Need Suggestions for Maintance during trans replacement on 97 RT

I switched to Motul 75-90 synthetic, the issues I had with the neutral switch not working correctly or lazy disappeared, she lights every time now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057UJY7...=UTF8&colid=DABN29IOXQFJ&coliid=IYSLO6DUZ586Z

FD59 said:

So should I use synthetic or dino or does it even matter?

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I've always used what BMW recommends. That is SAE 80/90 weight GL-5 rated hypoid gear oil. It's what the gearbox and it's seals were designed to use. I see no reason for or any need for synthetics for a bike that shipped with dino when new.

Just my opnion of course and many here disagree. Hence the dreaded oil threads.

FD59 said:

Lowndes,

Thanks for the reply, that is the solution I am leaning towards. I wish I knew the physical difference between my clutch disk and the modern/upgraded disk. I really hate to replace a good housing cover and pressure plate to the tune of $350+ if it really isn't necessary.

As far as the learning curve... This is my first BMW, but I have been wrenching on motorcycles, ATVs, cars, trucks and tractors my whole life so this is just a different road I need to see. I actually like working on bikes, etc. But I generally work slow compared to most and now need to get this job done soon. Looks like winter is not going to show up this year and its time to ride.

If everything works according to plan, I will be coming through you neck of the woods the last week of April. The first stop of my 7-10 day ride will be in Austell.

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FD59,

So, you're a coonass?? Well come on up here. Get ready for traffic. The weather has been wonderful. My brother texted me a pic from the BRP, pissed me off.

I couldn't see replacing all those clutch parts either. It seems to be working just as well or better than before, but glad to hear jandhumphreyme is having good results with his.

It's too late now but the clutch halves need to be marked with a center punch or file so they can be re-assembled the same way. The drive shaft needs to be phased and marked the same way. I marked mine with paint and it wiped off. Fortunately I had some pics of it and figured it out.

Mine seemed to go back together much faster than it came apart. Get your torque wrenches out. Make a list of all the torques you'll need on a sheet of paper. It keeps the book much cleaner and is much handier.

If you disassembled the paralever bearings, see what Chris Harris says about the touque on the left (inside) bearing torque at 22:20:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0_j8SuiFQI

You'll need spline lube for 4 sets of splines, also. The clutch and 3 on the shaft.

Get back to it!!

lowndes said:

FD59,

So, you're a coonass?? Well come on up here. Get ready for traffic. The weather has been wonderful. My brother texted me a pic from the BRP, pissed me off.

I couldn't see replacing all those clutch parts either. It seems to be working just as well or better than before, but glad to hear jandhumphreyme is having good results with his.

It's too late now but the clutch halves need to be marked with a center punch or file so they can be re-assembled the same way. The drive shaft needs to be phased and marked the same way. I marked mine with paint and it wiped off. Fortunately I had some pics of it and figured it out.

Mine seemed to go back together much faster than it came apart. Get your torque wrenches out. Make a list of all the torques you'll need on a sheet of paper. It keeps the book much cleaner and is much handier.

If you disassembled the paralever bearings, see what Chris Harris says about the touque on the left (inside) bearing torque at 22:20:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0_j8SuiFQI

You'll need spline lube for 4 sets of splines, also. The clutch and 3 on the shaft.

Get back to it!!

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Lowness,

Thanks for the suggestions. I am on it... got down to the HES tonight.

No, I am not Cajun. I am about 100 miles south of Memphis in the Mississippi Delta. Though I do have friends and family from South Louisania and enjoy their food as often as possible. I will be driving due east to hit the Atlanta area. And yes the weather has been wonderful here also; which makes me more anxious to get this job done. But more importantly it needs to be done right instead of fast. I work in the medical manufacturing industry and we can be a little anal about correctness.

I did mark the clutch halves, but ended up ordering a complete clutch kit anyway. I couldn't quickly find out what physically changed with the newer version clutch disk and I do not want to have to go back in there again anytime soon.

I think you are right about everything going back together quicker. I think for me that is generally the case. I know that when I first do a job like this I spend most of my time during tear down making sure that I am taking into account the things needed to be documented for correct reassembly. For me anyway, assembly is usually takes less than half the time of disassembly.

I have watched Chris' videos and had made note of the pivot pin torque. That is a good idea on writing down torque specs on paper. I think I'll do that while waiting on parts. BTW... Spline lube came in today.

Speaking of parts... Looks like I am going to need a front seal:


One more thing, my low beam is out so I am going to need to replace the light bulb. I have been trying to decide if I should go LED or just get a high quality H4. Any thaughts on that?

Thanks,
Mack

Hey, Mack!!

Yes, I do have some thoughts. And some pics.

See '04 R1150R LED Headlight on this forum, go to #29 for pics of my install.

My R1100S will be different from your RT. Clearance in the back of the fan can be an issue. The better/brighter LED's have cooling fans on the backside.

There are a bunch of sources for LED's, CYCLOPS is where I purchased. SUPERBRIGHTLEDS has a huge selection of LED's, a vehicle finder to show the bulbs that fit your make/model, headlights, turn sigs, brake lights, instrument lights, plus a bunch of modulators for brake lights, some with remotes for changing the sequence pattern or disabling. Got my other bulbs there. CANBUS or not.

