After Darrell's recent mishap with the driveshaft, I decided to remove the driveshaft from my RS, check it for wear, and re-lube the splines. The procedure is pretty simple: remove the silencer, remove the rear wheel, remove the rear wheel speed sensor, plug the resulting hole in the final drive housing so the oil doesn't leak out (a step the Haynes manual neglects to mention), remove the rear bolt from the paralever, allow the final drive housing to pivot down exposing the rear end of the driveshaft, lever the front end of the driveshaft off the gearbox output shaft, clean everything, lube the splines with Castrol Optimol TA Paste, put it all back together. How long could it really take; a couple of hours at most, right?
When I got to the bit about "allow the final drive housing to pivot down", it didn't. The rear end of the driveshaft is seized fast to the final drive input shaft. No amount of "coaxing" has persuaded it to move so far. The rubber gaitors are supposed to be sealed with a bead of water proof grease, but on my bike the grease is only on one end of the rear gaitor and goes less than half way around on that end. There is none on the other end. I've never ridden a water crossing, and I never use a pressure washer. And yet, having pulled back the rubber gaitor, I can see there is about 1/2 inch of dirty yellow water sitting in the bottom of the swing arm.
Plan B: remove the final drive completely and pull the driveshaft out of the swingarm while it is still attached to the final drive. Except, I think the front end of the driveshaft might also be seized onto the gearbox output shaft. Both the Haynes and BMW manuals say "use a suitable tool to lever the driveshaft off the gearbox output shaft", or words to that effect. No amount of levering with a pry-bar will budge it. The gearbox output shaft and final drive input shaft should be able to slide in and out of their respective ends of the driveshaft and the suspension compresses and decompresses. If both ends are seized, what is providing that movement? I hate to think (gearbox internals?).
I've sprayed the driveshaft and splines as best I can with penetrating oil and am leaving it to soak in overnight. We'll see what tomorrow brings!
If this is the state of the driveshaft of a 3 year-old RS with 22,000 miles, what must be the condition of the average GS after a few years of off-road adventures including water crossings?
Has anyone else had a similar issue? If so, any helpful advice would be appreciated.
When I got to the bit about "allow the final drive housing to pivot down", it didn't. The rear end of the driveshaft is seized fast to the final drive input shaft. No amount of "coaxing" has persuaded it to move so far. The rubber gaitors are supposed to be sealed with a bead of water proof grease, but on my bike the grease is only on one end of the rear gaitor and goes less than half way around on that end. There is none on the other end. I've never ridden a water crossing, and I never use a pressure washer. And yet, having pulled back the rubber gaitor, I can see there is about 1/2 inch of dirty yellow water sitting in the bottom of the swing arm.
Plan B: remove the final drive completely and pull the driveshaft out of the swingarm while it is still attached to the final drive. Except, I think the front end of the driveshaft might also be seized onto the gearbox output shaft. Both the Haynes and BMW manuals say "use a suitable tool to lever the driveshaft off the gearbox output shaft", or words to that effect. No amount of levering with a pry-bar will budge it. The gearbox output shaft and final drive input shaft should be able to slide in and out of their respective ends of the driveshaft and the suspension compresses and decompresses. If both ends are seized, what is providing that movement? I hate to think (gearbox internals?).
I've sprayed the driveshaft and splines as best I can with penetrating oil and am leaving it to soak in overnight. We'll see what tomorrow brings!
If this is the state of the driveshaft of a 3 year-old RS with 22,000 miles, what must be the condition of the average GS after a few years of off-road adventures including water crossings?
Has anyone else had a similar issue? If so, any helpful advice would be appreciated.