Final Drive, Final Ride?

[masherbike]

Hi all,

The final drive broke on my 2012 R1200GS on Saturday. My bike has done 17000 miles and will be 3 years old in May.
I would like advice please. I will visit the Allan Jeffries BMW dealer today to see if they might help me out. If they don't I will fix it myself, so any advice on the repair would be appreciated. I have seen complete units on Ebay for £300 second hand including the casting. I have seen the crown wheel and pinion gear for sale at £300 new. Is there a repair kit available including oil, seals etc?

I am really not impressed with this bike. It has been in 3 times for warranty work. I have had all the services done at Jeffries. I had thought about taking the bike to Morocco but I really don't think I can rely on it. I would feel more confident taking my 12 year old FireBlade as it has never broken down. I am considering selling the bike now, my respect for the machine has almost evaporated.

Andy

 

[Riktus]

If it has been serviced by Jeffries all the time (no one else has touched it) I would say they would be helpful towards you??? - after all what else could you do to stop it failing other than service it in accordance with the manufacturer. But it is 3 years old so if you get help it will probably be a contribution of some sort.

I have found Jeffries to be very good with policy decisions but then again I and other friends of mine give them plenty of work through service and have bought probably 25 plus new bikes off them in the last 2 years (as a group of friends) after a poor service back up from our local dealer Rainbow.

 

[Sgt Bilco]

Andy

Bear with it mate. There are a lot of high mileage bikes on here with few issues and most problems are well known and easily solved.

When you say your final drive is broken, do you mean destroyed or just leaking seals and knackered bearings?

Mikeyboy is an independent and can do a complete rebuild for £350 and he does a brilliant job. Well worth it in my opinion as he used top quality bearings. Because I do a a high mileage, I budget for a rebuild every couple of years and it's served me very well.

 

[Mad_Accountant]

Don't give up on it - the bike looks after you in ways the Blade never could ......

Approach the dealer positively and expect a reasonable contribution from BMW (if the bike has been dealer services at the correct times/ miles).

It is up to the dealer to make the request on your behalf, the customer does not deal directly with Bmw in these cases. It is worth remembering that this repair will be warrantied.

My GSA will be out of warranty in June and I intend to extend the warranty for the duration of my ownershop of this bike. This is possibly not the best option cost wise but I'd rather budget the money than chance it.

Good luck with your fix, Jeffries have a good reputation.

Phil

 

[MWH]

I had nothing but issues with my 07 GSA, sold it and went back to Japanese. But missed the GSA, waited a couple of years and got a secondhand 09 from Jefferies. This one has caused no issues in the three years I've had. Just put in fuel and away. Getting Mikeyboy to rebuild it would be the best way forward, that way you know its good for a long time. I have had issues with two BMW dealer regarding their servicing, now I have a GS911 and do it myself so money saved can go to any future repairs.

 

[timeandtide]

I had a similar problem with mine on Wapping's trip last Oct (mileage circa 25000).
Always serviced at Rainbow who have always been very good.
Steve got BM to stump up the parts (complete rear axle and shaft £1400 worth!)
I just paid for the labour.

 

[Beemerman59]

Mine went on my '08 GSA when it was 6 months outside of warranty with 18K on the clock. At that time it had a full dealer service record and BMW paid for the complete repair under goodwill. No problems for the last 4 years following the repair - there's no play in the FD at all and I've doubled the mileage. If it happens again it will go to Mikeyboy for a complete rebuild as all BMW did was change the crown bearing. I do change the FD oil every 6K - whether that actually makes a difference or not I don't know but it can't so any harm.

 

[patzx12]

BMW will probably stump up the parts for a fix "good will". Ebay.de is good for BMW parts also.
You are is the transition from rock solid Jap reliability to BMW ownership.
Most on here have been through it but still on BMW's
Have a look on the road on a wet day, not many bikes out - but I bet most will be BMW.

 

[Bendy toy]

BMW will probably stump up the parts for a fix "good will". Ebay.de is good for BMW parts also.
You are is the transition from rock solid Jap reliability to BMW ownership.
Most on here have been through it but still on BMW's
Have a look on the road on a wet day, not many bikes out - but I bet most will be BMW.

Dead right. How many Fire1ninjablades do you see with 20K on the clock never mind 50 or 100+.

In fairness Honda Pan Euros clock up the miles but most uses say the BMW RT is nicer to use.

 

[fringe]

Dead right. How many Fire1ninjablades do you see with 20K on the clock never mind 50 or 100+.

In fairness Honda Pan Euros clock up the miles but most uses say the BMW RT is nicer to use.

45,000 miles, been through 6 winters.... 4 chain and sprockets (maybe 5) - Winter kills them. At £150 for the chain and sprocket kits I tend to go for, that is £600 not including fitting as I do em myself...

Shaft drive much easier through winter! I would rather just pay to get the final drive rebuilt every so often.

The zx10r got caked in road salt first this year so the gsa was relegated to garage queen this winter.

 

[birdseye]

MikeyBoy repaired mine when it went and did a good job - pal still has that bike and its going well. But its a design flaw basically - one which leaves the bevel box "marginal" in rel;iability terms. Some bikes get away with it - but I came across a 1k miles two year old RT for sale with a bevel box that had failed. Mikey seems to have a good steady business repairing them.

