Splines, Part II

JimMoore · 10-02-2012, 06:50 AM

About 14 months ago I found out I had the dreaded "bad clutch spline" issue with my R1100S. I pulled the transmission and sent it off to be fixed. 10K miles later I checked through the starter hole and discovered it was happening again. I monitored it for another 10K miles and while I collected the parts to give it another try.

This time I went with a new (to me) transmission. It has 66K miles on it, and no spline wear. Here's my thought process. There is a misalignment between the engine and the transmission. There are people who claim to be able to fix your transmission so it won't happen again (although apparently not all of them can do it every time). That means the problem is with the transmission. A new one is a crapshoot, but a known-good used one should be a winner. What do you think?

As a note, I had about a quarter inch of play between the clutch and the splines. Looking at my splines, about half the material is gone from the transmission side. I'm sure I could have gone quite a bit further, but I had the time to make the swap and a buddy to help me out. I've heard of people having as much as 10 mm. I'd be getting pretty concerned at that point.

As another note, I'm completely unimpressed with the QC process at BMW. We're not talking about a slight misalignment here. It is multi, multi, multi thousands of inches. That's just pathetic. It's really turned me off on the brand.

ckcarr · ckcarr's Garage

Well, you have a (now) 12 or 13 year old bike. Back when they made these the German craftsmen would measure and hone each part individually. Therefore, like a unique piece of art, or a gun stock, each bike was "special" in it's own way. So, it goes with the territory when you own such a special hand crafted vehicle. My seat cowl always seemed a little funny, but it was signed by Gertrude Fluegel...

JimMoore · 10-02-2012, 07:44 AM

Thta's the other thing that freaks me out. It would be one thing if every transmission was wrong. I could understand that. "Hey, we gooned up this measurement. It's fixed now." But every one is different. It's like there's no process at all, or it's so screwed up that they have no idea what's going to pop out at the end of the assembly line.

1%er · 10-02-2012, 08:59 AM

Sell it and buy a Honda. These bikes don't get better with (b)itching.

Mrmerlin · 10-02-2012, 10:33 AM

here is how i fixed mine

R1150 trans offset to the engine did you fix it?

JimMoore · 10-02-2012, 12:50 PM

Thanks. That's a little out of my league mechanically. OK, way out of my league. That being said, I get the idea your entire problem was on the transmission side. Right?

Mrmerlin · 10-02-2012, 04:54 PM

Jim thats correct once the trans collar was realigned the total out of round was .002