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2009 RT U-Joint Failure

Yep and a huge percentage of those CV's have had the boot ripped in one way or another. I even use a lube hypodermic needle to inject free flowing grease into non- lube-able ball joints and then give them a schmere of silicone to seal the hole...
When those tiny needles in a u-joint start to wear out, the end comes soon. Do you ever remember a car going by with the "odd squeak"?
Without a new u-joint the shaft ends up looking like the picture.

I haven't had a cv joint boot tear in years. Not on my suburban, Windstar, jetta or passat totalling hundreds of thousands of miles.
 
While I do not recall of hearing of many U joint failures on other bikes, I do recall seeing how massively over built most of them are. Over built equals heavy. BMW prides its self on making very light weight motorcycles (a trait we love). The down side is parts are stressed harder and more prone to failure. Engineering is all about trade-offs, and sometimes one gets to close to the line.
 
U-joints are easily serviced if one can get the OEM apart....i agree with vegasgsa about the process.....

maybe an exchange repair service is in order (if there is not one already)....have a couple refurbished and ready to ship....RT owner sends his in for an exchange....just thinking out loud here....BeemerBoneYard and FleaBay do not have driveshafts for the 10+RT....but many others....

wyman

You don't want the OEM part...they are non serviceable..I use an ELB 106 joint..Have a machinist buddy chuck it in a lathe..run out less than .004 and TIG weld a washer over the caps..The ELB is grease-able. You do have to pull one zert as it will not clear the yoke to swing..

If you want to send to Canada..Bruno will machine a groove to accept the snap ring and return it to you ready to run..very slick..but they seem to sit in customs awhile..He charges $350..I can turn it in a week for $300..Plus shipping. A new one is $780 I think..and 5 weeks out..(last I saw)
 
You don't want the OEM part...they are non serviceable..I use an ELB 106 joint..Have a machinist buddy chuck it in a lathe..run out less than .004 and TIG weld a washer over the caps..The ELB is grease-able. You do have to pull one zert as it will not clear the yoke to swing..

If you want to send to Canada..Bruno will machine a groove to accept the snap ring and return it to you ready to run..very slick..but they seem to sit in customs awhile..He charges $350..I can turn it in a week for $300..Plus shipping. A new one is $780 I think..and 5 weeks out..(last I saw)

This joint...? http://www.drive-lines.com/elbe/template.php?series=ELBE 106

thanks for the info....

wyman
 
preventive maintenance on your drive shaft

Just for those who like to know, having a 09 gsa 52000km and do inspect the FD and final drive after every season.

because there is no such a thing, as maintenance free riding, during my last inspection I found some water into my tunnel, removing the drive shaft, one of the u-joints did bind a bit, time for an overhaul.

i do not have a problem with the failure, but do have a problem, that this is not written down into a maintenance schedule.

it just gives a false sense of security and the price tag after serious damage is huge.

overhaul with grease zerk can$350 :ca at Bruno's.

(have to say do a lot off road riding and water crossings)
 
How about a service hole/plug in the housing, zerx on the u joints, and a good shot of moly grease every 10K miles? Or is that too simple?
 
How about a service hole/plug in the housing, zerx on the u joints, and a good shot of moly grease every 10K miles? Or is that too simple?

I may be mistaken, but I don't believe you can leave the zerk fitting in place on a shaft that's being used. The U joint is too tight and it would cause interference with the yokes movement.. so - yeah, probably too simple.

While it's not the cause in all cases - in a number of failed joints I've seen it appeared rust was the problem. The design of the swingarm is that the driveshaft chamber is sealed IF the rubber accordian like boots are seated and sealed properly. Unfortunately - it's easy to reassemble it and have them not sealed properly. There is a plastic expander inside the part that seats into the openings in the swingarm and rear-drive (and swingarm at the front.) If the expander isn't in the right place, or is broken (and I have seen that..) then water can get in, but has difficulty getting out of the chamber. That seems to cause rust around the bearing assembly on the rear U joint, eventually leading to failure.

As I said - I haven't seen it in all cases - but I have seen it enough that I very carefully check that mine is sealed correctly when doing my rear-drive oil change (which requires dropping the rear drive down and disconnecting the rubber boot.)
 
