You going surfing is interesting? Very interesting to whom? Your ego.SmileWavy At the end of the day it's all about you, isn't it Signit 98. You snipe even the most innocent of posts. Didn't you get enough attention from your teachers in school. Do me a favor and add 1%er to you ignore list. But, you can't do that because then you wouldn't be able to get you groupies to pay attention to you. Happy New Year a$$ whole.

Jim,

Should there be any play? Looking at the hub while moving the clutch disk back and forth there is a bit of play. The total movement on the edge of the disk is less than an 1/8th of an inch. It shifts like butter, no problems downshifting or up shifting.

Here's a video of the play:
Clutch Play 12 30 12 - YouTube

Thanks,
Doug

The bad ones I've seen have had significantly more play than that. That could be normal wear and tear, or it could be a very slowly developing problem. IMO that's not gonna grenade any time soon. I'd button it back up and check it again in 10K miles.

Thanks Jim, I appreciate the help!

As the originator of this thread I would like to say that the best input I got from it was a direct message (don't remember from whom) that said, and I'm paraphrasing "...stop reading the forums and just ride it..." I did that and never had any issues. At the first major service I had TjS look at it and he had no concerns. At least I don't think he did as he bought the bike from me a few months later.

I'm glad it worked out for you, but I don't think that's good advice. Spline failures are not rare. A spline failure will stop you dead in your tracks, and leave you there until you or someone else splits the bike in half and installs a new transmission and clutch. The problem is easy to discern through a simple check. IMO you'd be crazy to plan any type of long-distance adventure until you know the condition of your splines.

That being said, I completely understand your position. It's the dichotomy of BMW ownership. You either get a good one or a bad one. A good one will last hundreds of thousands of miles, and will be a life-long companion. A bad one will cost you multi-thousands of dollars every 30K miles. The owners of bad ones can't believe they paid money for that pile of crap. The owners of good ones can't understand what all the fuss is about.

remember Jim, there appear to be 2 distinct failure modes.
#one is from lack of lube (factory or later).. those fails typically occur in the 70-90K range.
#two is from a trans/engine misalignment, and that is the fail that keeps repeating itself every 30K or so if left uncorrected.
#1 does not require a new trans, just a new input shaft.

A lot of smart people agree with you on that. I'm not entirely sold. I'm in the "some are really misaligned, and others are slightly misaligned" camp.

My reasoning is this: Many, many people have gone over well over 100K without looking at the splines. Many others have broken the bike in two, only to report that "the splines were really dry, but there was no damage at all." That wouldn't happen if lubrication, or lack thereof, was the cuplrit.

That being said, I sure as hell lubed mine when i put it back together. Both times. I'm not sure it helps, but it can't hurt.

Hey, I seem to remember yours failed around 70K. How many miles do you have now. Have you checked for play recently? I'm mildly curious is all.

failed at 71K. At 95K now. had starter motor out for nose cleaning at start of season, things looked good at that point.

Thanks. I hope it keeps working for you.

Bought mine used with 54,000 miles. Just pulled it apart and the splines were very dry, a little rusty, and worn on both sides of the spline teeth. I suppose it would have worked for another 20,000 miles before it failed completely. No real noise or problems with it. I do have a whirrr-click sound down by my right foot pulling out in first gear. Everything from the shaft back seems fine and has no play or wear. The transmision ouput shaft bearing seems to have a little play so I'll look at that when I get inside. Maybe the "whirrr-click" noise is meant to be there...

that clicking noise is most likely the front U joint getting ready to fail

Thanks Mrmerlin; I'll take a closer look at that. My most current theory was that the clutch disk was chattering on its' way to full engagement although I didn't feel any slippage. Currently got the transmission mostly apart. Need better heat to get the bearings to release from the case half. Woodstove and heat gun are the current plan.

Clutch hub spacer kit
 

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Looks good, keep us up to date. Is this a one off or might you sell these?

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really if you can swing it you should just sell the modified clutch as new complete
once you have the tools it wouldn't take long to do them and most people
would be buying a new clutch anyway,

and I think someone is already doing something similar

Any issue with balance or getting the disc centered to the spacer?

Measurements on the spacer are within 0.05mm of the original hub measurements. Holes on the spacer are at the same position as the ones on the hub.