Broken Ball Joint Gaiter

[malloy]

jaak, rocketman1 - I'm glad you were successful with your swaps. I couldn't find the youtube you both mentioned. Actually looked pretty hard . Can you give us a link?


Much obliged.

[Mr Head]

Where to Buy the Part

[matapo]

I was also a bit worried when sending money to Greece but that guy still delivers! [/QUOTE]



Enjoy your brand new greek gaiter. You shouldnt worry about buying things from Greece since you r driving a
german motorcycle....

[malloy]

Mr. Head, Thanks for the links.

[Cois]

I need to replace my ball joint on a 2010 Adventure. I ordered the complete ball joint from BMW dealer as I am worried that the ball joint may be damaged by dust.
I can't find any info on the R1200GS model for this DIY job. I would like to know if anyone has done this before. Any tips?
My question will be as follow:
1. Are there enough vertical play on the system to replace the joint without having to loosen the lower fork bridge or the front spring?
2. Do you need to loosen the break lines thats connected to the lower fork bridge?
3. Torque specs?
Any photos would be helpful.

[JetSpeed]

I bought the new rubber boot from the guy in Greece, received it inside a week via registered mail, left the obligatory positive feedback and headed outback to remove the snow and retrieve the BMW 2-wheeler from the shed.

I replaced the torn OEM rubber boot in under 15 minutes on my 05 R1200GS, it takes a 20mm open end wrench and a T45 Torx bit, or in my case a large adjustable wrench and a T45 Torx bit.

The job is excruciatingly straightforward and simple and the ball-joint is so large and over-engineered for this machine that I cannot imagine anyone ponying up unnecessarily for a new BMW unit and going through that extra hell unless absolutely necessary.

There are no tricks or anything, no need to heat up the nut to break loose the thread-lock and no need to re-apply any, there is also no need for a torque wrench, the nut is so large that you simply tighten it down real good, you'll know when it's so tight that it won't fall off but not so tight that you twist the front of the bike off.

Just be sure to remove all the old contaminated grease and replace it gobs of new, and leave the blasted lower metal retainer ring off so the boot can spin a little and not tear again.

[DaneelOlivaw]

We will be stocking this Greek boot soon. 25 units on order to arrive here from Greece in several days. Contact us by e-mail or phone. Limit one per customer. No warranty. Price $36.34.

[DaneelOlivaw]

We now have these boots in stock. Quite nice looking. Should be a proper fit on pretty much all telelever and duolever front BMW ball joints.

$32.98 before [(Calif only) tax] or outbound freight

Order via phone or e-mail:

DaveTownsend@IrvSeaverBMW.com.

USA 50-State addresses only please. No warranties.

[gspdbill]

Was all set to order a new ball joint but found this thread, ordered the (Greek) boot from Irv Seaver's. They still have a few in stock.

[lkchris]

Originally Posted by malloy

the gaiter is not available as a separate item - thanks BMW

Go over to the car side of BMW and see if you can get any gaiters for tie rod ends. In fact, why not list another manufacturer that provides these as separate parts.

The ball joint can be damaged in minutes/hours after the boot splits. Posting that it might be OK after "only" a week is wishful thinking ... but lots of that happens when the kludge solution is cheap.

[PaulGinAZ]

Originally Posted by DaneelOlivaw

We now have these boots in stock. Quite nice looking. Should be a proper fit on pretty much all telelever and duolever front BMW ball joints.

$32.98 before [(Calif only) tax] or outbound freight

Order via phone or e-mail:

DaveTownsend@IrvSeaverBMW.com.

USA 50-State addresses only please. No warranties.

Received mine from Irv Seaver in two days.. now to install it.