r1100s input shaft spline repair chronicle

[jwetering]

First up - tank removal. What should have been easy was made harder because somewhere along the line someone routed the crossover tubing *under* the air intake snorkel and cables for the battery. This all had to be undone before I get even close to removing the tank.

Tips and tricks...I used needle nosed vise grips wrapped in electrical tape to pinch my fuel lines. Worked ok. Be careful with the fuel lines that feed the throttles though - they are plastic and look to me like they'll crack when they get old. These plastic lines are deep into the fuel lines too...

Start with taking off the air intake pipe, then loosen the bolts holding the tank to the frame, then pinch off and remove the two live fuel lines then (in my case) dick around with the battery cables and intake snorkel to liberate the crossover tube that snakes around the back of the tank.

The last photo shows the tank removed. The air filter was loaded with crap so of course I will change that.

[jwetering]

Next I removed the battery and battery box..simple and effective way to make room. I have some cleaning to do under there as well, and tape up a wire loom of which the factory tape had perished pretty badly.

[brentw1]

the plastic fuel lines are super tough, they don't crack, they do have brass inserts in the ends.
nice garage,I've been planning a proper shop for years now.
your air filter looks about average, you will need to remove the battery and mounting box
the air box is mounted with some rubber bumpers that slide in the frame, don't loose them
push the intake runners into the air box after you loosen the clamps, which can be difficult to
move twisting them helps, they are soft don't use any metal tools on them.
and when you re install the o rings on the throttle bodies are frequently cracked or enlarged.

[jwetering]

Then I got to removing the diff.

I did this just last week when I checked and lubed my diff splines so the process was very familiar.

Undo the lock nut on the floating side...you will need a 30 mm socket. Loosen but leave the bearing in place for now.

Then remove the pivot pin on the fixed side.

Then go back and remove the floating pivot pin. I supported the diff with a block of wood and lastly removed the torque arm. Normally you would remove it at the diff end, but I removed it where it bolts to the frame because it all has to come off anyway.

Note that there are needle bearings in there and that the bearing race wants to fall out. I used electrical tape to bind it all together for temporary storage.

[jwetering]

Then I removed the swingarm.

The book says to undo the bolt at the foot of the shock first, but I found it pretty much necessary to remove the shock entirely so start either at the head or the foot. It's not under tension at all so don't worry.

Then you have to loosen the lock nut on the floating side (left side of bike) and loosen the floating pivot pin a bit...mine was stuck hard with loctite and it took a lot of effort to get it moving. Note the three foot breaker bar I'm using - I needed it here.

Then on the fixed side the book says to get a fancy-schmansy BMW pivot pin removal tool but I used a small wrench and a washer to wiggle it free (see pics). This is a trick I learned from wrenching on my old K1100RS. Both pivot pins and bearings were pretty dry and gritty so a good clean and lube will do them good.

The swing arm then pulls back (takes a but of effort) and the drive shaft will stay stuck to the transmission output shaft. I used a large screwdriver to lever the driveshaft off the output shaft - took a bit of doing. I used a rag to protect the bearing surface machined into the frame (see pics).

[jwetering]

And the last thing I did tonight was support the bike and remove my shop centre stand. This is getting ready for the swing up the night after next.

I put a block of wood and a couple of layers of 1/4 inch rubber down under the sump. Then I put jack stands under the housing for the cam chains. It's making three points of contact.

I would say it's "solid enough" for what I'm planning to do.

[jwetering]

So the last question I have before I attempt the frame swivel is about the airbox. Do I have to remove it or do I "only" have to slide it forward ? Either way I guess I have to remove the intake pipework and...what else?

Thanks for the keeping the tips coming.

[jwetering]

Originally Posted by brentw1

the plastic fuel lines are super tough, they don't crack, they do have brass inserts in the ends.
nice garage,I've been planning a proper shop for years now.
your air filter looks about average, you will need to remove the battery and mounting box
the air box is mounted with some rubber bumpers that slide in the frame, don't loose them
push the intake runners into the air box after you loosen the clamps, which can be difficult to
move twisting them helps, they are soft don't use any metal tools on them.
and when you re install the o rings on the throttle bodies are frequently cracked or enlarged.

You da man Brent....

So to clarify - do I have to remove the airbox entirely or can I just slide it forward?

The battery and battery box have been removed already so I'm good there.

[brentw1]

remove the air box it will come out when you tip the frame up.
there is a breather hose
and don't forget to phase the drive line when you re install it, make certain it is not 180 out
there are a odd number of splines so it will be slightly off 180 out,
I do this by removing the pivot pins closest to the drive line and inspecting, it is obvious if it is wrong.
also make certain the swing arm boot on the tranny is fully seated, 3 out of 4 of these I have done
were not fully seated.

[jwetering]

Third day of wrenching - so far I estimate 6 hours spent, but that includes a lot of sitting around contemplating. Now that I've done this before I could *easily* do the work so far in 3 hours, and probably 2 hours or less the third time I tried it. Todays wrenching took two hours and the transmission is on the bench.

