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2005 R1200RT Final drive failure

crazy horse

New member
Add me to the growing list. My ring gear on my final drive is toast at 47,000 miles.
Many thanks to my local dealer Schlossman's BMW of Milwaukee who went to bat for me with BMW NA offering that I would pay half the price of a new FD and they would do the labor for free. { I did have it removed from the bike}. BMW has declined that idea of goodwill saying the bike is "too far out".
Back in the 70's I would have taken that as a compliment, now it just makes me want to disconnect from a motorcycle company that I would not long ago have boasted made the best long distance bike.
Now, when that conversation comes up I think I'll clam up.
By the way, I changed the "Forever fluid" in that drive at 27,000 miles and used BMW synthetic. :mad
 
Welcome to an unfortunate and growing club.

My '05 puked at 49,000, and is again getting 'loose.'

Not much help from BMW either. :banghead
 
It is very interesting when BMW helps and doesn't help. Probably the mood of the rep that day.
They know these things are puking all over.
 
Btw, prior to my failure I would say my RT was the best bike ever made. Now it just good. Another failure and its just okay.
 
By the way, I changed the "Forever fluid" in that drive at 27,000 miles and used BMW synthetic. :mad

I think it is important to change the oil early, say at 600 miles, then every X miles after (for me, 6000 miles since I have to change tires anyway). 27k miles might have been too long. Of course, this is BMWs fault, not yours.

If you get a new drive, I'd like to have the old drive if you would be willing to ship it to me (I'd pay, of course). I'd like to take on apart and rebuild it.

Rob
 
I should know this but based on one of the previous posts, I'm not so sure now... what is maintenance schedule for final drive oil changes? I've had my bike serviced by my dealer every 6,000 mile since new and left it to them... I figured while still or warranty I'd have them do the scheduled maintenance. Now I am 500 miles and 6 weeks away from factory 36 K/ 3-year warranty being up.
 
I should know this but based on one of the previous posts, I'm not so sure now... what is maintenance schedule for final drive oil changes? I've had my bike serviced by my dealer every 6,000 mile since new and left it to them... I figured while still or warranty I'd have them do the scheduled maintenance. Now I am 500 miles and 6 weeks away from factory 36 K/ 3-year warranty being up.

Official factory change interval is every 12,000 miles. I go further, but that's based on observation of the oil when I change it. If you have a vented rear drive BMW's suggestion isn't a bad one. Mine is sealed - and so far what comes out looks exactly like what's going in.
 
It seems to me that my fluid stays cleaner now than when I first was changing it. I just didn't really mentally note it, but I recall the fluid being blackish, now it looks red and new coming out. Anyone else noticed this or am I just mixing memories?
 
What do you mean by "My ring gear is toast"?
This part. Which I cannot buy seperate of the entire unit.
finaldrive001.jpg

finaldrive002.jpg
 
It seems to me that my fluid stays cleaner now than when I first was changing it. I just didn't really mentally note it, but I recall the fluid being blackish, now it looks red and new coming out. Anyone else noticed this or am I just mixing memories?

My '05 RT & '05 GS came out darker the first few flushes...I attributed it to whatever moly based lube was the original "forever" fill. Both our K12S's always looked clean.
the '07 and newer bikes we have were clean from first service
 
On my 08 RT it seemed s though it had been assembled with some additional dark lube, a heavy dark grease It took 3 changes to remove all visible traces of it so the contents now look like 100% BMW synthetic, the lube I'm using in it.
 
It seems to me that my fluid stays cleaner now than when I first was changing it. I just didn't really mentally note it, but I recall the fluid being blackish, now it looks red and new coming out. Anyone else noticed this or am I just mixing memories?

Entirely possible. The factory fill apparently didn't wash off all the machining goop, or there was some break-in additive in the factory fill. As you change the oil that washes out and the oil comes out looking much clearer. As I noted - mine comes out looking like what's going in.
 
I know this has been thrown out before... BUT... Why not an ombudsman from the club that can bring up ...Significant ...problems to the company heads ie final drives, abs modulators that cost $2,300 ? Etc. we have thousands of members that buy their very expensive product, shouldn't we have some clout?...?
 
Because we love them(BMWNA) & they love us & we want to keep it kissy faced & not spoil our camping trips either...:lurk
 
I was forced to replace the FD on my '06 R1200RT at around 30K miles, after the sealed bearing failed and scored the shaft portion of the ring gear to the point it would no longer accept a new bearing. I attributed this to a "hard knock" the FD received during a chance encounter with a series of very deep potholes, however I have since read that this is a common failure mode for these FDs. The sealed bearing is, indeed "lifetime lubricated" and although it is immersed in the FD lubricant, it is sealed in (grease) and does not benefit from any oil changes, at any interval. Once it decides to fail, the result is noise and then, in my case, grabbing and galling on the installed surfaces, which in my case was the FD shaft. I was not given the option of repairing the component and the bike was way out of warranty, so I paid to have the drive replaced. Disgusted, I tossed the failed drive away...hundreds of dollars of castings and precision-machined parts, made useless because of the failure of a (relatively) cheap bearing. I have often wondered if the bearing wouldn't have been better off without its seal, so that the drive lubrication fluid could circulate through it. Now--far be it from me to second guess the vaunted BMW engineering team on their design / selection of a bearing that is apparently not up to this task, but this is one of several "little" engineering shortcomings that have made me question BMW's decision-making process. It is a sad situation when so much otherwise brilliant design and development effort by truly brilliant engineers is undermined by, apparently, the leadership mentality that values a relatively few cents in savings over durability and excellence.
There are other prominent examples of this unfortunate mindset (e.g. frequent failure of fuel level strips, cracking fuel tank line bosses and corroding brake disc bolts) that point up the need for improvements in BMW's quality control program.
 
I know this has been thrown out before... BUT... Why not an ombudsman from the club that can bring up ...Significant ...problems to the company heads ie final drives, abs modulators that cost $2,300 ? Etc. we have thousands of members that buy their very expensive product, shouldn't we have some clout?...?

While the BMW MOA does have a standing "dialogue" with BMW NA concerning owner issues, it's cordial at best.

Keep in mind, BMW is very guarded when it comes to admitting engineering/manufacturing 'errors.'

I suspect they have more lawyers than designers - something they probably learned from America's culture, or as a defense against it.

Everytime I get together with, say 4 other BMW owners and the topic of FD failure comes up, there always seems to be one in the bunch with a horror story. NO - that doesn't mean the failure rate is 25%. For all we know, it could be higher.

Problem is, no one - not I - not you - not anyone on this Forum - knows the actual failure rate. We all speculate, based on our biases, anecdotal 'evidence' or presumptions.

Your suggestion has merit - it just doesn't stand a chance of having a pulse. :banghead
 
I own a 2007 RT and I have been keeping an eye on the final drive (FD) threads. I'm at 16000 miles.

I'm wondering if the RTP bikes have had similar issues? And, if so, what has been the "fix" for an RTP? I would think that if there is a known failure rate for a FD on specific model year RTs and these same drives are on a police bike, then BMW would have addressed the issue from a safety standpoint knowing that police officers are riding and training on the RT.

I believe the gearing is a little different on the RTP. What about the FD itself? Is the FD built to higher standards because it's a RTP bike?

If the RTP FDs are failing, how is the problems being addressed? Rebuilt FDs? New FDs?

Just some food for thought. :eat
 
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