clutch failure

[david vaughan-birch]

Hello all-first post so forgive me if you've heard this one before...I have a '99 1150, which has done just over 46k. Has run fine until today when the clutch failed, and those nice people at pidcocks tell me its about £800 to fix it and the damaged gearbox. BMW have declined to contribute! Anybody had this happen to them? By the way, a big thanks to the 2 bikers who stopped to check on me on the side of the A453, one of whom came back 10 mins later with a cup of tea! I think he's a GS'er-if you're reading this, you've restored my faith in human nature

 

[richie]

I know its a big job and I am unable to do it myself, but surely its cheaper to by the clutch and a workshop manual. Then any competent mechanic could do it for you for a fraction of the price. At least my mate Jean-Claude over here could do it for a fraction of the price. (How much is a BMW clutch. The touratech job is 370Euros but is not supposed to be such a good job for road riding).

 

[Jimb]

How come the gearbox is damaged ??

Yes its a major dissassembly but if you have the time and are a reasonable mechanic it can't be that difficult, I have the repair manual on CD if you need it.

Just looking at the manual now and the whole process is in there, some special tools are needed one being a stand to bolt the engine down as the rear of the bike has to be lifted up and held there while the clutch is exposed.
Looks like virtually everything rear of and including the gerabox has to be either removed or loosened off, big job but it just takes time and that's the expensive bit.

 

[Mick Fagan]

There is the possibility that the clutch female spline which mates with the male spline on the gearbox input shaft, could be damaged. This would necessitate the pulling apart of the gearbox and that would be a bit expensive.

However, one should be able to pull the whole shebang apart with the normal tools in most workshops. If there are some special sized spanners required then the expense of purchasing them would be minimal.

A friend who changed his clutch and pressure plates on his R1100RS pulled the bevel drive, shaft and gearbox off, in one piece. I realise that the 1150 machines have an hydraulic clutch, which would possibly make this a bit difficult, but it did make the job far easier than what the manual suggested.

It took three of us to lift it in and out. The hardest part was aligning up the clutch plate into the centre, which if you wish to know, I can tell you how to do without the fancy clutch centreing arbor tool.

Mick.

 

[david vaughan-birch]

thanks for the tips-unfortunately I'm not what you'd call technically gifted, so I think I'll leave it to peaople who know. As soon as I find out what's actually happened I'll post the details

 

[david vaughan-birch]

clutch fixed (and wallet £750 lighter); gearbox/clutch splines stripped completely. Hmm...Anyway, Pidcocks kindly threw in a selector drum for me as well (which was also a bit tired, hence the dodgy shifts occasionally). Cant fault the service by the way, but i have to say i am a bit miffed.