Spline on R1150RT

[donhallman]

I have seen several mentions of spine failure on early Rt's 01 & 02. Having an 02, this concerns me a little and hoping some of the knowledge on this board can put me at ease.

 

1. Are there symptoms evident prior to such a failure.

2. Is it common, say 1 out of 200 bikes?

3. Is it due to a casting misalingment, that will keep

occuring?

4. For an older bike, is there any BMW assistance?

5. Any other info appreciated.

[Ken H.]

1. Sometimes difficulty in shifting, in particular down, but usually no.

 

2. No real statistics are known, but it's certainly not 1 in 200. 1 in 2000 maybe.

 

3. Case alignment has been theorized, as has micro-fretting due to lubrication faliure. Nothing has ever been definitively proven that I have ever seen.

 

4. BMW handles all request for financial repair assistance on a case-by-case basis, but on an '02, probably not.

 

5. Tear the bike down and lube them now. It's cheaper than waiting for a failure, that's for sure. Can't hurt, likely will help. If damage is caught early enough before actual spline failure, replacing just the clutch plate can significantly prolong the splines' life.

[SageRider]

2. No real statistics are known, but it's certainly not 1 in 200. 1 in 2000 maybe.

I agree that no real statistics are known, however, this site has nearly 10K members of which a minority are actually active, and there have been more than 5 spline failures posted. This is an indication to me that spline failures are more common than 1 in 2000!

[Ken/OC]

I agree that no real statistics are known, however, this site has nearly 10K members of which a minority are actually active, and there have been more than 5 spline failures posted. This is an indication to me that spline failures are more common than 1 in 2000!

 

10K members, VERY many inactive and/or long departed. Some percentage of the rest have R1150RTs, some percentage of which are '02s. Let's say 50%, 70%, and 25%. And let's say there have been 10 reported spline failures. Now it's one in 88! All these numbers are WAGs of course.

[donhallman]

Thanks for the input. I only have 29K on mine, but plan to attend the Atlanta tech-daze 11/12/05. If I can watch this being done I may go ahead and do it. Better safe than splinless.

[Ralph]

I caught mine while still under warranty & BMW took care of it without a problem. Shifts better now. Mine was a late 02.