felt ring on clutch throwout rod

[coolingfin]

Hello,

I just registered on this site. Nice community! I live in Northern VA and have a 2000 R1100RT-P, that I purchased recently. The clutch was slipping so I pulled it out for inspection. It looks pretty good, the friction disk is about 5.3 mm thick.

I now suspect oil contamination. The main shaft seal on the motor and input shaft seal on the trans look good. However there was not felt ring on the throwout rod. But there is gear oil on the inside of the trans input shaft and the throw out rod. I now suspect that the lack of a felt ring between the throwout rod and trans input shaft allowed some gear oil to get to the clutch. I did notice some small streas of fluid that had radiated from the clutch hub, but at first I though that was from a spline lube. But now I think it's comming from the throwout rod because the lack of a felt ring.

Am I on the right track?

I don't want to do this job again any sooner than I have to.

Thanks

Mike

[cgdR]

Been there, done that. The output seal of the input shaft has leaked onto the clutch rod. A felt may have delayed the contamination, but not for long.

Here is some potentially bad news. While on an 1150 you can pull and replace the seal without opening the gearbox, I believe that you can't do that on an 1100. Perhaps somebody can confirm?

[Ken H.]

Am I on the right track?

Well yes and no. The inside of the input shaft should be dry regardless of the felt ring. The felt ring is really there only for alignment during assembly. You need to track down why there is lube inside the shaft. As mentioned one cause is a failed rear input shaft seal.

[Edgar]

I’ve seen oil on the pushrod and the internal portion of the transmission shaft splines before. In those cases it was the seals in the transmission. If it is the seals you’ll have to split the transmission and replace the seal. It is prudent at that time to replace all the seals about $50 bucks worth of parts. Shop labor time to do this is 4.5 hours.

[coolingfin]

Well you guys nailed that one! I pulled the clutch actuation parts from the rear of the trans and there was gear oil in there, just like in cgdR's pic. I can see now that the felt ring wouldn't have held that back for long.

 

And it does appear the trans has to come apart to install the seals. I may throw in the towel on that and take the trans to the dealer for installation of the seals. It looks like a job for someone with specific experience and a lot of special tools.

Thanks a lot for the quick and accurate advice.

Mike

[SWB]

Anytime I have to split a transmission (my backgrond is dirt bikes), it's time to check every gear, fork, and spring in the tranny (because of the cost of splitting the box).

 

Sorry buddy; bad news. How many miles were on the bike? Did you purchase it from a dealer or private party? The dealers were selling RTP's that they claimed "had been throughly checked by BMW, new batteries, tires, and anything else required..", & etc.. If you bought yours recently from a dealer under those pretenses, I'd take it right back and demand some help from BMW in fixing the seals.

 

Good luck.

[russell_bynum]

And it does appear the trans has to come apart to install the seals.

 

I don't recall about that rear seal on the input shaft, but I know you can replace the front seal on the input shaft without splitting the transmission case. Are you sure you've got to rip the whole thing apart to replace that rear seal?

[Edgar]

I’m not an expert on splitting the transmission cases, but to access the rear seal you do need to split the cases. If you think about the bike in question, it has an unknown history, and the transmission is out. Changing out all the seals as well as a through inspection will go along way toward peace of mind. Together with a new clutch you can check off this part of the bike as done.

[SageRider]

And it does appear the trans has to come apart to install the seals.

 

I don't recall about that rear seal on the input shaft, but I know you can replace the front seal on the input shaft without splitting the transmission case. Are you sure you've got to rip the whole thing apart to replace that rear seal?

On the 1100, the transmission case does require splitting to replace the input shaft rear seal. Russell, this is the seal that failed on my XMSN the second time around.

[russell_bynum]

On the 1100, the transmission case does require splitting to replace the input shaft rear seal. Russell, this is the seal that failed on my XMSN the second time around.

 

DOH!!!