Clutch Spline Lube?

[dhgeyer]

I traded in an R850R for my 2009 R1200R. On the oilheads, there was not a clear consensus about the need to lube the clutch splines at somewhere between 40 and 50 thousand miles as preventative maintenance. BMW doesn't call for it, and none of the techs, dealer or independent, thought it was needed. The guy (independent) that I trust the most said that the clutch plates would eventually need replacing, and to do it then.

I just did a search of this forum, and the BMW MOA forum, and there's nothing there that I could find from anyone thinking it's needed on the hexheads. Is there general agreement now that it's a non-issue with the latest generation?

At this point it's really more curiosity on my part, as I have nowhere near enough miles to warrant even thinking about it. But I'd love to believe that this rather time consuming job has been eliminated, or at least postponed until it needs to be done as part of another job anyway.

[deilenberger]

The incidence of clutch spline failures on hexhead engines in general has been MUCH less then on oilheads, even on high mileage examples. I haven't seen anything indicating the periodic clutch spline lubes are needed on the hexheads, and I am fairly in touch on all the major hexhead related forums. My R12R at 42,000 miles shows no sign of needing a spline lube (usually indicated by poor shifting quality.)

[thepeacebullgrunt]

Is this conversation somehow related or similar to this one --> "viewtopic.php?f=20&t=21135

In fact I was emailing my independent mechanic
and here is what he wrote few hours ago

The rear spline is not hard to do but the transmission spline is another story

Rear, clutch, transmission spline ? I am getting a little confuse...


Hey look !
"fredeR1200Ric" is now the "PeacebullGrunt" and a yearly 25 bucks grunt member as well !

[deilenberger]

Is this conversation somehow related or similar to this one --> "viewtopic.php?f=20&t=21135

In fact I was emailing my independent mechanic
and here is what he wrote few hours ago

The rear spline is not hard to do but the transmission spline is another story

Rear, clutch, transmission spline ? I am getting a little confuse...

There are three splines. Front to back: Clutch splines (or transmission input shaft splines); front driveshaft splines (or "transmission output shaft splines"; and finally - rear driveshaft splines (AKA - rear-drive input shaft splines.)

Piece'a cake.

The transmission input shaft and rear-drive input shaft splines were known for wearing out on earlier BMW bikes (K bikes in particular..) BMW has slowly improved this - and as far as I've seen, the hexhead doesn't really have "spline problems" like the earlier models do. The rear-drive input shaft splines are REALLY easy to do IF you're changing your rear-drive fluid like a good little beemerrider every 12k miles and you have an early hexhead (where you have to drop the rear-drive to change the oil.) That said - same thread over on the MOA website - there haven't been any reported failures of this spline, so the need to grease IMHO is vastly overstated.

Hey look !
"fredeR1200Ric" is now the "PeacebullGrunt" and a yearly 25 bucks grunt member as well !

How cool is that! - But we'll still think of you as frede.. (fred'e..)

[thepeacebullgrunt]

Cool ! and thanks your words were just copy/pasted to my Mechanic....just to piss him off a little more I guess as he is really near the stroke anytime I mention the word "Forum".

I will not say that it come from forum but he might sort of "smell" it...then give me an attitude again.