Final Drive Failures K1300s

Hi all,

At 67K miles I needed to have the final drive on my 2010 K1300s repaired. I was a little annoyed considering I have always followed the service recommendations from BMW.

Has anyone who as a K1300 series, or K1200 series had to replace/repair their final drives?

If you have, would you post the mileage and bike.

Thanks

Howard

I had to replace the big bearing at 19,600 miles. 2008 K1200GT.

2008 K1200GT, final drive failed at 35,000 Kms. Bearing went , damaged the shaft, complete new drive as the shaft is non serviceable part.

FWIW, oil change intervals, type of oil weight of oil or anything related to the final drive oil has no relevance to the bearing failures as the bearing is in no way lubricated by the oil. It is a permanently lubed - sealed bearing and is located outside the main oil seal. Bearing failures are most likely due to other factors which might include insufficient design or poor bearing quality.

Thanks for your input. I am really annoyed by this failure. I am questioning the value engineering the company is performing. I am sure people from Harley-AMF are running the firm. I typically run a bike until 100k and I have never had this situation with a BMW. If I owned a 328 and had to pay to replace the differential at 67000 miles, I would end my relationship with BMW. This failure is causing me to rethink owning another BMW. I realize the company thinks because they are having record sales that losing a customer does not matter, but the history of the American and British auto industry provides a lesson.

Fd

You are correct: it hasn't a thing to do with service, oil intervals, oil quality, or anything else but poor design/engineering. I also agree with you in terms of having one of their cars with a similar failure: I'd be opening someone else's dealership door.

As far as my FD, it only has 16000 miles on it. I believed they had fixed the shim and king bearing problem before 2010, but I guess not.

My dad (85) and I have had 13 BMW products since they were imported after the war. So far, the only problems have been a weak clutch plate and a rear seal on the old brick, but I have heard many stories of people on the road with their FD going out. Seems to me there should be a recall.

Sorry yours too a dive.

K1300S Final Drive Gear Oil Seepage

85676 said:

You are correct: it hasn't a thing to do with service, oil intervals, oil quality, or anything else but poor design/engineering. I also agree with you in terms of having one of their cars with a similar failure: I'd be opening someone else's dealership door.

As far as my FD, it only has 16000 miles on it. I believed they had fixed the shim and king bearing problem before 2010, but I guess not.

My dad (85) and I have had 13 BMW products since they were imported after the war. So far, the only problems have been a weak clutch plate and a rear seal on the old brick, but I have heard many stories of people on the road with their FD going out. Seems to me there should be a recall.

Sorry yours too a dive.

Click to expand...

Upon returning from the MOA Rally in Great Falls, I noted there was some rear drive gear oil seepage around the black 'donut' on the rear end. I have changed the rear drive gear oil every 6,000 miles which is every other engine oil change. Prior to beginning this trip I was scheduled to replace the rear gear oil but I stripped out the T45 drain plug so the current gear oil has about 10.000 miles on it. Really a poor design for the drain plug as the T45 'groves' are not very deep and the fill plug uses an Allen head design. So after confirming there should not be ANY seepage in the area of concern, I will be removing the rear drive housing and taking it to the local dealer to replace the seal(s), drain plug, and potentially any bearings which have shown wear. This bike has 40,500 miles on it. And while it does lead a 'faster than most life' I believe the rear drive assembly should hold up better. I also had to replace the rear drive bearing and seals on my 2003 K1200RS at 45,000 miles after a fast trip from Dallas to Daytona Bike Week. Rear failed 100 miles from Daytona on the way home. U Haul box trucks suck when compared to being on a bike.
I'll try to remember to update this post as I remove the rear housing and have the dealer do their magic.

When my 07RT had seepage in that area I only had to replace the seal under that locking ring.

Final Drive

hmeiseles said:

Hi all,

At 67K miles I needed to have the final drive on my 2010 K1300s repaired. I was a little annoyed considering I have always followed the service recommendations from BMW.

Has anyone who as a K1300 series, or K1200 series had to replace/repair their final drives?

If you have, would you post the mileage and bike.

Thanks

Howard

Click to expand...

I did not baby my 2008 K1200S. Ruthlessly maintained all fluids including the final drive. I actually did the final drive at every other oil change. Final drive never failed. 82,000 miles and it was something else that failed in the top end. Iron Horse guessed top end. MotoGhost [excellent] in Phoenix looked inside and said $4,000 in parts [cams, valves, chains] pus labor [maybe $1,000]. No guarantee. I said not now. Trailered it home and parked it under a cover.

Bought an excellent condition [18,000 miles] 2012 K1600GTL Premier model for $5,000 more than the K1200S repairs. Different ride but lovely. Not sure what the fate of the K1200S will be, especially as my 76 year old body gets used to a 6 cylinder, with cruise control and heated seats and grips.

