Final drive oil from gator.

[Jiffy176]

Finally got out on the GS today. First time since dec 10th. Had a chance to test the work I'd done and the newly rebuilt shock.
Great ride no issues. Fuel gauge fixed shock nice happy days.
Then as I was putting the bike back away thought I'd check over the rear shaft as had noted misting of oil or brake dust over the back wheel recently. But couldn't make my mind up which. Any way put hand under shaft side of rear gator and it was wet. I know it was clean when I brought it back from the last run to silverstone and back and there had been no signs of leakage before. So I pulled the gator back and out poured about a table spoon of oil some looked gray some looked fresher. I pulled back the gator at the shaft side. I'd only done 30 miles. Both boxes have been recently changed. I used the right grade shell oil.
Is 1 or 2 table spoons a lot or what would it look like if the gearbox seal had failed. Could this just be where the bike has stood for nearly 3 months. I looked in the gbox and fd. I think they both looked ok. If I do need the gearbox seal to be replaced any ideas on the cost.

 

[ahutcheon]

If the gearbox and final drive oil levels are OK, I'd just leave it and see if it happens again. That's what I did, and it didn't. I think a bit of oil can get past the seal under some circumstances: hot? overfilled? just random?

 

[Jiffy176]

I'm wondering if it's because it's been left through the cold period and then used for the first time and a bit has gone through until heat expansion.
Least that's what I'm hoping but an idea of what's acceptable and cost to fix would be good so I can budget

 

[ELIMINATOR]

Mine had a worrying leak at 21,000, now at 68,000.

Still waiting for something to happen.

 

[(RIP) DitchWater]

If I do need the gearbox seal to be replaced any ideas on the cost.

HERE's the link but you'll need the tools. The parts are cheap and the tools are available from either BMW or the internet.

 

[Jiffy176]

Not a job I'd be doing myself I'm affraid. Thanks for the link though

 

[Jiffy176]

On closer inspection g box oil spot on. Fd may have dropped a bit but still on thread and not reliable enough to confirm. Gbox breather also working.
Pulled off gator again. No oil running out like before felt inside swing arm and oil in there as far as I could feel some new some very black looked like it had been there a while.
Cleaned up and will see what happens. Fingers crossed it will be due to overfill or lack of use and sorts it self out. Though for an 1150 01 with 37k on the clock wouldn't suprise me if it needed doing.

 

[bodie]

Just replaced oil seal on back of g;box on my r 850r not to bad a job to do yourself but i would not worry to much if only a spoon full, mine would leak a bit more on hot summer days and long runs, keep checking levels and let out any oil from gaitor each week then fix next winter

 

[Jiffy176]

Looking at the fd filler bolt it needs replacing as the Allen socket is worn. Suggesting that Prehaps it's been in and out more than it should have been. I'm hoping if anything needs doing its the fd and not the gearbox. Is removing the fd fairly straight forward once the brake torque arm etc is removed and the nut heated?

 

[(RIP) DitchWater]

So are you doing this yourself now?

1) Engage first gear;
2) Remove rear brake;
3) Remove rear wheel;
4) Remove ABS sensor if you are unfortunate enough to have one;
5) Remove mudsling (this could be No 1);
6) Loosen and draw back the gaiter;
7) Use hot air gun on the fixed bearing bolt (the one on the outside) to 80 C minimum and back it off a bit so that is rotates freely by hand and the glue doesn't retake;
8) Then heat the floating bolt (the one on the inside) to a similar temperature and back of the 30mm nut and draw out the bolt in a similar way as above.

If you are unsure about the glueing on the paralever bolts in 7 & 8 above only back them off a few degrees and then lightly go back again a few times in case someone has used a threadlock which hardens with heat. Do this to ensure you don't grind the threads on your swinging arm.

9) When you are happ with the both bolts, remove them and press off your FD until it separates from the driveshaft.

10) Don't drop it.

Have you got a manual?

