Thanks! Your way eliminates the hassle of completely removing the rea shock.

Damun Gracenin
1983 K100 RS

I saw this procedure last year and finally decided to try it and have a look at my splines before riding season starts. Everything went surprisingly well and should no problem keeping an eye on them seeing it’s only a 20-30 min job. I do have a question though. I torque down the bolts as described in my BMW Repair Manual, but I felt there was something missing. Since these four bolts are all that are holding the rear wheel to the bike, I was wondering if I should have used loctite. My manual does not refer to the use of loctite, so I assume that it is not needed. Any thoughts?

With regard to keeping wheel bolts/nuts in place the crucial thing according to Mercedes Benz is to ensure the cone face which mates the nut or stud (depending upon vehicle) to the cup in the wheel rim must be clean and dry no grease or oil at all. For many years I ran with a light oil film to stop corrosion on the alloy wheel cup under the cone face but when I saw the Tech Bulletin from Mercedes I thought err on the side of caution and clean up the cone and cup. No problems with doing so as a result of the clean cone and cup.

Hey, thanks for the quick reply K-bike. It sounds like you are talking about the wheel bolts, which also concern me, but I meant the four bolts that hold the final drive to the swing arm. As for the wheel bolts, I will follow that bulletin as well. I am also planning to follow a suggestion from the BMWONS forum. It was suggested to drill a hole through the nut end of the bolts where a safety wire coupled be threaded through two or more nuts. In theory, even if the bolts loosened, they would not be able to make a full turn and thus fall out.

Greetings all.

You are removing the swingarm and drive shaft so you can clean and re-lube the gearbox output shaft and the inside of the drive shaft aren't you?

For detailed images and instructions contact me at corcaigh@internode.on.net

Paul Harrington
AU

No, I don't remove the swing arm.
I remove the shaft from the swing arm and then grease the inside splines on the front of the shaft.
The front splines are not wearing off as they stay stationary on the gear box output shaft. The rear one are wearing because when the swing arm goes up and down, they are moving lateraly.

Here is my way to remove the shaft:
NOTE: always keep the swing arm in its normal position (tie it with wires or make a support). If you let it hang down, when removing the shaft you may destroy the boot at the gear box output shaft. When reassembling, push your shaft into the swing arm, match the splines with the output shaft and with a hammer give a good tap on the back of the shaft. (You should put a piece of hard wood between the shaft and the hammer as you don't want to damage the rear splines.


Bert

any rules of thumb to determine replacement wear on the shaft gear? I keep getting a horror story from the dealership about the dangers of a worn gear, just curious if there is a quick and dirty guide for servicability.

There is not rule of thumb. When you start to see your spline becoming pointy (they lose the flat spot on the top), this is time to think about replacement. As soon as you start to feel some slack between the shaft and the differential, the splines will start to wear at an exponential speed.
In stead of replacing them, check Bruno's web site for a repair. This guy is good and I have to praise his work and service: Click here for his web site
Here is a picture of a really bad spline. It was my K75 with over 150k on the shaft: worn splines

Bert

What are you using for lube on the splines?

thanks
Steve

The grease one reads about most frequently on the net is Honda Moly 60 which is available from your local Honda dealer (they can order it in if they don't have it or Tom Cutter sells it.
The Honda Part Number is 08734-0001
Regards,
K-BIKE

Just finished a spline lube on my K100. Luckily mine were in excellent shape. Does any know how much lube to use? I just liberally smeared the male end with the Honda Moly 60 paste. Funny, it seemed to have more of a cream consistency. Is this right? Seemed to all go too easily. I don't know if its just me, but now I hear a knocking noise from where the final drive bolts to the drive shaft. Wasn't there before. Did I miss something?

Regards,

otto59

Hi again!
just spoke to a really nice wrenchbender near here, mentioned that this is only a part of the lube process necessary. Said that in addition to lubing the final drive splines there are two more spots to lubricate just as often located in the transmission itself. Does this sound accurate, or is he just trying to scare me into having him do the work?

Hi Bruce,
He is probably referring to the other end of the drive shaft at the clutch which is also splined and needs to be lubed as well. Not technically inside the gearbox (the gear oil takes care of that) but it sits at the end of the shaft. The picture Bert posted with the vice grips gripping the shaft is prior to the whack to pull the shaft out so the clutch splines can be lubed. Be sparing you don't want to put enough Moly 60 on so it flings off onto the clutch.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Hi Bruce, I was under the impression the clutch splines were between the gearbox and engine requiring the gearbox to be at least moved back or at worst removed, but does not have to be done as often as the drive shaft splines which covers the output shaft from the gearbox and the input shaft to the bevel box.

Regards,

Phil

OK, there are 3 splines to be greased on our K's; one is on the input shaft for the gearbox (this is where the clutchplate is sliding over, second one is the outgoing shaft from the gearbox and the third one is the ingoing shaft of the final drive. In between the 2nd and 3rd is the drive shaft fitted. This one is secured on the forward end (outgoing shaft of the gearbox), so there is limited movement (read friction and thus weardown) there. Most movement is in way of the FD and the clutch plate. The FD can be done fairly easy and various methods have been posted on the web. The input shaft of the gearbox is more tricky as the whole aft train needs to be removed to get at it. Not difficult, as lots of examples/guides/tips are available, just quite a bit more work. Succes!