NO GEARS

[BigblackGS]

Good morning all
1996 1100 gs 47000 km
This morning on the way to work in the middle of overtaking a car in 4th gear it felt as if the bike suddenly jumped out of gear , i put in 5 th and continued, (This has never happened before.) However when i shortly came to junction i had no gears, all that was there was 5th gear, I managed to get back home in 5th, With no noise or groaning or anything from the gear box.
I took off the rear rubber gater on the swinging arm and had a quick look inside, i thought there was a slight smell of burnt rubber but there was no sign of any bits of rubber or metal or oil.
My first thought is that a cv joint has gone but that theori falls with 5th gear still working.
Has this happened to anyone else before ?
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Thanks for any tips.
Phil

 

[Colban]

Have a read here.
http://www.largiader.com/tech/oiltrans/

You may have found the problem though in the drive shaft.The bonding breaks and the effect is like a slipping clutch.The smell and bits of burnt rubber you noticed may indicate this.

 

[Steptoe]

If you can't change gear it'll be your gearbox - if the shaft is the problem you'd still be able to change gear but you may not be able to drive.

Drain the gearbox oil and check the colour and see if any parets fall out

And also check the gear linkage before dismantling the bike, just in case it's something simple like a non returning lever or loose linkage at the gearbox.

 

[BigblackGS]

If you can't change gear it'll be your gearbox - if the shaft is the problem you'd still be able to change gear but you may not be able to drive.

Yes i´ll empty the oil when i get home and see what comes out .
I´d Just like to add that i can change gear and get the neutral light, no problem.
It is just that the gears 1 2 3 4 do not drive at all, 5th gear works and i could get me home, the rest feel like the bike is in neutral, totally gone with the wind

Phil

 

[BigblackGS]

Found it !

The middle gear shaft was totally broken off.
The oil was clean like new no bits of metal or anything.
The only sympton was no 1st to 4th gear no griding or crunching.
Anyone seen this before ?
Sorry about the poor quality of the photos, getting a bit tired to mess around with that at the moment-think you can see the problem any way.
Anyone got a spare shaft for sale ?
is the shaft something that can be bought seperately ? All the other gearbox parts looked to be in fine condition.
In March i changed all the oil seals in the gearbox, i guess i´ll have to do them again now.

 

[hodge1150]

parets?

dont you mean parrots young Steptoe ?

 

[BigblackGS]

Finisssshed

Hi
I managed to find a second hand Layshaft (intermediate shaft) at motorworks for 200 squid (I saw their advert at the top of this side), I think i was lucky to find a second hand one, From all my searching on the net the only other second hand one i could find was on auction on E-bay in the US.
Anyway it is in the gearbox now and I rode the bike to work this morning.
The shaft that snapped had the small rubber o rings between the gears to minimise the clunk when changing gear, My second hand one didn´t have these rings so there is a bit more of a GS clunk when changing gear. Otherwise everything seems fine.
Here in Sweden the BMW dealer wanted £800 for a new shaft.
Now i´ve had the gearbox apart twice in 6 months so i hope it will be ok for a while.
With help from a kind friend we reassembled the gearbox and test rode the bike in the same evening.

 

[D6]

u shoulda asked, theres one in the garage

 

[Gecko]

u shoulda asked, theres one in the garage

What - a freind, a shaft or BMW dealer ?

Hats off to you Mr Swedish bigblackGS - If I ever have a gearbox problem I will be contacting you !