Slave replacement

[Zeke]

Hey all;

I have 65000 on my beauty with no problems ever. I am thinking about doing the clutch slave, just a precaution. But Im an old mechanic, if it aint broke dont fix it. But I know everyone just said, if you lose it you lose the clutch. Now to the question. If I change the slave and that slave goes bad what is the remote chance that BMW will cover the damage to the clutch?
0 to none I guess.
Just wondering.
Any tech sessions in South Florida?

Zeke

[ltcanup]

If I was gonna do the slave cylinder at 65000 I would wait
a little while longer and just do clutch and all.Mine has 99000 and Im going to do it all at once.At 99000 with no problems yet so if it does go I cant complain.

[sheldan2]

I would change it out asap and drill a weep hole, probably even change out the seals while in there....

[cccpastorjack]

FIRST...

You suggest that changing the Slave Cylinder might void the warranty. If your bike is still under warranty then you should be very careful not to do anything that will void it....period. If the slave fails under warranty and contaminates the clutch plate, the warranty kicks in and all of it is replaced new. ;)

However, if your bike is out of warranty and has 65k on it, then I agree with Mike...YOU DEFINATELY SHOULD CHANGE IT and change it soon! Just as important is to drill the "Weephole". Slave Cylinders tend to fail at differing mileage, but they do have a high failure rate. To replace the old one and not drill the weephole would be remiss IMHO.

By the way...as one who learned the lesson the hard way, I just replaced my entire clutch because of a failed slave. $400.00 in parts alone. I did the labor...but it was a BEAR of a job. Pics are posted on this forum. It costs about $1300.00 to $1600.00 at a dealership. So....replace that $100.00 part and drill that hole. Preventative maintenance can save a LOT of money and time. Trust me...I KNOW! :eek:

[jsr]

I tend to agree with Bill, I have 05 with 106k and have just replace the clutch slave, and did the clutch to, as the shop was in to replace the rear main and had her apart. Just as easy to combine jobs as the majority of the cost, or effort is getting to it. If it ain't broke why fix it and if it takes a clutch the parts are not that expensive compared to getting to them.

[Zeke]

Hey all;

I also hear that the new slave cylinders go bad and then take the clutch.
I figure at 100000 in a year I can do everything at one time. I may do it
myself or pay thru the nose. I can handle the job its just the time Im short of.
Im just concerned to put in a new cylinder that one goes bad and Im still in there again. Can you reach the slave to drill it on the bike? I have access to most machining tools and alot of tricks. Grease on the bit works well.
Just a thought. I hate to have to go in there 2 times.
Im out of warranty, but if BMW wont warranty the part then its buyer beware. And then Im still in there again.
Im thinking too much Im going to bed.

Zeke

[kevincook]

Zeke,

Replacing the slave cylinder and drilling the weep hole is an easy job compared to getting to the clutch. You won't be "in there" to do the slave. The last several slave's that I have done have been about a 2 hour project. If you do it on your own it will probably take you 3-4 hours the first time. This is compared to about 20 hours to do the clutch.

I might be wrong but I think many people have gone well past 100k miles with their clutch so I wouldn't replace that unless you suspect a problem at 100k.

Good Luck,
Kevin

[jackd]

Zeke, I agree with Kevin.. I don't remember anyone posting and saying that they wore out the clutch. The clutch is never the primary part that failed. It is almost without exception secondary to another part failure.

I agree there are transmission seals that can also take out the clutch but the primary part is almost always a leaking or failed clutch slave..

IMHO the weep hole is as important as the proactive slave replacement because new parts do fail. There was a redesign of the clutch slave.

[hoodoodrum]

I agree there are transmission seals that can also take out the clutch but the primary part is almost always a leaking or failed clutch slave..


Any ideas on what good preventative maintenance should be, other than regular oil/tranny fluid changes, to help insure that the tranny seals don't fail early?

[Bruce_N]

OK, I've mostly ignored the pending doom of rear drive failures and whatever else the LT's are famous for. I figure I bought the bike to ride, if something happens I'll deal with. But after seeing Pastor Jack's pictures of clutch repair and what it would cost to fix, I'm thinking maybe I should do this. Question is, without taking things apart can I see if the previous owner has already done the weep hole? I would hate to tear the bike apart and find out it's already been done. BTW, Pastor Jack, very impressive task you accomplished.

[mtrevelino]

Question is, without taking things apart can I see if the previous owner has already done the weep hole?
I would think that you can just lay on your back or side and look under where the slave cylinder is. If you see a hole under the housing, you know that it has been done. If it is not done, the bottom of the housing should be smooth.

[jackd]

Any ideas on what good preventative maintenance should be, other than regular oil/tranny fluid changes, to help insure that the tranny seals don't fail early?

I don't know what you could do as a preventative measure to stop a potential leaking seal. Failing early is probably more or less an original assembly problem or the result of another part failing. In any case if the bike is down for any big repairs all of those type of 'wear' parts should be done, even if you don't have any current leak issues.

I currently have a small leak on my transmission output shaft and it runs down the swing arm. Enough to get the swing arm dirty after the rubber boot at the rear end. takes about 4 to 6,000 miles to collect enough dirt to look ugly. I was told by my local BMW service advisor that if I was using synthetic in the transmission, which I am, I could switch to the 90W SAE and most likely eliminate the leak. He had a similar leak on his bike and resolved it by going back to 90W.

So far I have just cleaned up the oily spot after every service interval. Doesn't seem to be getting any worse so I probably could switch and fix my problem but I think the tranny shifts a little better with the synthetic so I will stay with it..