DavidTaylor
Apr 3rd, 2009, 11:54 pm
No, it didn't fail!! :p
I had my R1100GS in for a clutch replacement about a month ago, which of course means the bike gets cleaved in two so they can put the new bits in. Got it back after a couple of days, rode it home and to work once or twice, then parked it (hey, I've been breaking in my new GT, don't give me no grief!). I noticed about a week later that there was gear oil leaking out onto the tire and floor from the crown bearing seal. I'm not sure why it would start now having never leaked before, but I'm guessing a combination of a 15 year old seal and the possibility it may have gotten tipped on it's side with while off the bike could have caused it. If you wonder why tipping it on it's side would be an issue, in the service manual it says to keep the drive upright if off the bike with oil in it because if it is laid on it's side once put back into service it will start to leak due to the suction effect (word of warning for you folks out there). Well, I can say that finding the leak sucked, so this all seems plenty plausible to me.
Since I had never done this before I decided to pull the final drive off myself and take it in to get the seal replaced. So last weekend I went into the garage prepared to spend about half the day working on the bike. Big surprise to me, about an hour later it was off the bike and ready to go in. That includes draining the drive and having to rig up some way to keep the ass end up in the air while it's under bits (like a drive with a tire) were not there. I got the FD back Wednesday and reinstalled it tonight. It was a bit more challenging to get back on since you have to insert the final drive splined shaft into the drive shaft while these parts are up inside the drive shaft cover (I'll let you sick minded folks insert your own jokes here). After some creative wiggling, moving things about, and swearing, I got everything connected back up. From there it was just tightening things down, putting the wheel, brake calipers, etc., back on and filling the drive with fresh oil. Took just under 2 hours to go back together.
No particular moral to the story, I was just happy to be able to do the work myself, learn a few more things about my bike, and crank some tunes and be one with my garage for a while. Not a bad Friday night!
I had my R1100GS in for a clutch replacement about a month ago, which of course means the bike gets cleaved in two so they can put the new bits in. Got it back after a couple of days, rode it home and to work once or twice, then parked it (hey, I've been breaking in my new GT, don't give me no grief!). I noticed about a week later that there was gear oil leaking out onto the tire and floor from the crown bearing seal. I'm not sure why it would start now having never leaked before, but I'm guessing a combination of a 15 year old seal and the possibility it may have gotten tipped on it's side with while off the bike could have caused it. If you wonder why tipping it on it's side would be an issue, in the service manual it says to keep the drive upright if off the bike with oil in it because if it is laid on it's side once put back into service it will start to leak due to the suction effect (word of warning for you folks out there). Well, I can say that finding the leak sucked, so this all seems plenty plausible to me.
Since I had never done this before I decided to pull the final drive off myself and take it in to get the seal replaced. So last weekend I went into the garage prepared to spend about half the day working on the bike. Big surprise to me, about an hour later it was off the bike and ready to go in. That includes draining the drive and having to rig up some way to keep the ass end up in the air while it's under bits (like a drive with a tire) were not there. I got the FD back Wednesday and reinstalled it tonight. It was a bit more challenging to get back on since you have to insert the final drive splined shaft into the drive shaft while these parts are up inside the drive shaft cover (I'll let you sick minded folks insert your own jokes here). After some creative wiggling, moving things about, and swearing, I got everything connected back up. From there it was just tightening things down, putting the wheel, brake calipers, etc., back on and filling the drive with fresh oil. Took just under 2 hours to go back together.
No particular moral to the story, I was just happy to be able to do the work myself, learn a few more things about my bike, and crank some tunes and be one with my garage for a while. Not a bad Friday night!