Hi all, I've been lurking and reading this site a lot. I've read every thread relevant to my bike, and 100's that were tangentially related, and 100's more just for fun. Anyway, I acquired a '92 R100GS back in April. At the time it had 88K miles on it. It was clearly not fawned over, but also seemed like reasonable care had been taken of it and everything worked. It came with some service history, but a lot was missing, so I really don't know everything that's been done to it. There was something from a BMW dealer in the history that just said "warranty drive shaft." So I guess it's likely that the shaft was replaced at about 23,000 miles. I had read about the drive shaft issues and transmission cir clip dealio, and hoped everything would hold out for me for the riding season and that I would look at the drive shaft in the winter. I put 7,000 miles on it over the summer, it's now at 95K and I'm holding the driveshaft in my hands. Having no experience with what the u-joints should feel like, it's a little hard to judge the condition, but one axis of the upper joint feels real tight. Feels to me like it isn't right. Certainly feels different than the one on the other end, that one seems real good. What say you? Should I just have it rebuilt? Anyone near Minneapolis that could give it a look?
I would certainly get it looked at, a friend of mine had one break on him and it locked the rear wheel at 70 mph almost causing an accident. I cannot recommed anybody in the US to get it rebuilt but had mine done by Motorworks in the UK and it has done 10,000 miles since then, I will take it out soon and see how it is doing.
Jim 50,000 miles seems to be the often mentioned useful mileage for the paralever drive shaft on a GS, and there are various places who modify them so they either last longer or are at least repairable, Motorworks being one of them. Have a 'Search' as there's lots about them in there.
I just replaced a torn swingarm boot and had a look at the shaft while I was in there. All the black grease seemed to have come out of the u-joints, but everything was VERY tight and smooth. Zero slop whatsoever at an indicated 26,000 miles. The joints were still tight enough that they wouldn't flop side to side under their own weight. They had to be moved by hand. Do the paralever shafts tend to die very quickly as soon as they develop any play or is a it a relatively gradual decline with a steady increase in the amount of play in them?
My first one went suddenly at 47,000 miles, I was rolling it down my drive and heard a clunking sound, investigated and it was on the verge of breaking, I think a good fist full of throttle would have broken it. The second one developed some play at around 148,000 miles and I kept a careful eye on it until 150,000 when it was removed and rebuilt.
Yeah, I've decided to have it rebuilt. I'll send it off to Hendersen Precision shortly. Now I have to figure out what to do with the transmission. It works just fine, and the oil always looks pretty clean when I change it. But when I pulled the swing arm off I saw it had quite a bit of oil in it, and saw that the transmission output shaft seal was leaking. It also looks like it might be leaking from the neutral indicator switch, if that's possible. I don't have a lot of money, so if I can fix those leaks without dropping a grand or whatever a rebuild will cost maybe I will do that. But then I also hear a lot of alarmist talk about missing cir clips, etc... And there is quite a a few miles on it, so maybe a rebuild should be done. How hard is it to replace that output shaft seal?
This picture was sent to me today. Its from a re-buildable (Taiwanese) driveshaft....! Some friends of mine are riding from Alaska to Patagonia on their R100 and 80 GS But the shaft didn't make it the whole way It has had its regular service.
Mine leaked some oil into the swinging arm a few years ago but it seemed to cure itself after a short time and has not leaked since. If you are short of funds try a new washer on the neutral switch and carry on with it, just keep an eye on the oil level and see how it goes, some oil in the swinging arm will do no harm.
From Alaska to Patagonia. Don't know how many km's they drove so far. I know it has been serviced twice this trip. Doesn't look promising
which rebuildable shaft is this? i'm hoping it's not the one that is being sold by a couple of different folks as a rebuildable unit.
inside of 500 miles is my experience. DAmn shame about that shaft up there ^. Not the expected fail point.
That one up there is showing some blue next to the worn part. Looks like it did get hot. Now I have to wonder what type of grease they used in there, synthetic such as Amsoil do have a better resistance to heat but only to some degree, can't make up for mechanical deficiencies. Strange wear pattern, if I remember from the old days that was from the assembly being out of alignment. Then more friction....more heat and the grease runs out. Quick failure after that. Last GS driveshaft I had to have repaired, started showing signs of failure halfway through the USAs. Got me home to BC and quite a few miles after that and wasn't even too badly worn when I removed it.Unlike the first one that failed catastrophically at pretty low miles and destroyed the swingarm. Don't ignore them strange vibrations that may change in frequencies with the throttle or even disappear........ in the right footpeg. If anyone has one of them in their hands....you really have to close your eyes and check them blind for signs of roughness or binding. Light tapping on the end of the caps may even show the play, that's how we used to loosen up tight u-joints after installation, I think my grandpa knew a thing or two about them, he sure replaced lots of them in his long career and lucky for me, had time to show & tell back then. Sorry about the underline....can't edit, silly slow "internet at sea".
Yes, pretty much. Happened to me, and I've heard tell also that it goes with not much in the way of warning. I check pretty frequently. Its a simple feel, you know? just rotate the back wheel in neutral, and anything other than buttery smoothness is something to watch.
Oh OK, I'm talking about actually removing the shaft from the swingarm and twisting both ends of it by hand. Due to the final drive ratio of ~3:1, it's pretty much impossible to feel minute amounts of play through the rear wheel, especially once you factor in backlash in the final drive and trans. I would guess that the u-joints would have to be pretty thoroughly f%&$-hammered before you'd feel any discernible play through the rear wheel. I'm new at this whole paralever thing though so don't take my word for it.
Looking at this threads I can but wonder, my 1993 R 100 R has 119000 miles and I am still on the original shaft, don't know how much longer will last. I've had checked it every 30k and no vibrations yet. On the contrary on one of my GSPD's the shaft went at about 20k. In my opinion the main reason being the angle at the u joint by the gear box. The shock on the R 100 R is 18.75 eye to eye; the R 100 GS is 19.25 thus increasing the angle. By the BMW readings they should go about 30k. I have 2 spare shafts, one like on the picture shown above and another being an original BMW that always carry in my GS. Not sure yet but considering the Henderson precision option too. Anyone has any feedback on the Henderson rebuild?
