Ho,my driveshaft..

[crumbles]

Just opened it up for a front bellows renewal.
Looks pristine on my 2012 Gs,I have never been in there,
Just need too get the front bellows on again,been at it for 2 hrs and no joy,so it's swingarm out and do it that way..

 

[rovert57]

What mileage has the bike done .thinking of doing the rear splines on mine ,never had a look at them.

 

[DaddyPaddy]

Did the rear on mines earlier this year and it was like it had just rolled out of the factory, 31000miles

 

[crumbles]

What mileage has the bike done .thinking of doing the rear splines on mine ,never had a look at them.

Nearly 60 k i think not much history with it when I bought it 2 yrs ago. and going by the front bellows it's an original..

 

[dashfixer]

I had a look at my 09 GS a few months ago. It's the first time it's been opened in 82k miles and it was also like new.

I think that as long as the bellows are good and sealed then there is really nothing to worry about. I know some will say that you should re-lub the splines but when I looked at mine they were fine. Perhaps it's different if yours doesn't have a drain point in the FD because then you will have to open up the rear bellows when you hinge down the FD to drain it. Perhaps I've just been very lucky.

 

[Flintlock]

Mine went at 75000 miles (2010 TC GSA) still managed to limp another 30 miles to a suitable garage to drink coffee, eat food & avail of WiFi whilst waiting recovery.

 

[Neil W]

My 2011 gsa was like that after 14,00 miles and 4 years , on my 2014 gsa lc and 2018 model 1200gsa lc they were drier than a witches t*t with zero lubrication and plenty of rust

 

[crumbles]

I stripped the swinging arm off eventually too replace the front bellows,
Which is a 20 minute job too do,

Support the swingarm at the brake end..
Exhaust off..shock lower bolt out,tie back out the way.undo the 3 small bolts on the S/arm Offside.
Big nut on the nearside,bolt out aswell,has the bearing insert attached
Return too the Offside and pull out,I didn't need the bearing puller either,just mole grips..on the centre bolt..
Remove/clean surfaces,/splines,Molyslip them,attach driveshaft,attach bellows after coating in Stubarags onto the swingarm.
Stubarags onto the gearbox end,feed the shaft into the tunnel,reconnect the bearing pins,
Work the bellows front end onto the gearbox,zip tie it..easy from then onwards too do the rear bit..

 

[Buckingham]

Does the shaft pull out through the swinging arm in situ, or does the swinging arm have to be removed first ? (2012 R1200GS twincam)

 

[vtr1000sp1]

@Buckingham - I'll be doing this task very shortly on my bike. I've researched the procedure and have found that it could be done without removing the swing arm by levering out the shaft but it's fiddly and goes one of two ways - 10mins to pop it back in, or hours of frustration!

I'm going to go with the remove the swing arm option - nice vid showing the process here

 

[Buckingham]

Yes thanks - I've removed my swinging arm now, it's not difficult. Just cleaning up all the splines before reassembly.

You need a torx 60 for the left swinging arm pivot + 30mm socket for the locking nut.

 

[botus]

r u on drugs? .... I tightened all this on mine and pretty sure I don't have a torx 60 or a 30 mm socket

I might be wrong - but BOTH should have registered as the only time ever used these sizes and it doesn't (unless they were different on some models)

EDIT: so he agrees about the 30mm.... but T60 do u mean 12mm allen ? (check vid 9min 50 for 30mm and around 10 mins 40 sec)

 

[Buckingham]

Yes Torx 60 - however, you're only tightening to 20nm (initial) then 7nm (final) so you might get away with the next size smaller torx. Or an M12 hex key.

 

[Kenny Rodkiss]

12mm hex is what it is on my 2010 gsa.

 

[vtr1000sp1]

Did mine today. The tricky bits were:

1. Removing the bottom shock. Undid the bottom bolt but the shock wouldn't separate from the swinging arm. In the end I took shock and swinging arm off as one.
2. Re-fitting the drive shaft to the gearbox. It just wouldn't slide in no matter how hard I pelted it! However, after spinning the internal circle 180 it slipped on a treat
3. Re-engaging the final drive with the driveshaft - this is the first time I'd done this! The most frustrating task when you are oh-so-close to finishing! No tips for this bar trial and error!

Other than that it was all good.

 

[Buckingham]

I just used a length of wire round the shaft to lift it while engaging with the FD & it goes straight in.

 

[Mistacat]

Did mine today. The tricky bits were:

1. Removing the bottom shock. Undid the bottom bolt but the shock wouldn't separate from the swinging arm. In the end I took shock and swinging arm off as one.
2. Re-fitting the drive shaft to the gearbox. It just wouldn't slide in no matter how hard I pelted it! However, after spinning the internal circle 180 it slipped on a treat
3. Re-engaging the final drive with the driveshaft - this is the first time I'd done this! The most frustrating task when you are oh-so-close to finishing! No tips for this bar trial and error!

Other than that it was all good.

1. To pull the bottom shock sleeve out a couple mm to release the shock I run a 7/16" unf tap in a few threads.
Then use a simple puller comprising of a bolt ,nut, flat plate and rubber to protect the swing arm.
Some can be quite a tight fit.

 

[Andygbsmith]

I see on ADV rider a thread stating that BMW offer a lifetime warranty on driveshafts and consider 50 k
to be the life.
anyone seen anything About this?

 

[contact23]

how much for a new driveshaft for this model?

 

[Mistacat]

Lubricated the splines both ends when I purchased the bike at 12K miles , Just had the drive shaft out as I replaced the clutch at 94 K miles.
Drive shaft UJ`s still feel like new.