Basic steps to change final drive oil?

[ncpbmw1953]

Hi, awaiting '16 RTW to be delivered. My brother says on his 06' RT the rear wheel had to be removed to do this. Others have said it's simpler w/ RTW, but I don't know what was meant by 'simpler' and I've never done this job on a motorcycle before. Can you give a brief description of the basic steps? I'll be on an 8K mile trip and will do an engine oil change about 5 or 6K miles. I think the FD oil change recommendation is ever 12K miles or 2 years, so shouldn't have to do this on the road. Still though, be nice to know the basic steps.

Cheers n Thanks

 

[ncpbmw1953]

Hehe, I guess I'm not the only one who doesn't have a clue 69 views later

 

[Omega Man]

Sometimes it just takes a while for someone who has done the service to wander by. Jim VonBaden probably has done this service, maybe he will swing by.
OM

 

[BMARC153920]

There is a fill plug on the new wet heads so no need to drop the final drive. Remove fill plug, clean and new o ring. Remove drain plug, drain, clean and replace gasket. Fill with 180 ml of fluid, replace fill plug, ride.

O rings, gasket washers, fluid and measuring/fill container can all be purchased cheaply from beemer boneyard. Process takes one beer or 15 minutes including clean up.

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[cwroady]

^^ there you go ... Easier and quicker than changing the motor oil.

 

[ncpbmw1953]

There is a fill plug on the new wet heads so no need to drop the final drive. Remove fill plug, clean and new o ring. Remove drain plug, drain, clean and replace gasket. Fill with 180 ml of fluid, replace fill plug, ride.

O rings, gasket washers, fluid and measuring/fill container can all be purchased cheaply from beemer boneyard. Process takes one beer or 15 minutes including clean up.

Sent from my KFSAWA using Tapatalk

Great thanks for that. I'm pretty sure you're saying the rear wheel does not need removed to get to the filler plug, correct? I read this comment re the change in '08:

'The ’08 put the drain plug at the bottom of the final drive housing which meant you didn’t have to drop the final drive unit on the pivot bolt, BUT you still had to remove the rear wheel in order to get to the filler plug'​

While we're here, how often should drive splines be greased on the wet head drive? Part of recommended 12K service?

Thanks

 

[BMARC153920]

Great thanks for that. I'm pretty sure you're saying the rear wheel does not need removed to get to the filler plug, correct? I read this comment re the change in '08:

'The ’08 put the drain plug at the bottom of the final drive housing which meant you didn’t have to drop the final drive unit on the pivot bolt, BUT you still had to remove the rear wheel in order to get to the filler plug'​

While we're here, how often should drive splines be greased on the wet head drive? Part of recommended 12K service?

Thanks

Correct. No need to remove anything other than the two mentioned plugs in the order I specified. There is no specified interval for the splines, they were done on the older gen just because it was a might as well item. Me, maybe I will do them at 36k, maybe not, fact is people did the rears but never the fronts so if the front were okay, then so should the rear.

Some people will disagree, do what you feel is best, but question yourself if your going to lube the rear splines and not the front, what are you really saving?

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[Omega Man]

ASCCycles has been a great source for figuring out the maintenance schedules-
http://www.ascycles.com/bmw_motorcycle_service_and_maintenance_schedules.aspx
Have a peek while you are gearing up for your new ride.
You didn't mention where you are, maybe your right next door to 'em
OM

 

[t6pilot]

Great thanks for that. I'm pretty sure you're saying the rear wheel does not need removed to get to the filler plug, correct? I read this comment re the change in '08:

'The ’08 put the drain plug at the bottom of the final drive housing which meant you didn’t have to drop the final drive unit on the pivot bolt, BUT you still had to remove the rear wheel in order to get to the filler plug'​

While we're here, how often should drive splines be greased on the wet head drive? Part of recommended 12K service?

Thanks

On my 2015, have changed it with each oil change. Only thing I have done differently is to install a DIMPLE magnetic drain plug on engine and final drive. Much more user friendly than earlier models

 

[BMARC153920]

On my 2015, have changed it with each oil change. Only thing I have done differently is to install a DIMPLE magnetic drain plug on engine and final drive. Much more user friendly than earlier models

Yeah I change mine with each oil change, the cost is cheap enough and you can do the fd while the engine oil drains.

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[ncpbmw1953]

ASCCycles has been a great source for figuring out the maintenance schedules-
http://www.ascycles.com/bmw_motorcycle_service_and_maintenance_schedules.aspx
Have a peek while you are gearing up for your new ride.
You didn't mention where you are, maybe your right next door to 'em
OM

Yes I am right next door, or about 80 miles whichever comes first...

You know I downloaded the schedule but I don't see anything specifically about spline lubrication.

Thanks!

 

[ncpbmw1953]

Correct. No need to remove anything other than the two mentioned plugs in the order I specified. There is no specified interval for the splines, they were done on the older gen just because it was a might as well item. Me, maybe I will do them at 36k, maybe not, fact is people did the rears but never the fronts so if the front were okay, then so should the rear.

