Help! Rear drive spline

[Deleted account 250319001]

You misunderstand.
I'm stating that of course there will be failures with any mechanical parts. However, Shaft , Very rare. And certainly not as suggested that if you don't strip and grease your spines they will explode.

 

[mrtee43]

So what is the function of the rear bellows? Is it not to stop water ingress? As there are many cases of water ingress then at some point, the final drive is going to have to be dropped to facilitate installing a new one.
If the U/J splines have seized through lack of grease how is the replacement going to be achieved?

Or does it not really matter if water dust etc get to the universal joint, after all many cars have exposed joints and they manage.

 

[RallyeGS]

and round........

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

Or does it not really matter if water dust etc get to the universal joint, after all many cars have exposed joints and they manage.

Exactly, Its scaremongering. Completely unnecessary.
And if it is such a problem, where are all the exploding spline threads

 

[Micko123]

After watching the above mentioned video... in the comments section....here is a screen shot of one person's experience, another person does say pre water cooled bikes didn't appear to be a problem but post 2012 bikes do seem to let water in and may contribute to drive shaft failures.
A friend of mine bought a private sale 2017 GS 1200 with only 800 miles on it, that at the time was only 6 months old. When the 2 year warranty ran out he obtained the extended warranty.
Upon reading all these horror stories about swing arms holding water decided he would strip the final drive and lubricate the splines. It was rusty inside and seized solid. He took it to BMW and complained it felt rough when the clutch was pulled in at 30 mph and coasting.
BMW tech rode the bike and agreed it needed investigation.
His bike had never been off road, no river crossings, only been caught in the rain a few times, always washed with a bucket and sponge, never power washed.
When BMW stripped the final drive they couldn't separate the drive shaft from the final drive either...even in a vice. A new final drive, new shaft, new type accordion bellow with spring steel clip support to stop the rubber touching the spinning universal joint. He was told the total cost would have been well over £2900 with labour...
all covered under extended warranty/goodwill due to the bike only having 4,300 mls on odometer and previously serviced by the dealership. I am not saying the drive shaft may have failed or that anything untoward may have happened. When I bought my 1250 I stripped my rear end immediately after the 600 ml running in service and greased the splines/sealed the accordion bellow... just as well I did as it was as dry as a nun's !
Needless to say we both now do them every 12 months, straight after the dealer's service. We went half's on the Kluber Starburags NBU 30 PTM for sealing the bellows, and I already had the Rocol Dry Moly Paste in my garage, there's no right or wrong just peace of mind. You should do whatever gives you peace of mind.

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[malcopopolo]

It takes less than 30 mins to do. You can also change the rear drive oil, check the rear brakes and give the area a good clean.
costs pennies and may save a potential problem in the future. If you have to change the rubber gater/bellows you will be glad that you undertook this simple function.

If not then happy days

I personally will do this every year during winter, I only use clear waterproof marine grease for the bellows. So far no problems.

 

[Micko123]

This is what we use, it helps if the tunnel gets water in through the bellows because it's then trapped and rusts the spline to the U/J on the drive shaft. I once watch a video where a guy drilled and tapped a 4mm hole in the swing arm tube so he could drain it after river crossings.

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[Micko123]

I don't know how to post You Tube link but you can search for it on YouTube yourself....
BMW R1250GS R1200GS
driveshaft rust fix by SAMFICOM
on 20 Jul 2019.
He drills a 5mm hole and taps it for a stainless screw, so he can drain it whenever he wants to. Might do that myself when I do spline grease in May, I can remove any swarf whilst the F/D is tilted back .

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[Al2474]

Hi, long time reader but first time post . My GS broke down last September , 5 yrs old and done 12,000 miles full service history , differential splines destroyed ( so bmw told me ) cost 3 grand to be fixed . Luckily I extended my warranty as well . Love my bike but to be honest I have lost a bit of faith in her now .

 

[Rockred]

Have a look at this, it will give you a good idea about all things to do with the spine lube, it is about 70 odd pages long. Jim Von Baden has some very good vidios, if you want to do more service wise on your bike.


I hope this helps. https://advrider.com/f/threads/r120...ive-change-and-spline-lube-pictorial.1129815/

See post 231 in the above thread, it covers more your about the problem that you are having.

 

[Mr Bean]

I've had 6 GS's since 1999. Covered thousands of miles Africa, Asia and all of Europe. None of my bikes or any of my friends bikes have ever had any issues with the shaft drive splines. Or final drives come to that. It's a manufactured problem that simply doesn't exist.

My hexhead RT snapped the shaft (water ingress) and locked the back wheel whist riding on a wet M25 at night. Sphincter twitched a bit as I was filtering at the time...

 

[Micko123]

I don't know what you are fussing about... Onahi insists nothing ever happens due to a bit a bit of water ingress, that's good enough for me. .
He's an expert... had 6 GS / GSA's over 21 years apparently, so my money is on him being correct. So don't listen to any more of this nonsense about water ingress on water-cooled boxers. Incidentally I once told my wife I was an expert and she replied....
'Yes dear, an ex is a has-been,
and a spurt is a drip under pressure" !
Needless to say I shut up and not another word was uttered for a while.

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[Deleted account 250319001]

I don't know what you are fussing about... Onahi insists nothing ever happens due to a bit a bit of water ingress, that's good enough for me. .
He's an expert... had 6 GS / GSA's over 21 years apparently, so my money is on him being correct. So don't listen to any more of this nonsense about water ingress on water-cooled boxers. Incidentally I once told my wife I was an expert and she replied....
'Yes dear, an ex is a has-been,
and a spurt is a drip under pressure" !
Needless to say I shut up and not another word was uttered for a while.

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Spot on.
But don't take my word for it, Just read all the threads on here about exploding drive shaft spines