Drive shaft service on 4000 miles

bosnjo · Sep 16, 2021

Well, just for a peace of mind I've decided to lubricate the splines on driveshaft. Bike 4000 miles, purchased new January 2021, R1250GS.
After reading a lot and seeing a lot of videos of final driveshaft rust problems and failures and knowing that dealer doesn't touch the driveshaft in scheduled maintenance (unless you ask for it), I went to my friend's bike shop and we've done the lubrication.
I've seen that there was a period when bikes came out of the production line with final driveshafts completely dry so I was not sure how was it on mine. So, I will describe what we've found out.
Splines were not dry. They had some grease on them, front and rear, but very, very little. We covered them with BMW recommended Optimoly grease. Rubber boots also had some of Staburags grease but not evenly spread and some areas were completely dry. So we did that as well.
We haven't found any rust but the bike was ridden only once in rain for 10 minutes.
Now I don't need to have a doubt about the state of the splines on my drive shaft.
As a final note, I thought it was strange that Staburags was used both on rubber boots and splines by the factory. So we cleaned the splines well and applied "Castrol Optimol Paste TA". Boots were sealed with "Staburags NBU 30 PTM". Everything as per BMW recommendations.

Winjar · Sep 16, 2021

Very sad day when no problems are found for here

pcarnut · Sep 16, 2021

Just did the same with mine. Very light coat of grease, so wasn't completely dry, cleaned and lubed the splines, no more wondering.

Zx9man · Sep 16, 2021

I think that when the horror stories we’re running a muck I to took the plunge and did mine I recon do it once every 2 years and life is ok

bosnjo · Sep 16, 2021

That is my plan too, once every 2 years.

BigKev67 · Sep 17, 2021

Is there much work required to do this ?

Zx9man · Sep 17, 2021

BigKev67 said:
Is there much work required to do this ?

Quite a lot of YouTube videos to help people

pcarnut · Sep 17, 2021

BigKev67 said:
Is there much work required to do this ?

Not really, surprisingly straight forward. Took maybe 35-40 minutes start to finish going slowly. Had a friend help who had done it before, but otherwise as noted, check out a youtube video.

Winjar · Sep 17, 2021

BigKev67 said:
Is there much work required to do this ?

If you are not strong use jack under drive to lower slowly, it save big suprise

bosnjo · Sep 17, 2021

Two pair of hands and maybe one hour to do it slowly.

Riktus · Sep 18, 2021

Less time if you use an clean "earplug" to bung the sensor hole on the rear hub when you drop the drive (saves dropping the oil out of the hub and this gets serviced by the dealer anyway so no need to change.)

Just make sure you coax the rear final drive off the spline without pulling the front connection off (which is much more difficult to get back on.

The front drive is usually very well lubricated and for the last 3 bikes I have owned really didnt need greasing.

Zx9man · Sep 18, 2021

Riktus said:
Less time if you use an clean "earplug" to bung the sensor hole on the rear hub when you drop the drive .

Now that’s a great idea why clean though just use an old one you washed off

Victor c · Sep 18, 2021

Zx9man said:
Now that’s a great idea why clean though just use an old one you washed off

Christ, what kind of soap and water do you use if things are not clean when you’ve washed them?

BobT · Sep 18, 2021

Riktus said:
The front drive is usually very well lubricated and for the last 3 bikes I have owned really didnt need greasing.

Just to put this into perspective, so is the rear spline usually well lubricated and doesn't need greasing. People do it because there is a chance that it is not, and that will apply to the front too.
I see this as something that has been found on a small percentage of bikes, but is blown up by the internet, the same as TFT thefts, stone damage on headlights and many other rare things that have happened.

Winjar · Sep 18, 2021

BobT said:
Just to put this into perspective, so is the rear spline usually well lubricated and doesn't need greasing. People do it because there is a chance that it is not, and that will apply to the front too.
I see this as something that has been found on a small percentage of bikes, but is blown up by the internet, the same as TFT thefts, stone damage on headlights and many other rare things that have happened.

you are in the most pessimistic area for bmw, if you read on everything self explodes

Alan R · Sep 18, 2021

Zx9man said:
Now that’s a great idea why clean though just use an old one you washed off

Great cost saving tip. Well done.

AlanR

Riktus · Sep 18, 2021

Just to put this into perspective, so is the rear spline usually well lubricated and doesn't need greasing. People do it because there is a chance that it is not, and that will apply to the front too.
I see this as something that has been found on a small percentage of bikes, but is blown up by the internet, the same as TFT thefts, stone damage on headlights and many other rare things that have happened./QUOTE]
My last Bike (R1200 GSA year 2016) was seized solid when i stripped it at 3 years old (only the rear was seized the front splines and UJ were well lubricated which led me to think the back would be OK). To split the rear I had to withdraw the whole shaft and then basically keep using heat and freeze spray to "fracture" the joint. once I separated I then rebuilt and lubricated it every 12 months. The Rubber gator was in perfect condition so the moisture ingress was mainly from condensation.
Most people will say that it makes no difference if the shaft seizes to the splines but if there is a UJ joint there then there is "expected movement" however small it is.

I got smoother running and better gearshifts after it was all fixed and lubricated which I put down to the pressure on either end of the shaft was finally distributed equally (with equal resistance) meaning the shaft could flex where it is designed to (there is a solid state connection in the middle of the shaft).

Someone asked why use a clean earplug - the reason is that there is only 180 ml of oil in the drive hub so if you use a new ear plug then they expand really well and make a tight seal on the hole - be careful to not displace the rubber o ring on the sensor though because this also allows the sensor to fit in the correct place with enough resistance to only need approx 8nm of torque to tighten it up - too much torque and you will crack the sensor casing. With only 180 ml of oil and an ear plug with water stuck on it I dont want to risk any contamination at all no matter how small the risk.

Loads of people will tell you you dont need to do the lube job and thats their own choice - I can tell you I will be doing it on my new bike at approx 12 months as a winter tinkering job because I know the rust that welded my old splines together was caused by condensation (my bike had not been in a river crossing and it never used to get pressure washed and the gator was completely sealed all the way around both surfaces) so in my opinion even if greased from the factory its a job i can do without too much hassle.

Why do it?? Well thats easy for me - if ever I need to have the final drive rebuilt I can get the unit off the bike for repair without pulling the front drive shaft off the splines - which is a feckin pain to get back on.

Drive shaft service on 4000 miles

bosnjo

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Winjar

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pcarnut

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Zx9man

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bosnjo

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BigKev67

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Zx9man

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pcarnut

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Winjar

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bosnjo

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Riktus

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Zx9man

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Victor c

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BobT

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Winjar

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Alan R

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Riktus

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