"CRACK! Clangclangclang ... "

[Jim Moore]

That's the sound of a rear u-joint coming apart on an 02 R1150GS. What a mess. I managed to limp it home, although I don't know how. The u-joint came apart in my hands when I pulled the final drive off. It looked like someone threw a grenade into the swingarm tunnel. Metal everywhere.

 

I have some spares in the garage, so I'm gonna be able to fix it pretty cheap. I have one problem at this point. The back half of the u-joint is stuck on the splines of the final drive. With the front half of the u-joint gone, there is no place to insert a screwdriver to pop it off. Any thoughts, or is it a job for a machine shop?

 

Here's an interesting note. This is a used driveshaft that I had refurbished by Suburban Machinery. The front half failed after about 5K miles. The rear half failed after 18K miles. I know lots of people have been happy with their work, but I don't think I'll go that route again.

 

[AndyS]

Hi Jim,

Would it be possible to clamp something like a large set of Mole Grips (vise grips) onto the stube and then lever against the Mole grips to pop the stub out of the FD housing?

 

Andy

[Jim Moore]

I got it out this morning, thanks., I managed to get a claw hammer under a small lip and levered it off. Now it's just clean-up and reinstall spare parts. Yay!

[rad]

Jim

 

Why did you need to install a rebuilt drive shaft?

Did the first one also fail?

Could there be something else going on?

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Eebie will probably be along shortly to confirm this, but ISTR that he had secondary damage, i.e. the gearbox output shaft stub was bent when his driveshaft failed, and also his swingarm was nearly cracked into two pieces.

 

I recommend inspecting all the relevant parts very carefully before reassembly.

[Jim Moore]

Jim

 

Why did you need to install a rebuilt drive shaft?

Did the first one also fail?

Could there be something else going on?

I cleverly decided that my original driveshaft with 100K miles was getting a little tired, so I bought a used one, had it refurbished, and installed it. Looking back, maybe not so clever.

[Paul Mihalka]

As my R1200GS has close to 120K miles, I plan to do the same thing. I picked up on Ebay a used shaft with supposedly 18k miles. All the joints turn smoothly so I don't plan to do anything to it, but install it the next time I have the bike apart.

[Ken H.]

The back half of the u-joint is stuck on the splines of the final drive. With the front half of the u-joint gone, there is no place to insert a screwdriver to pop it off. Any thoughts, or is it a job for a machine shop?

Glad you got it off, but for future thought – heat is your friend. The torch is usually one of the first things I reach for when something is stuck.

[tallman]

The back half of the u-joint is stuck on the splines of the final drive. With the front half of the u-joint gone, there is no place to insert a screwdriver to pop it off. Any thoughts, or is it a job for a machine shop?

Glad you got it off, but for future thought – heat is your friend. The torch is usually one of the first things I reach for when something is stuck.

 

Remind me not to ride in an elevator with you.

 

Good luck, Jim.

[DavidEBSmith]

Eebie will probably be along shortly to confirm this, but ISTR that he had secondary damage, i.e. the gearbox output shaft stub was bent when his driveshaft failed, and also his swingarm was nearly cracked into two pieces.

 

I recommend inspecting all the relevant parts very carefully before reassembly.

 

Yup.

 

The shop said they started my bike and could see the end of the output shaft moving in a circle.

 

Swingarm:

 

[Jim Moore]

Here's an interesting note. This is a used driveshaft that I had refurbished by Suburban Machinery. The front half failed after about 5K miles. The rear half failed after 18K miles. I know lots of people have been happy with their work, but I don't think I'll go that route again.

Folks,

 

I just realized I had it rebuilt by Machine Service Industry, not Suburban Machinery. Sorry for the confusion.