K1200LT rear drive horrors

About 15 miles East of Elko, NV., Lona and I thought we heard something like a stone stuck in the rear tire. We pulled off, and took a look at the tire, and tested for any looseness of the wheel. All seemed fine. We got back on I-80, and the sound was still there... but it was getting worse, and the rear felt almost loose. We finally pulled into a Nevada state patrol truck checkpoint, which was closed, and called a guy from the Anonymous book (who shall remain so until I get permission to mention his name). He and his wife were VERY helpful... he was there in 1/2 hr. from Elko with a truck and trailer, and they offered us dinner and a place to sleep... but back to the rear drive... the service manager at BMW of Salt Lake said that the bearing "...went through the gears..." I'm mechanically inexperienced. Is this the same sort of problem that others have been reporting on K bikes for the past few years? This is a 2000 K1200LTC w. about 38,000 miles on it so far. I hope to get on the road Thurs. and up to Spokane Sat. If someone could let Brian Curry at the Cyber Cafe know what's happened, I'd appreciate it.

I'm not much of a wrench either, but sounds like what the others have been experiencing. A bearing in the rear drive fails, sometimes puncturing the boot, causing fluid to leak on the wheel, along with loud noise and loose rear wheel. I visually check my rear drive at every fuel stop, kind of a rediculous situation as far as I am concerned. I like this bike, but along with the shift linkage that keeps coming loose, is just about enough to keep me from buying another one.

any one out there know about vibrations from thr rear drive assy at 90mph, i can feel it buzzing the seat and its not tires because i just had new ones put on and its still there 4700 miles on my 2003 k1200lt??????ps less than 90 ok, more than 90 ok....

roadcrave said:

any one out there know about vibrations from thr rear drive assy at 90mph, i can feel it buzzing the seat and its not tires because i just had new ones put on and its still there 4700 miles on my 2003 k1200lt??????ps less than 90 ok, more than 90 ok....

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Are you sure it's from the rear drive? My LT has a distinct engine buzz that shows up betwen 4500 - 5000 RPM. That would put it around 90 MPH in top gear. Perhaps that's what you're feeling...

A quick way to check would be to observe the engine RPMs when your vibration shows up, then hold the same RPMs in a lower gear to see if the vibration shows up at a different speed .

My LT has the buzz between 47-4900rpm, just like my K1200RS did.

Just LT's or RS's as well?

I've never owned a K-bike, but would certainly consider it.

That said, are the rear-drive failures occurring primarily on the LT/touring series, or are they seen on the RS as well? Everything that I've read and heard is always about the LT's.

engine buzz

I have a 2003 LTC as well and also have a very noticable buzz/vibration in the 4500-5000 rpm range. The bike also has developed a sound like scraping of the brake pads but it does not change when applying the brakes or not and with the clutch in or out. The noise seems to be in the rear wheel area and seems more prominent when at a lean of riding position.

George,

Make sure you fill out the survey at www.bmwlt.net

Just look in the forum entitiled, Surveys.

We're trying to keep track of all the rear drive failures. Your's is the fifth that I've heard about from just the BMWMOA Rally trip.

It will be interesting to see how many fail with everyone going to the Curve Cowboy Reunion in a few weeks. Last year, we had 9 fail (5 coming and 4 going home).

Later,

Jeff

K bike rear drive failures

Since this happened, I've gotten unofficial off-the-record feedback from two employees of two different dealerships, with two different stories as to the cause of these failures. The first was that a whole bunch of rear drives were put together in a subassembly plant with substandard cleanliness, and some sand was present in the drives prior to being put on the bikes.

The second story was that someone putting together these rear drives was doing something wrong and was not properly supervised, so that by the time his error was discovered, it was too late for many bikes.

Don't ask me who provided these stories, even privately, because revealing the sources can only result in bringing heat to these guys, who're really supportive of BMW customers.

Re: K bike rear drive failures

Don't ask me who provided these stories, even privately, because revealing the sources can only result in bringing heat to these guys, who're really supportive of BMW customers.

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I would not put to much stock those stories. The rear drive problem is just to wide spread across to many years and model lines. On the Adventure Rider site there are a lot of recorded GS rear drive failures. This is the same final drive as on the LT. There is even a poll tracking the failure rate.

BTW mine went at 20K, 2,000 mile from home on my 01GS

Not sure why, but have not heard of many failures on the K12RS site.

My first K12RS lost the buzz just over 4,500 rpms somewhere around 55 to 60k. I just figured it was finally broken in. It started taking longer to get places. That buzz would let me know when I was running sub 90 and remind me to speed up.

Now I have another 40k to go to get rid of the buzz again.

That said, I better go for a ride.

90mph buzz

hey there jet doc and others. I was out of town all week with my k1200lt on jobs , first to Goldendale then Whiteswan just outside of Yakima, I took your suggestion jet doc and dropped it down a gear at 90mph and the buzzing sensation went away....
but when i got home today i noticed oil splattered all over my rear drive assy, cleaned it off, will need to keep an eye on this anyone else have this oil problem happen?????

Where is it coming from?

The boot? Could be a pinion seal, not that hard to fix. Are you using synth? After two pinion seals on my K12RS, I switch back to dyno at the suggestion of Frank Glamser, viola, no more leaking pinion seals.

The fill hole or drain plug? Did you use new crush washers at last service? Proper torques?




A tiny bit of oil makes a big looking mess.

A tiny bit of oil makes a big looking mess.

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I think those were Captain HazelwoodÔÇÖs exact words

oil leaking

thanks for the insite, i need to look it over, my bike only has 6000 miles on it, put 2000 miles on in the last three weeks, and this is a new problem that came up.....

Roadcrave... when my pinion seals first leaked, or once when I had a bit too much fluid in there it weeped out the relief valve at high altitude when running hard in the passes in Colorado. Where did you say you cam from.

I believe that at higher altitudes, the seals shrink and the fluids expand.

rear drive oil leak

BouncinBob, i was at the base of mount adams at troutlake on a late night side trip and this i know is at a higher alltitude, do not know the exact alltidude but it is higher than spokane, i do not know were the relief vent is but that might be a possible explaination. thanks ill check it out...matthew