u joint failure

[Grassman]

Well two weeks a go I was east bound on I 70 in Utah in the fast lane when the u joint located between the drive shaft and the final drive broke. I was traveling approximately 90 mph. The drive shaft locked up and the bike slid to a stop. The bike is a 05 R1200RT it has 65000 miles on it. Called BMW and they are paying for the all parts and labor. The parts they are paying for is drive shaft, u joints, and clutch. Not bad. The bike has been in the shop in Grand Junction Colorado scene the day it happened and I should get it back real soon. Been happy with BMW I will keep you posted..

[Marty Hill]

Wonderful news at 65k. Good for BMW.

[RoadJunkie]

Wow, that had to be a spooky (read, scared the siht out of you) experience! Was the bike out of warranty?

[PaulJr]

Sure hope this is an oddity.

[Ken H.]

Sure hope this is an oddity.

Certianly the first I can recall hearing of this on a hexhead.

[keithb]

"The drive shaft locked up and the bike slid to a stop."

 

This happened to me on my K bike about 7 years ago. Next time, if there is a next time, pull in the clutch and it will stop sliding.

[Firefight911]

"The drive shaft locked up and the bike slid to a stop."

 

This happened to me on my K bike about 7 years ago. Next time, if there is a next time, pull in the clutch and it will stop sliding.

 

Driveshaft is between the clutch and rear wheel. Clutch has no effect in this position. The clutch would need to be distal (aft) of the failure to have an effect in this scenario????

[keithb]

Duh!! You are right Phil. Well this was 7 yrs. ago> I was remembering when I pulled in the clutch on the side of the road and the awful noise ceased. It is not a pretty sound hearing your broken u joint spinning in the case.

[tallman]

Good news for a big problem.

Don't let Chunky see this thread.

[JayW]

Been happy with BMW I will keep you posted..

 

I would be too. BMW is not obligated to pay for for this very expensive repair. Good customer service decision on their part!

 

Jay

[KDeline]

Don't let Chunky see this thread.

 

 

[BeemerBerg]

My 2005 R1200RT ALSO had the U-joint go bad. 65,000 miles. [see my previous post:

http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=34399&Number=369581#Post369581]

 

Wife and I were traveling thru Oklahoma, fighting a mean cross-wind, when, just after a toll both, started to feel a very nasty vibration coming from "down there". Fortunately, there was an off-ramp right there, and we were able to safely pull off the fwy. The U-joint on the transmission end was going out--hadn't broke yet, but you could tell something bad was about to happen.

 

Rented a big Rider truck and transported the bike about 100 miles east to our wife's sisters place in Fayetteville, Ark. I pulled the rear wheel, then drive (like when you change the rear drive oil), thinking that I could pull the drive shaft out the rear, but it don't work that way...The whole "swing arm housing" has to come off, and the shaft stays in place on the transmission output shaft (it's circliped onto it). Well, I didn't have the tools to get that deep into it, and decided to just button it up and take it into Bentonville BMW. But by this time the U-joing was so messed up, I couldn't get the whole shaft assy lined up to get the rear drive/wheel back on the bike. Ended up CUTTING the drive shaft in half, so I could get it all back together, and down to the shop.

 

A TIP OF THE HAT TO BENTONVILLE BMW!!! Good People!!! Even tho they had a lot of bikes already waiting for service, they put mine up on the rack, torn down, and had a used shaft ordered up from BeemerBoneyard before the ink was dried on the work order. Had my bike back in three days, and we were back on our 3-month journey.

 

I must mention that we were pulling a 300+ Aspen camp trailer, about half way into a 17,000 mile trip. I would think that that extra strain on the running gear probably caused the early demise of the u-joint.

 

NOTE....On my 100,000 mile R1100RT I did replace the drive shaft assembly after noticing a little notchiness and play in it. (was replacing the clutch at the time anyway).

 

I figger rear drives, u-joints, and the like are probably "wear items", and like chains or dive belts on other types of bikes, may need to be replaced on high mileage Beemers. The engines seem to be pretty bullet-proof.