spline lube help

[JamesW]

Am sending seat pans to Russell to have (finally) a day-long saddle built for the '04RT. Anyway, since bike will be down for a month I am thinking about doing the trans input shaft inspection and spline lube. I plan to remove or roll out the transmission without disconnecting the final drive. I just want to un-bolt the transmission and roll the complete assembly out on the rear tire with trans supported on a platform with castors attached. I saw a really good write up on this with great supporting pictures but can't remember on what web sight I saw this. I think it was on BMWSportTouring but can't find it by searching. If someone could point me in the right direction I would be grateful. Bike has 35K miles and I plan a ride to the east coast and I have been thinking about having a look at the input shaft splines for awhile especially after reading all these somewhat scary threads about spline failures. Thanks

[notacop]

I think you need a sky hook to hold up the two ends of the bike.

With the old R bikes that had real frame it was easy, just as you described.Took about 1-2 hours depending on how many beers you drank.

The newer bikes are a bit more fickle. Have you checked the Clymer manual?

[Edgar]

Rolling the transmission with the final drive attached straight back can be a real time saver when you are dealing with the clutch and clutch splines. When you roll it back you will need an extra pair of hands to assist, and when reattaching it, a third pair of hands is helpful. A jack or other block to rest the transmission on prior to attaching it is also good to have. The Haynes manual goes over the details of rolling the transmission back as a unit. At 35K miles lubing the splines is probably not necessary and can cause other issues along the way.

 

 

[hink]

My 04 has about 45k on it, still downshifts smoothly. I'm thinking about doing mine. Just wondering what other issues there are that might rear their ugly head. Would I be better off leaving well enough alone?

[rad]

I have done it both ways. It is much quicker to roll out the entire unit. However, it is a two man job to put it back in place.

 

If you are doing it alone, I would take it apart in smaller bits.

[TEDZ]

I made guide pins by cutting the heads off some longer bolts to slide the trans & final drive back until the splines cleared the clutch. I also used a frame type jack with a board on it and the guide pins putting it back in. The jack was a leftover from owning Harleys.

[JamesW]

I made guide pins by cutting the heads off some longer bolts to slide the trans & final drive back until the splines cleared the clutch. I also used a frame type jack with a board on it and the guide pins putting it back in. The jack was a leftover from owning Harleys.

 

Yup, that's my plan. I am going to fashion guide pins out of headless bolts. Then I have a piece of plywood with 4 castors attached that will go under the trans and be blocked up with short pieces of 2X4s with wooden shims inserted to provide fine adjustment and out she should come. Now I just have to work up the courage to make it happen. Have been trying to convince myself that periodic spline lube is not required nor will it prevent spline failure and I do believe that. What I really hope to accomplish is an inspection of the splines and if there is no damage then lubricate, reassemble and forget about it until maybe clutch replacement time.