Some people will disagree, do what you feel is best, but question yourself if your going to lube the rear splines and not the front, what are you really saving?

Sent from my KFSAWA using Tapatalk

Great, thanks again for that. Practically changes itself! So to clean and lube the front splines, you pull the entire shaft out from the rear? Just wondering, I may never do it but nice to know.

 

[lee]

'The ’08 put the drain plug at the bottom of the final drive housing which meant you didn’t have to drop the final drive unit on the pivot bolt, BUT you still had to remove the rear wheel in order to get to the filler plug'​

That's how it is on our 2011 K1300S bikes.
Not hard to remove the wheel, but not removing the wheel is easier yet

 

[lee]

Great, thanks again for that. Practically changes itself! So to clean and lube the front splines, you pull the entire shaft out from the rear? Just wondering, I may never do it but nice to know.

On our K1300S I dropped the final drive and pulled the driveshaft part way back to lube the front splines. You need to push back the rubber boot to have access to the splines.
From what I've read this is not a needed service. I did it more out of curiosity to see if there was lube on the splines.
I can't remember the mileage when I did this, maybe 30,000 miles??? The splines looked good and there was still lube on them.

Here's what it looks like on a K Bike.
http://www.i-bmw.com/showthread.php?t=36120

 

[ncpbmw1953]

On my 2015, have changed it with each oil change. Only thing I have done differently is to install a DIMPLE magnetic drain plug on engine and final drive. Much more user friendly than earlier models

Here's a story about what might get stuck on magnetic drain plugs. I bought my '13 F800GT w/ 2,900 miles OTC. I have ~26K on the bike now, lovely bike. After my first self-done oil change at about 7K miles using BMW/Castrol recommended oil, I decided to go all synthetic, researched all of the controversy on that topic, and decided what the hey per mile driven, and because I wanted to treat the lady as well as I could, I bought Silkolene Pro 4T, a 'true' synthetic meeting all of the required specs and maybe then some (Hold it! Drop it right there I'm not starting an oil thread here, just stating the history of what I'm about to describe!) and in she went.

Anyway, I did this again at about 12K miles, 5K miles later. However, unlike the first few times, I decided to more fully drain out the crankcase by putting the bike on its side stand, whereas previously just kept it on the center stand. F800 drain plug is on the side stand side and low down. Quite a bit more drained out I thought. Lo and behold, as I was pouring out the well drained crankcase oil thru a funnel with a thin layer on the funnel w/ direct sunlight hitting it I could see lots and lots of flecks of bright metal. Looked like a bad thing to me! I'm too much of a novice to know if that happens or not. Anyway, I have to assume that came from tipping the bike over for the very first time in its oil change history. If that's true, maybe not a bad idea to do when you change oil. Of note, I accidentally dropped the drain plug into the old oil collection pan and when I retrieved it after transferring the old oil into a transport container it had lots of metal on it, whereas I never noticed any on the magnet w/ the initial oil changes.

 

[exgman]

Whew! Thank you for not starting an oil thread. Interesting about the metal flakes after the side-stand drain. Seems to me that little edges of things created during manufacture of a motor might (or not) be knocked off during 12K miles of use. I wonder if there's a way to measure that (presuming you use the same procedure next time) when you do it again. Uh-oh...sounds like another oil thread...

 

[BMARC153920]

Whew! Thank you for not starting an oil thread. Interesting about the metal flakes after the side-stand drain. Seems to me that little edges of things created during manufacture of a motor might (or not) be knocked off during 12K miles of use. I wonder if there's a way to measure that (presuming you use the same procedure next time) when you do it again. Uh-oh...sounds like another oil thread...

You can send an oil sample to lab and they will tell you exactly what is in it.

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[RYD1WD]

final drive maint.

Changed mine at:
400 (first service)
4000 (early 6K prior to a long ride)
16000 (early 18K)

I sent out the sample that had 12K on it, the lab suggested that it would have been good for at least another 6K increment. This didn't surprise me as previous shaft drive bikes (other than BMW) I have owned have had 20K service intervals on the final drive lube, and I put over 100K on those without any issues. I have worked in two different shops, which will give you two different answers. They are both conservative in my personal opinion. Yes it's cheap, but it's also just another excessive 180 ml of crap I'll be leaving a future generation to clean up... why use more than we need to?

 

[David13]

If you are going to be doing anything to this bike that you are going to be getting, I think you should get the Rep ROM for it, and maybe the Haynes book if they have one for the newest model.
That way you can get a good idea, or two good ideas on how to do anything to the bike.
More than once I got the book or the CD before I got the vehicle.
As to those splines, the they that recommend I think is not BMW but owners. I guess if the splines get dry they shatter or strip. You need a high pressure grease for them, I think they recommend Honda Moly.
dc

 

[lee]

As to those splines, the they that recommend I think is not BMW but owners. I guess if the splines get dry they shatter or strip. You need a high pressure grease for them, I think they recommend Honda Moly.
dc

This is what BMW recommended around 2012, 2013. It may have changed by now.