I'm considering going to a LED on my low beam side, knowing that clearance WILL be an issue to deal with. The high beam Cyclops LED is really nice (bright, as in do not be looking at it when you hit the switch). The only concern so far is that I have a modulator on the high beam, which with the halogen was a bright-dim-bright-dim. With the LED it is like an aircraft strobe light, blink-blink- blink. Cages get out of the way really quickly (which is FUN and very handy), but john law might have something to say about it. Halogens will dim with lower voltage, LED's quit. And start. Very quickly (instantly). But, they generate less heat doing so.

I really like that you can choose the color (temp) and the lumens of the LED bulbs, that they are almost totally resistant to vibration and shock, last a really long time, run cooler, draw less current, are brighter, and cost more so that it matches everything else on the Beemer.


Lowndes

Mack,

On the front seal pic, it may just be lube from the original install on the face of the seal with road grit. Don't see any active leaking, puddling, streaming coming from the seal. Am I missing something??

Clean it up with a Q-tip and WD40, dry it well and watch it. Don't change it unless you have to.

Did you change to a synthetic oil or semi-synthetic in the engine?? Recently??

If so, you might consider going back to a dino oil. I put syn in the tranny and FD and had weeps in both. I read a bunch about this issue on several forums and papers. One of the theories is that these seals were developed before syn oils were popular, BMW is ("sometimes" and "reportedly") slow to change, as in newer polymer seals. The old polymers don't react well, or don't seal well enough for the syn oils and therefore aren't quite as "effective". I know the stuff really travels (surface wicking) on steel surfaces (guns).

I changed back to dino in the beemer and the weeps quit.


Lowndes

While you are in the tank for the filter, consider changing the hoses, including the water drain and vent lines. You may also want to add quick connects to make future tank removal easier.

If you change the font seal, be careful installing the new one in so you don't cut the lip or drive it in too deep. There is no seat to push the seal against, just rotating parts. The factory tool makes it a breeze.

Lowndes,
I will do some more research/reading on LED lights with H4 bulbs. And I think I am going to take your advice on cleaning up the front seal and going back to dino oil. The rear main seal doesn't look like it was leaking either, but based on history I think I am still going to replace the rear seal. The seepage at the rear of the engine looks it came from a bolt just barely poking through the right side of the case.

I think I am going switch to dino oil for the transmission and rear drive also and just change their oil every other engine oil change.


rxcrider,
Thanks for the information on the front seal, that will come in handy if I decide to replace it. I did replace all internal and external fuel lines when I replaced the fuel filter. I have never felt the need for quick disconnects on the fuel lines. To me, they are just another point of failure.

Mack

Hey, Mack,

I believe your RMS is two (2) seals. Check it.

I had oil in the clutch housing, too. Had to replace the clutch plate, just finished a couple of weeks back. The oil came from the hydraulic slave cyl on the back of the tranny, and possibly the input shaft rear seal (next to the slave cyl). Replaced both and drilled a weep hole into the small gap between the seals to prevent future leakage ruining the clutch.




Lowndes

Lowndes,

I'll look at the slate cylinder when I get to the trans again. My bike was Mfg'd before 12/97 and has only one RMS.

I do have a question about the RMS. The manuals I have (BMW FSM & Clymer) say to "lubricate the seal" before installing. However my "local" (2.5hrs away) BMW dealer parts man said that the new seal is to go on dry. I just want to verify. Is he correct?

Thanks,

Mack

Well.... I was hoping to finish on Saturday and ride Sunday afternoon. That was until last night when I went to lube my paralever pivot bearings an saw this:


I decided to try this from an ex Mississippian who lives in the state just west of me. Anyway looks like I will not be riding this weekend.

FD59 said:

Lowndes,

I'll look at the slate cylinder when I get to the trans again. My bike was Mfg'd before 12/97 and has only one RMS.

I do have a question about the RMS. The manuals I have (BMW FSM & Clymer) say to "lubricate the seal" before installing. However my "local" (2.5hrs away) BMW dealer parts man said that the new seal is to go on dry. I just want to verify. Is he correct?

Thanks,

Mack

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that can be tricky depending upon what type of replacement seal you've got. My understanding is PTFE seals go on dry usually with an installation sleeve, while other elastometric seals are lightly lubricated. Good luck.

FD59 said:

Ok, so after making a purchase of a large list of parts this is what will have been replaced or maintained within the last 5k once I complete this job.

- Rear main seal
- Complete Clutch Kit including "Basket"
- New Clutch Cable
- Anton rebuilt trans with 14k since rebuild
- New Hall Effect sensor
- New Stainless break lines
- New Front & Rear Break Pads
- Front & Rear Tires (approx 1500 miles on them now)
- New/Updated Left Cylinder Cam chain tensenor
- New Spark Plugs
- Valve Adjustment
- New Alternator Belt
- New Starter
- New Fuel Filter
- New Air Filter
- New Odyssey P680 Battery

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Well completed all on list including adding paralever pivot "Nushings" and a Cyclops 7000 lumen H4 LED bulb that a friend sent me for my birthday . Went out on a two-hour 125mi ride around the boring flat MS Delta yesterday after work. So far everything is looking good.

I need to give a shout out to my "local" BMW dealer Performance Cycles in Memphis. I usually order over the net because they are over two hours away. However I called ahead to see if they had a Rear Main Seal. They said they had the part and I went to pick it up the next day (Saturday). When I got there they did not have one, but ordered me one and had it shipped to my house. Not only did they ship the RMS, but added the BMW RMS install tool with a return shipping label and instructions on how to use it. BEST service I have received from anywhere! I will be using them a lot more now.