 

[Jiffy176]

Ditch.
I'm debating if I'm brave enough or not. Although from what I read reinstallation can be tricky lining parts up correctly. Ideally if I can get a day off work a trip to south London will be in order but if not I'll have to have a go. I have got a manuel but not really clear and checking my understanding
Cheers

 

[fatnfast]

You could have a peek up the shaft tunnel before taking it to bits 'quite' easily. Pull the rubber gator back and use a small mirror and torch (pound shop LED ones work best ). Basically, shine the torch up the shaft tunnel and position the mirror at the end to see whats going on. Its a bit fiddly getting the mirror in the right place to reflect inside the tunnel, but very do-able.
It could give you an idea how bad (or good) it is and from there decide what to do.
It really is just nuts and bolts, but heed Ditchwaters words on heating up the bearing pivot bolts (or not). How hot is hot enough? Well, I found when a bit of 'spit' sizzles when applied to the pivot bolts, its ready .

 

[(RIP) DitchWater]

When I had my gearbox out recently I noticed something about my FD and its input seal.

When it was moved and left in this position it seemed to leak...

But when I positioned it like this overnight, it did not...

It would only leak, when rested, as shown in the first picture and, because it will never be orientated as in the second picture whilst on the bike I decided to change the seal and bush.

I purchased this tool, the black castle wrench, from BMW for about £40...

You can get them from the usa but after postal charges and import duty it was about £75 but that included a deep socket to get the nut off.

Have you seen THIS?

The bearing and bush comes out very easily but you will need a 200Nm torque wrench for the nut on your input bevel pinion and your paralever pivot bolts. You can get one from Machine Mart for less than £30. I don't fasten the paralever pivot bolts to the 160Nm which is stated but go for 140Nm and use semi hardening gasket seal as a thread lock. The BMW specified thread lock is well expensive and I couldn't stomach the cost although it is softer than the stuff which some geezers use; the medium or high strength stuff which should be used on bus wheels or jet engines. These medium/high strength thread locks' can grind your soft aluminium threads within your swinging arm so be careful.

As said by fatnfast, it's fairly easy but go slow and think about what you are doing before you do it if you are uncertain. Read the manual, do a search for the paralever bearing adjustment and ask here when you need to know something.

BTW. Check your FD output bearing as well and do them both at the same time if you need to.

 

[MattW]

It's not hard to remove the FD but just in case you missed it USE HEAT - lots of it. It takes much more heating than seems right when you're working on the paralever pinions - remember they're bolted into a chuffin' great heat sink. A wet finger should fizzle impressively before you even think of putting a socket on them.

I did it all (twice ) a few years ago when I replaced the gearbox output shaft seal on my 1100 (that was an impressive leak - about a cupfull of gearbox oil fell out of the FD boot every time I looked).

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180313
www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=184033

Might be worth thinking about replacing your paralever bearings while it's all in bits...

 

[Jiffy176]

All.

Thanks for the tips and Hints.
I think if I did remove I would send to someone to fix rather than attempt myself.
Took the bike for a 40 mile ride today mixed town A road and motorway, took the gator off when I got in and a slight drip came off the inside of the gator. This could be from not cleaning it before.
Where I had cleaned slightly with my finger in the shaft, this still appeared dry so hopefully it's not the G box.

Plan of action is to ride and monitor for now, if I get the same amount of oil as I did before then I'll take action and I think change the paralever bearings as a matter of course whilst in there.

For those who have done it is putting back together as straight forward a reversal of the removal or so certain splines need to be lined up?
Thanks again.

 

[fatnfast]

[/QUOTE]

The shaft and UJ's need to be in phase with each other as per the above pic (or as close as the splines will allow). If yours is a later bike the shaft may be keyed to help you do this. If not, its still not paticulary difficult to do. A rag under the shaft to hold it up while you align the bevel box with it helps, and Im sure Steptoe has mentioned that you can put the bolt back in the torque arm and pivot the bevel box into position.
I never bothered with threadlock when refitting the pivot pins/bolts, infact I put a tiny, tiny smear of copper grease on mine and drew some witness marks so I can see at a glance if they come loose (never have so far).