, failed.

Perhaps another poll on how many miles your current FD has lasted would give a better balance, if we can see that far more FD's have gone past 50k than failed before 50k the polls start giving some useful (if not particularly exact) data.

 

[Pauly S]

good points

we'll see what turns up first,data analysis is quite difficult.
Still they are valid questions though.

 

[Pauly S]

2008

isnt a good year,but why?we need more peoples input.and more owners data.keep em coming.
i'll give this a few weeks and dig deeper.

 

[Rasher]

isnt a good year,but why?we need more peoples input.and more owners data.keep em coming.
i'll give this a few weeks and dig deeper.

What are the sales figures for each year?

Certainly dispels what the dealers told me about later models being "sorted" and the 2008 MU's (Model Upgrades) having no FD issues, I am sure the 2 dealers I spoke to muct have never had such a model come in with a failed FD as they would not lie now would they?

 

[Stretchamus]

as they would not lie now would they?

Never

 

[Pauly S]

a good point..

If they sold zillions in 2008,you are going to increase the number of reported failures,hopefully with more data we can actually work out some kind of failure rate,however it wont be truly accurate,because not every 1200 rider will have seen this,and voted,but we need to start somewhere.
Also i wonder if the RT suffers the same failure rate hmmmm.
The only people who know the true answer will be the makers,and of course their bikes dont break down, do they?so i cant see them divulging the data.
What it may do is make them get their firking fingers out and fix their 14 grand machines.
I wonder if they cant make a redesigned FD which fits on exactly where the original goes.
There was a case with renault with the megane, when people power got behind a dashboard saga whereby the dash just dies,Oh thats £400 sir.
Well they exposed it on watchdog and now its a £100 dealer fix.i think renault supply the dash free.
keep voting...Paul

 

[Rasher]

I suppose you could poll for:

What year is your bike as well to get an idea of numbers of each year bike owned by active members on the forum.

Miles at which unit failed would also be interesting - I guess those with multiple failures could just average out their own failures.

Info will never be spot on, but I think a useful insight will emerge, I am actually amazed at the relatively high mumber of 2008 / 2009 bikes certainly dispelling the myth that later units with regular oil changes are much better.

These bikes are not that old so I guess we are looking at relatively low mileage failures - although many owners of earlier bikes may not be first owner and their bikes may already be on second (or third / fourth / fith FD)

I can't see BMW will ever re-design the FD for existing bikes, but more goodwill and pricing support would be a fair compromise, if they gave 50% off any failing before 30k and 25% off any failing before 60k it would bring costs almost back in line with chain and sprockets and make fitting the latest (supposedly improved) 2010 unit to earlier bikes therefore slowing failure rates further.

Can't see them doing f*** all though, except telling you about how all the flaws (that up to now they claim never existed) have been fixed if Sir would like to buy the new WC model.

 

[Slowdown]

'07 1200GS.

The MOT tester at 50000 miles put an advisory on the rear wheel play. I can feel it 'click' with a little side to side play at 12 and 6 o'clock. Apparently Vines wil refurb the relevant bearing(s) for £350 including a 2 year warranty on the work.

This is the first thing that's 'gone wrong' As I serivce it myself I can't complain - I'm still quids in and it's still a great bike

 

[seahorse]

Having looked at a K1300 the other day it would seem that the FD is a mirror image of the R1200. Internal parts including bearings and seals have the same part numbers so to all intents and purposes they are one and the same. Although there are far more Rs than Ks, I am not aware of any issues with the K bikes. I would guess that the power delivery of the twin gives the FD a harder time than the fours so if the design is marginal to begin with then this may be a significant factor. Anyone else have any experience or knowledge of the Ks?

 

[Pauly S]

ooooh looky here

here.
theres a link directly into bmw motorad via facebook,hmmm.
i reckon that someone with facebook should post a link to this thread and others, and really poke the wasps nest....