Above is all correct..

You can't just simply install zerks..you have to change U Joints..one end can be left, it will clear as the yoke swings..the other however, cannot..the zerk will hit..there is a small hole in the casting where it hits..if a guy were to open that hole up a bit with a step drill..it will clear..and, it's a non stressed area of the yoke, so shouldn't effect strength..(or you could simply install CV Needle style zerks..)

My upper boot has been cracked and trashed for a while..now living in the PNW..I need to get that fixed for the reasons stated above.. I've considered drilling a drain hole in mine as well..

Simply stupid there isn't one there already..
 
Above is all correct..

You can't just simply install zerks..you have to change U Joints..one end can be left, it will clear as the yoke swings..the other however, cannot..the zerk will hit..there is a small hole in the casting where it hits..if a guy were to open that hole up a bit with a step drill..it will clear..and, it's a non stressed area of the yoke, so shouldn't effect strength..(or you could simply install CV Needle style zerks..)

My upper boot has been cracked and trashed for a while..now living in the PNW..I need to get that fixed for the reasons stated above.. I've considered drilling a drain hole in mine as well..

Simply stupid there isn't one there already..

well I have not seen the repair from Bruno Sax, Iron Bridge ON Canada, although there are some pictures on ADV and other related sites, he is putting a zerk into the U-joint will take a picture and will post later, there is also a picture with a zerk in this blog, not clear where that one is coming from, but it seems about right.

I have to say CV needle style zerks are probably better, I don't know why Bruno is not installing those ones, maybe not available, will ask him.

regarding the hole into the tunnel, I prefer to check after every season, but that is what I like to do after a summer beating it around.
 
well I have not seen the repair from Bruno Sax, Iron Bridge ON Canada, although there are some pictures on ADV and other related sites, he is putting a zerk into the U-joint will take a picture and will post later, there is also a picture with a zerk in this blog, not clear where that one is coming from, but it seems about right.

I have to say CV needle style zerks are probably better, I don't know why Bruno is not installing those ones, maybe not available, will ask him.

regarding the hole into the tunnel, I prefer to check after every season, but that is what I like to do after a summer beating it around.

Seen the pic many times..

Yes..CV Needle style Zerks will clear easy.
 
Well, 90K on my 09 GSA and had a front u-joint decide to lock up.

No strange feeling on last ride or two and found doing 6K service yesterday. I had done a wheel wiggle test before the trip to Houston last Thursday..felt fine then.
The wheel would index stiffly every revolution in 90 degree increments. Housing clean, except for the three needles from one of the joints. Pretty much pointed to a squirrelly u-joint .
20140423_113721.jpg

Have one I found in TX headed here in morning, original will go to Bruno's. Just really glad it waited until it was sitting on the lift and not on way to the Branson Blitz this weekend, or on my crazy ride back from Houston the other day..all good in the bigger picture. We wanted to camp some after the Blitz and the S bikes were not looking ready to go for that task:brow...The pack mule should be ready for liftoff this time tomorrow.
 
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Ouch.

Unfortunately, Steve's not alone. Last month leaving Death Valley, my '07 R12R (33K) began to feel like I was running over tar snakes (brrp, brrp, brrp, etc.). Bevel box wasn't leaking, and rear wheel had no play on any axis. The wheel turned (noisily) in the correct direction, but would only go a bit in reverse then lock. I was lucky with the retrieval: one of the other guys on the trip came in his giganto truck with a dirt bike in back; there was plenty of room for the R12 too.

Back home and disassembled, it was clear that the rear u-joint had failed:

IMG_1133.jpeg

I'd stopped the bike quickly enough that the swingarm wasn't damaged.

This was disappointing: I'm easy on machinery, and reasonably expected that I wouldn't have so expensive a failure so early. I understand that mechanical things fail, but these usually last longer and it's no fun to be the outlier.
 
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I realize that I'm denser than most, but last year thought I heard a bit of rumble in drive train of my beater car. Jacked it up, took a look see at U-joints, vooella, each had Allen head plugs in the yoke centers which were removed and small zerx installed, followed by massive greasing job. Problem solved for now. Point?, What could it possibly cost any manufacturer to properly design a U-joint for the duration? My vehicle is 26 years old and likely will be going down the road long after I pass on with those U-joints.