First things first the air box has to be disconnected. Loosen the two jubilee clamps and remove the two phillips head screws and the air tubes slide into the airbox. Also go ahead and remove the clamp that holds the breather tube to the airbox and disconnect it. The airbox is going to have to come out and the breather tube won't let it. No pic, but you can see it in the top right of the second shot there.

[jwetering]

The remove the headers at the cylinder head and loosen the clamp at the crossover tube. The headers have to come off or the frame can't swing up.


.

[jwetering]

Then loosen remove the two through bolts that hold the transmission to the frame, and the 4 cap screws, and snip the three zip straps that bind the wires to the frame and it's time to swing the frame up.

In my case the frame was hitting the transmission case on the way up and I thought I was going to have to remove the rear frame entirely, but a little nudge was all it took for the frame to clear.

I used rope to tie the frame up using the hand grips in the seat frame and the top triple clamp. Easy peasy.

[jwetering]

Pulling the transmission wasn't too bad, but it was a little tricky.

0) remove the starter

1) I removed the throttle bodies otherwise the fuel lines were in the way of pulling the transmission off. See the photo with the TB in place to see what I mean about the lines interfering. I loosened the jubilees clamp at the head on each side and then lifted them up (they're tied together by the fuel lines) and tie strapped them to the frame...up and out of the way.

2) I removed my slave cylinder - which was not fouled - and tried to pull out the push rod...but it wasn't coming out.....so I though brentsw was lying earlier when he said it would come out, but actually it turned out that it was just stuck in the spring plate w bit. If I would have had a better grip, and if I would have known exactly what it looked like in there then it would have come out.

3) Because of the risk of bending this rod, I put a floor jack under the transmission so that it would not drop once I pulled it clear. The book says to use threaded dowels to support the gearbox and brentsw said to pull the pushrod so that it doesn't matter if the transmission drops...I used the jack to make sure the trans pulled straight off. Worked fine.

4) In my case it took a bit (only a bit) of prying to separate the trans from the motor..after removing the six bolts of course.

[jwetering]

more later...

[jwetering]

So now the gearbox is off and first thing I see (besides the gnarly but better than expected splines) is that the head of one of the six bolts holding the pressure plate on is broken ! I find this later, lying in the bottom of the bell housing.

So I'm thinking this clutch has been off before, except that the clutch disc is date stamped november 2000, and the bike is a 2001 model....and there's no other evidence to suggest that the clutch has been changed. It looks like this is a factory fail.

Not that it has*anything* to do with the clutch splines...but interesting nonetheless.

[brentw1]

when you do the clutch you will probably need to replace the flywheel and pressure plate,
usually they will be warped and cracked.
check them with a straight edge they tend to wear in a dished pattern as does the clutch,
if they are not checked you can just replace the clutch but they will take a while to bed in.
you can pick up deals on ebay occasionally but buy the complete set.
i usually remove the fuel lines with the air box after I remove the injector connections
if your rear transmission mount did not have shims make certain it is a zero clearance fit when you
swing the frame down down, make some shims if you need them.
you will need to remove the shift linkage to split the trans.
also you only needed to remove the mid pipe with the 02 sensor in place. just unthread the wiring from the motor, probably easier to install it in the pipe than doing it in place you will have a twisted wire.
otherwise good job.

[jwetering]

So here is where it gets interesting....

The input shaft is clearly worn, but it's not *really* that bad. The obvious question is whether I crack the trans and replace the shaft, or just install my cele0001 hub extender, button it back up and crack it open again another 20,000 miles (3 years?) later and maybe do the big job then? That's assuming I keep the bike and...and...and.
Obviously I will inspect regularly through the starter hole, and maybe even crack it open in the winter(s) to apply some lube, but I think I can ride it for quite some time without fear of catastrophic failure.

My buddies who were there to lend a hand think I should just button it up. I explained the whole thing to my 11 year old daughter and she came to the same conclusion as well.

What do you guys think of these splines?

[jwetering]

Originally Posted by brentw1

when you do the clutch you will probably need to replace the flywheel and pressure plate,
usually they will be warped and cracked.
check them with a straight edge they tend to wear in a dished pattern as does the clutch,
if they are not checked you can just replace the clutch but they will take a while to bed in.
you can pick up deals on ebay occasionally but buy the complete set.
i usually remove the fuel lines with the air box after I remove the injector connections
if your rear transmission mount did not have shims make certain it is a zero clearance fit when you
swing the frame down down, make some shims if you need them.
you will need to remove the shift linkage to split the trans.
also you only needed to remove the mid pipe with the 02 sensor in place. just unthread the wiring from the motor, probably easier to install it in the pipe than doing it in place you will have a twisted wire.
otherwise good job.

Brent your advice has been invaluable. Thank you.

[brentw1]

put some paper towels in the intake ports

[brentw1]

button it up I would not replace the shaft yet