I drove out there this morning and had a look. I think the main thing is that none of the splines are badly pitted by rust, either in the end of the driveshaft or on the gearbox output shaft or the final drive input shaft. The tech has yet to clean up the surface rust off any of them. I did not get a photo of the gearbox output shaft.
This is the front end of the driveshaft that slides onto the gearbox output shaft. It is structurally sound, with minimal surface rust on the splines. The splines on the gearbox output shaft itself (not shown) were in good shape:
The following picture shows the rear end of the driveshaft that goes onto the final drive input shaft. Note that one side has been ground away, as has one side of the flower shaped ring around the final drive input shaft in the subsequent picture, which makes me think the tech drove a wedge between them to separate them. Seems like it would have been better to drive a wedge between the rear universal join and the end of the final drive input shaft. Too late now.
The final drive input shaft. Note the grinding of the left side of the flower shaped surround of the shaft. Also, you can see some damage to the shiny circular outer surround, caused by the tech's efforts.
The following image shows the rear boot, which goes between the end of the swingarm and the final drive. There is a 1/2" slit in it, which I've opened with my finger. The tech doesn't know if the hole was there, or if he created it while trying to separate the driveshaft:
Before they do any more, they are waiting for the two other techs to come back from vacation, as they both have contacts at BMW and may be able to get it covered under warranty.
All these bits are yet to be cleaned up to remove the surface rust. All they've done so far it get the pieces apart.
This is the front end of the driveshaft that slides onto the gearbox output shaft. It is structurally sound, with minimal surface rust on the splines. The splines on the gearbox output shaft itself (not shown) were in good shape:
The following picture shows the rear end of the driveshaft that goes onto the final drive input shaft. Note that one side has been ground away, as has one side of the flower shaped ring around the final drive input shaft in the subsequent picture, which makes me think the tech drove a wedge between them to separate them. Seems like it would have been better to drive a wedge between the rear universal join and the end of the final drive input shaft. Too late now.
The final drive input shaft. Note the grinding of the left side of the flower shaped surround of the shaft. Also, you can see some damage to the shiny circular outer surround, caused by the tech's efforts.
The following image shows the rear boot, which goes between the end of the swingarm and the final drive. There is a 1/2" slit in it, which I've opened with my finger. The tech doesn't know if the hole was there, or if he created it while trying to separate the driveshaft:
Before they do any more, they are waiting for the two other techs to come back from vacation, as they both have contacts at BMW and may be able to get it covered under warranty.
All these bits are yet to be cleaned up to remove the surface rust. All they've done so far it get the pieces apart.