BMW Luxury Touring Community banner

ELECTROHYDRAULIC CENTER STAND (EHCS)

4K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  CR125Honda 
#1 ·
Just had total right knee replaced 3-28-17 and am recuperating. I finished my annual maintenance three months ago and am wondering how many of the owners of 05+ LT's are servicing their EHCS on a regular schedule. I remove and open/flush/replace seals/O-rings on an as-needed basis, remove the DC electric motor every three years, disassemble, blow out all the brushes dust, lubricate, remove grease in the gear drive, charge the pump/hydraulic ram, replace the whole assy, check for operation by 'bumping' from a spare 12V battery, and remount on my 05 LT.

I have owned a HANDYLIFT 1000 since the winter of 06. I have enhanced the lift with lateral extensions, a longer plywood entrance ramp, added a SS 1/4" plate positioned immediately below the EHCS, drilled additional holes at the front of the lift to move the L/R jaws rearward to accommodate the rearward motion when the LT goes up on its CS.

No, you cannot get the dealership to service the EHCS...they consider it a non-serviceable item...very dumb!

In the past I have noticed directions for removing the frame/EHCS and I don't have to do this. I simply use a floor jack along with correct position of the lift and remove the EHCS downward right away from the frame...very easy procedure.

About three months ago I stopped by one of the two dealerships in the greater Seattle, WA area and picked up another discarded EHCS. I rebuilt these units along with John Zeiler and other folks. I have not determined what caused the latest acquired unit to fail.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I've never had to touch a thing on my EHCS since I've owned my 2005 LT, about 4 years now. Can't say for sure if the previous owner had any maintenance done on the unit, but the bike only had 10K miles when I bought it. So far the unit has worked without any problems. A couple of years ago I did buy a new electric motor for the unit just in case mine craps out, and because it was the motor was so cheap, $25.00 or so.
 
#3 ·
I've had my 05 for a year now, the EHCS has leaked since the day I bought the bike. I thought the first time, I might get lucky and just cleaning it would stop the leak, but that didn't happen. I am as of yet to find a source to replace all the seals and am staring down the barrel of having to take it back off. Its getting to where the first time I press the button, it pushes down but won't lift the bike. Second time sometimes will, sometimes won't get it all the way up. Third time sometimes won't even move it, so I reset the ignition switch and it goes right up. I'm doing Run For The Wall in May on this bike, so if I can't source the seals by then, it'll just get a fresh refill and wait until after.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
#4 ·
#5 ·
I, too, live near the Kent, WA area, and just bought a 2009 K1200LT. The center stand raises the bike just fine, and doesn't leak. The problem is that it won't let the bike go back down. There seems to be a hydraulic lock that isn't allowing the fluid to flow backwards. I took it all apart and couldn't find anything obviously wrong yet. Is there a check valve somewhere, aside from the check ball that provides pressure relief in the opposite direction? If so, I haven't found it yet. The internal springs are quite strong and are trying to push the shaft back out, but it only gets so far before the hydraulic lock occurs. If I crack open the big 19mm bolt, it breaks that lock and the shaft slides right out under the spring pressure.

Any ideas?. If I can't figure out why mine wont allow the shaft to slide back out, do you have a spare, either in part or whole, that I could buy?

Thx,
Steve
 
#6 ·
If Terry does not respond I would be interested in looking at the unit as there is no check valve but there is is a proportioning valve that could be gummed up and causing that. The piston should fully extend as soon as the pump stops running.
 
#7 ·
Thanks, John and Terry. I completely disassembled the ehcs yesterday, including the pieces behind the c-clip, that I hadn't done before. I really cleaned everything well and also used compressed air to blow through every possible passageway. After reassembling it, I added about 130cc of Jack oil, then bench tested it with a car battery. It worked as I expected, fully extending after I removed the electrical power. I did this many times successfully before reinstalling it on the bike. So far, so GOOD, it's working as it should. Yay!!!
 
#8 ·
If you are in a cold climate you might want to add 10 ml of oil (for a total of 140 ml) when the temp drops. That is my standard fill now, but it was 130 ml before I had issues with northern clients. All filling can be done through that big 19 mm spigot while you manually cycle the shaft.
 
#9 ·
I just pulled the hydraulic center stand cylinder due to leaking.
The rod has gotten rusty beyond being able to clean up by polishing.
Anyone have a source for a rod or complete cylinder?

Thanks,
 
#11 ·
I'm a few years late to this party. Just bought 2005 LT w/ 12k miles. EHCS started failing w/in a month. Thanks to JZeiler & others, I drained and flushed the oil, refilled, polished the shaft, & it worked fine for a minute. Started failing again--electric motor sounded slow, strained. It raised the bike almost, then released and lowered. I ordered the seal kit from NJ, which is now $50 +$16 shipping, for two O-rings and two seals! Before disassembling the hydraulic part, I removed electric motor, which is isolated from the hydraulic oil. (You can take the motor off w/o touching the hydraulic chambers/oil & seals.)

There was a remarkable amount of graphite mixed with grease inside, considering how little that motor runs. Perhaps because the chamber is sealed & dust can't escape. Anyway, I removed the rotor from the unit and cleaned the commutator, which was covered w/ graphite/grease mixture--likely a conductor and probably what interfered w/ motor operation. Brushes worn, but not worth replacing yet. Lots of fun getting brushes pushed back in against the spring to allow the commutator to slide back in. I greased the drive gear, too.

Result: Amazing improvement in electric motor speed, and EHCS works like a champ. I still have the seal kit in case it craps out in the future, but not having seen mention of the cleaning commutators in the many posts, I thought I'd give you my two cents. Thanks for all the amazing support, you guys!
 
#14 ·
The motor should be bone dry as they do not lube it. Two ways oil gets in, 1. from outside the motor (keep it clean down there) and 2. The oil seal that separates the motor drive gear from the the hydraulic pump oil. If oil does get into the motor the brushes will go pretty quick. I recommend you get that spare motor.
 
#16 ·
Nice to meet you at Ironhorse last week. I have bought about 25 of these over the last 6 years and I get them off e-bay with the price that varies from $45 to $22.
 
#18 ·
Very nice to meet you as well JZ.
Guess it was meant to be, the last leg of my 2800 mile journey coinciding with the Ironhorse lunch meeting at the Smoky Mountain Diner.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top