Just a point of reference on the final drive reliability.

legalspeeding said:

Upon returning from the MOA Rally in Great Falls, I noted there was some rear drive gear oil seepage around the black 'donut' on the rear end. I have changed the rear drive gear oil every 6,000 miles which is every other engine oil change. Prior to beginning this trip I was scheduled to replace the rear gear oil but I stripped out the T45 drain plug so the current gear oil has about 10.000 miles on it. Really a poor design for the drain plug as the T45 'groves' are not very deep and the fill plug uses an Allen head design. So after confirming there should not be ANY seepage in the area of concern, I will be removing the rear drive housing and taking it to the local dealer to replace the seal(s), drain plug, and potentially any bearings which have shown wear. This bike has 40,500 miles on it. And while it does lead a 'faster than most life' I believe the rear drive assembly should hold up better. I also had to replace the rear drive bearing and seals on my 2003 K1200RS at 45,000 miles after a fast trip from Dallas to Daytona Bike Week. Rear failed 100 miles from Daytona on the way home. U Haul box trucks suck when compared to being on a bike.
I'll try to remember to update this post as I remove the rear housing and have the dealer do their magic.

Click to expand...

No need to remove the final drive. It's just a outer seal that's fast and easy to replace.
Both of us had our K1300Ss start to seep on a trip and seems like it only took 15 minutes for the dealer to replace.

legalspeeding said:

Upon returning from the MOA Rally in Great Falls, I noted there was some rear drive gear oil seepage around the black 'donut' on the rear end. I have changed the rear drive gear oil every 6,000 miles which is every other engine oil change. Prior to beginning this trip I was scheduled to replace the rear gear oil but I stripped out the T45 drain plug so the current gear oil has about 10.000 miles on it. Really a poor design for the drain plug as the T45 'groves' are not very deep and the fill plug uses an Allen head design. So after confirming there should not be ANY seepage in the area of concern, I will be removing the rear drive housing and taking it to the local dealer to replace the seal(s), drain plug, and potentially any bearings which have shown wear. This bike has 40,500 miles on it. And while it does lead a 'faster than most life' I believe the rear drive assembly should hold up better. I also had to replace the rear drive bearing and seals on my 2003 K1200RS at 45,000 miles after a fast trip from Dallas to Daytona Bike Week. Rear failed 100 miles from Daytona on the way home. U Haul box trucks suck when compared to being on a bike.
I'll try to remember to update this post as I remove the rear housing and have the dealer do their magic.

Click to expand...

You may be getting a bit ahead of yourself. Seepage in that area is primarily a sign of the outer seal beginning to fail. Replacing that seal is a straightforward job once the outer retaining cover is popped off. The difficult part is usually removing the old seal without defacing the mounting bore or the shaft.

A tiny bit of lube can make a large-looking mess; chances are very good that you never lost enough lube to damage any internals. And IIRC there was an SI reducing the recommended quantity of lube for these drives, to reduce pressure buildup that could cause that seal to weep. But I’d have to dig through old paperwork to verify that.

Absent any detectable play at 6:00-12:00 and 9:00-3:00 you may want to just extract the stripped plug, replace the seal, service the lube, and run it to see if an issue develops.

Just my $0.02,

DeVern

If the oil is clean, I'd start by just sweeping the seal with a Seal Saver or even a DIY version like a business card. If the oil is dirty then you have to fix the cause.

It's just a seal. My K13GT did the same thing.

In the good old days, or even last week, no Airhead owner ever saw a pushrod seal leak and described it as an engine failure. And those took ten or twenty or thirty times longer to fix than the outer seal on a big hole hot dog warmer final drive.

The seal is a few dollars and it takes about 15 minutes to change it.

When I noticed both of our final drives seeping we rode to a dealer the next day 150 miles away.
The seep was very minor so I did not worry about towing the bikes.

Holt BMW

PGlaves said:

In the good old days, or even last week, no Airhead owner ever saw a pushrod seal leak and described it as an engine failure.

Click to expand...

It all comes down to today's "assume the worst" attitude so many people possess. I won't get into the included criticism of torx bolt design....

If someone hasn’t been through this hopefully minor FD problem, it can easily be described as a failure……cuz it is.
Next time he will know what it most likely is and will pass on the repair procedure.
OM

I don’t count that as a failure, some do. Aggravating yes as you can see it.
Have had that seal leak on unvented earlier EVO drives after altitude changes. I filled at 1300’ and after crossing several 10’000’ passes had similar visuals. Loosened filler plug and allowed pressure to adjust, wiped residue off and had no repeat on rest of trip.
Have replaced that seal on a few bikes for buds as well as some of ours , seems most were pre- vent units

henzilla said:

Have had that seal leak on unvented earlier EVO drives after altitude changes. I filled at 1300’ and after crossing several 10’000’ passes had similar visuals. Loosened filler plug and allowed pressure to adjust, wiped residue off and had no repeat on rest of trip.

Click to expand...

I don't know if our 2011 final drives were vented.
We had been out to Colorado the week before they started to seep in Kentucky.
Always thought it weird both bikes started to seep the same day.
They had the correct 180 cc of oil in them.

henzilla said:

after crossing several 10,000’ passes had similar visuals.

Click to expand...

I also had my experience after doing that. I do not remember if it occurred again after a cleaning once I returned to Florida flat lands and before I replaced the seal but I doubt it now. Could very well have been altitude related if my 07RT is non-vented.