Rebuild questions

[RevRay]

Friends,

I find myself involved in a rather ambitious project, at least for me. A couple weeks ago while accelerating out of a corner it felt like my 2005 GS jumped out of gear. Early diagnosis is drive train issues; clutch, transmission, splines ETC.

My internal combustion experience is small engine shop in high school, tuning up various mechanical ignition systems and owning an AMF harley for seven years.

 

My GS has ninety thousand miles on the clock, I really like it and would like to keep it. That said I would like to hear your thoughts on my ambitious project as to what else might I change/rebuild while I have the bike split in two. Any thoughts on aftermarket clutches vs. OEM should I consider ceramic or oil resistance variety? Should I have the transmission rebuilt? I still have the stock exhaust will it last ?

 

I intend to make this a learning experience, I have a Haynes Manual and I'm expecting delivery of BMW repair DVD soon. Anyone know of any other resources that might help my ambitious project.

 

Progress is on hold until 8/20 thats when our guests will cease occupying my guest room soon to be the parts storage room.

 

Thanks

[dirtrider]

Afternoon Ray

 

Without knowing what is wrong with your trans or drive train it is difficult to advise you on what to do.

 

The very first thing you need to do is verify what is wrong with it if possible before tearing it apart. Maybe you just have some loose or sticking shift linkage or have a drive shaft isolator slipping. Once you take it too far apart those things are difficult to prove or disprove.

 

In any case if you need to remove the trans then you can make the decision based on what you think or find is wrong once removed.

 

Being a 2005 (early) hexhead you might find some oil leakage at the rear balance shaft seal & possibly the trans input shaft seal. Might even find some seepage from the slave cylinder. Might also find some wear issues with your drive shaft.

 

On installing an aftermarket clutch disk? Some have with limited success, personally I wouldn't as I have yet to ride a hexhead with any of the aftermarket plates in them that I like the launch feel & smoothness of engagement.

 

First, figure out what's wrong, then see what it takes to address that problem, then look into updating or repairs to things you are close to when repairing your original issue. You really don't want to put $5,000.00 worth of repairs/updates into a 6K valued bike.

 

[racer7]

Well, not if you intend to resell it any time soon..

 

But if you plan to keep it its probably better than buying another $6K bike with unknown possible issues. And if you spend $11K on a newer one (a 2010 or 09) it a $ wash but maybe a bit ahead in design improvments, etc.

 

I'd certainly want some idea of what was wrong and what I needed to do vs what might be interesing / desirable to do before tearing it open..

 

Re the clutch, I'd stay stock too. "Softer" is good for driveline preservation. Harder clutch materials and unsprung clutches especially are harder to operate and harder on parts. Yeah I hate the bit of inevitable stink that comes with new stock clutches on steep hills when loaded but it goes away fairly quickly during break in. And the durability of the stock setup is well established except when abused by badly trained LEOs accustomed to other designs.

Even my track machinery (4 wheel) uses a soft clutch because I'm trying to preserve a tranny handling twice its design power level...If I had a sintered race 4 puck in it I'd be doing regular tranny rebuilds for sure..

[RevRay]

DR and racer7, I'll start the tear down next week, see what I find and make my decision based on my findings. Stay tuned I'll share my findings and probably seek advise.