Hey,BMW engineers, get with the program. What could a zerk possibly weigh that a designer could possibly imagine the weight savings to matter, performance wise? Wouldn't it be cool when bikes are designed to include the best known gurus and riders in the room? Two more cents, FWIW.
 
Oh the pain and shame of admittance:

Perhaps BMW is just not going to admit to these problems because it would mean that they knew of the poor design all along. Just like Kawasaki has yet to accept (as far as I know since I last checked in 2014) their inherently poor design of the 650 KLR "Counter balancing chain adjustment mechanism", which has been taken care of by an aftermarket design of what is called the Doohickey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsYTaI1vL08.

I went into a Kawasaki dealer this year and asked if anything had been done to correct the problem of the Counter balancing adjustment mechanism on the KLR, because I was considering buying one at the time, and the dealer gave me a look of surprise and said he had never heard of it. Hmmm!!! I guess the thing BMW and Kawasaki don't want to encounter is the backlash that could potentially come from lability demands from the public for something that could have/should have been fixed years ago.

I've got the R1200RS in my sights right now and that Driveline Issue is the only thing that has me wondering. Can anyone out there give me a warm fuzzy?

Nat
Upland, CA
 
Anyone repaired this themselves?

It looks like my U-joint on my 2009 RT is failing at 82,000 miles. I'm getting an odd vibration. There's a reddish dust around the rubber boot and I can see jagged metal on the u-joint when I pull back the boot. The final drive seems solid.

Has anyone replaced the drive shaft themselves? How involved is it? What special tools are needed? I've done all the maintenance on this bike since I bought it at 4,000 miles. I've done almost all the work on all my motorcycles over the years so I feel I'm handy enough with tools. Just not sure if there might be any special nuances to doing this job right. My preferred BMW dealer is 225 miles away so hauling the bike there is a bit of a hassle. The drive shaft is $1,100 and I'm sure labor will be high as well.

Thanks for any tips.

Jeff
 
It looks like my U-joint on my 2009 RT is failing at 82,000 miles. I'm getting an odd vibration. There's a reddish dust around the rubber boot and I can see jagged metal on the u-joint when I pull back the boot. The final drive seems solid.

Has anyone replaced the drive shaft themselves? How involved is it? What special tools are needed? I've done all the maintenance on this bike since I bought it at 4,000 miles. I've done almost all the work on all my motorcycles over the years so I feel I'm handy enough with tools. Just not sure if there might be any special nuances to doing this job right. My preferred BMW dealer is 225 miles away so hauling the bike there is a bit of a hassle. The drive shaft is $1,100 and I'm sure labor will be high as well.

Thanks for any tips.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

I think if you read the above posts you'll see several people who have R&R'd a driveshaft. If yours hasn't destroyed itself it might be rescued by one of the people who rebuild them - cost is much less than new, but turnaround is longer.

Is R&R a DIY? Depends on your skill level and your luck. There are some of the swingarm housings which will allow the front U-joint to pass through. They're mostly on the GS models, but I've heard of them occasionally on RT and R models. There is one point in the casting where the internal diameter is just a TINY bit too small to allow the front U-joint to pass. If that's the case, the swingarm has to come off to replace them. That's not super complicated, but having some mechanical skills before trying it would be a good thing (I wouldn't recommend it for a novice mechanic) and I'd suggest having the BMW REP-ROM handy to guide you and give you torque values and such. If the driveshaft will pass through the restricted area of the swingarm - it's a fairly easy job, not much more than is needed to lube the rear spline, or drain the on the early "lifetime fill" drives.

I do know some people who have removed the swingarm and then used a semi-circular file to open up the restriction a bit, and grind a tiny bit off the corners of the front U-joint (you'll know what I mean by "corners" when you see where it sticks).. so they could then R&R the shaft without removing the swingarm. They did this so they could easily remove the shaft to inspect the front U-joint.

Let us know what you decide to do and how it works out for you!
 
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