 

[TimboLeMatelot]

As a point of interest do the new LC versions suffer with the same issue. I have just come across from a Yam Fazer 1000 and to be honest I am beginning to think I have brought a money pit. Admittedly "Brunhilde" is a lovely ride blah blah blah but I am worrying now about the cost of running her long term.

Is the LC any better and more reliable?

Bw

 

[bikemad]

As a point of interest do the new LC versions suffer with the same issue.

Is the LC any better and more reliable?

Bw

Plenty more new issues on lc too

 

[Bendy toy]

The internal bearings should last as long as the wheel bearing. Mine did 50K.
Mike charges £350 to change the FD bearings but the wheel bearing alone can be 50% of that. So just get the whole lot changed.
I also needed new trunnion parts and a shaft U/J was failing. The latter is another expense but better than it falling apart in use.
On Mk1 bikes the FD has to be swung down to drain the oil, conveniently moving grease around the trunnion rollers. Mine has a drain plug so the trunnion rollers had rubbed themselves dry.
The Yammie Diversion 900 makes 90 bhp and probably more with aftermarket exhaust. Mine did 70K with me yet the FD and U/J was as smooth as ever. The bike is still going with its new owner.
It's a pretty basic bike with a solid swing arm/FD but doesn't jack the back end under acceleration so why do BMW need all the fancy linkages?

 

[masherbike]

Thanks for final drive failure comments

Thanks for all your helpful comments. The bike is at Jeffries now. The service message came on the display the day it broke, Jeffries confirmed the service was due that day. I will have to pay for a service before they look at the final drive. They will ask BMW if they will pay for a good will repair, but they may quibble as not all the services were carried out bang on time, although I have had them all done and at BMW dealer.
Whatever it ends up costing me, I don't know whether I will ever have faith in the bike again. It has had its gearbox out and new clutch under warranty, the speedo broke, the computer broke, the forks moved in the yoke when new.
I am an design engineer and I sometimes specify bearings and calculate bearing life, bearings usually fail due to contamination. Assuming Jeffries did a good job of the fluid change, I can only conclude the loads on the FD are too high for the components. Knowing the long history of this weakness I find it hard to believe BMW haven't sorted it, its not difficult or expensive to uprate the bearings to take higher loads at the design stage. I'm just lucky it happened 8 miles from home and not in Spain or even worse, Morocco.

 

[masherbike]

***UPDATE***

Just had a call from Allan Jeffries BMW dealer. They found the cause of the failure. Water had leaked through the seal at the drive shaft casting pivot causing the splined shaft to fail. ''This resulted in catastrophic failure of the final drive and drive shaft'' AJ. A New final drive and shaft are required. Cost £1800 plus £150 fitting + VAT.

BMW agreed to pay 80% of the cost of parts. So cost to me about £450 plus another £200 oil and filter change.

I do recall seeing some reddish residue on the swing arm a year ago, I was suspicious at the time, but I washed it and it never came back, I assumed some rusty water had dripped onto the bike and thought no more of it. Obviously a sign of water ingress and impending doom.

I would be interested to know if anyone else has heard of this.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Just had a call from Allan Jeffries BMW dealer. They found the cause of the failure. Water had leaked through the seal at the drive shaft casting pivot causing the splined shaft to fail. ''This resulted in catastrophic failure of the final drive and drive shaft'' AJ. A New final drive and shaft are required. Cost £1800 plus £150 fitting + VAT.

BMW agreed to pay 80% of the cost of parts. So cost to me about £450 plus another £200 oil and filter change.

I do recall seeing some reddish residue on the swing arm a year ago, I was suspicious at the time, but I washed it and it never came back, I assumed some rusty water had dripped onto the bike and thought no more of it. Obviously a sign of water ingress and impending doom.

I would be interested to know if anyone else has heard of this.

A 1200 GS fault

On GS earlier bikes the boot was secured by 2 stainless steel bands on the Airheads and 11GS's and big zip ties on the 1150's, so very little water (if any) could penetrate the joint

However BMW in their wisdom, did away with this system on the 1200's and made it a push fit boot, with a clip to the driveshaft casing

After being fixed the same could happen again

Read this thread

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/300233-Flat-spotted-rear-tyre

Here's a pic of the superior 11GS design, with the 2 steel bands to secure the gaiter to the driveshaft and bevel box

 

[timeandtide]

Exactly the same with mine!
Rainbow said 1400 for the parts and bill for fitting was just over the ton.
Oil change and check at 600 ml gratis.
Leigh managed to get a cable tie round the seal at the gearbox end.
But it is CRAP design!

 

[bikemad]

It'd be cheaper to get mikeyboy rebuild & Indy oil change fuck paying £450 plus another £200

Iv just done me own oil £26 for 5L of Valvoline VR1 20/50 about £7 for the filter you pays your money

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

It'd be cheaper to get mikeyboy rebuild & Indy oil change fuck paying £450 plus another £200

Iv just done me own oil £26 for 5L of Valvoline VR1 20/50 about £7 for the filter you pays your money

I don't think he has that choice, if he doesn't have the service etc, then BMW won't supply a new driveshaft and casing and FD?