1987 R80 Transmission Trouble

[Davesbmw]

My super low mileage 1987 R 80 only 28k after complete refurbish after a 20 year hiatus,the transmission stuck in 2nd gear.
I'm aware its more than likely the small $5 spring on the pawl lever. However I do not have any and not sure I want the tools to pull apart the gear box.
So does anyone know and had experience with someone that offers service and repair on these. I'm located in northern Colorado
Thanks
Dave

 

[oldcamper]

Years ago I rebuilt a /5 4 speed, and the only special tool needed was to remove the output shaft rear yoke, which a dealer did for me.
Other than that, it was pretty straightforward. I think the newer 5 speeds are very similar.

 

[GTRider]

My super low mileage 1987 R 80 only 28k after complete refurbish after a 20 year hiatus,the transmission stuck in 2nd gear.
I'm aware its more than likely the small $5 spring on the pawl lever. However I do not have any and not sure I want the tools to pull apart the gear box.
So does anyone know and had experience with someone that offers service and repair on these. I'm located in northern Colorado
Thanks
Dave

If you are anywhere on or near the northern Front Range, I’d suggest reaching out to Matt Parkhouse, who writes the “Keep ‘em Flying” articles in the Owners News. He does a limited amount of customer work now but can certainly connect you with a technician who could help. You might also try reaching out directly to the Colorado Airmarshal for the Airheads BMW Club ( https://www.airheads.org/contact-us/airmarshals/ ), who could certainly advise you on technicians or on a Tech Day, where ABC members could help you R&R your transmission.

Best,
DeVern

 

[20774]

It's Matt Parkhouse and he lives in Colorado Springs...just to make sure he looks for the right person!

Snowbum has information a tool which lets you shift gears to at least get you home. If you get stuck in 5th gear, that will be impossible to ride but would take a LOT of clutch to get it moving. 1st gear would be the worst. Anyway, if you were in 1st/5th, the tool would let you manually change to get you going reasonably.

For the 1987 model, you probably would want someone to look into adding the circlip to the front of the output shaft. It was eliminated in the 1985-ish timeframe...returned near the end of production. The bearing has been known to walk off its location and create issues internally. Anton Largiader describes the issue on his website:

Circlip failure

Circlip problem with Airhead transmission

largiader.com

 

[mneblett]

If relatively-nearby Matt Parkhouse is not up to doing the work, other alternatives are Friend of the Marque master wrench Tom Cutter (near Trenton, NJ, rubberchickenracinggarage.com), and the also experienced Anton Largiader (Charlottesville, VA, vamotorrad.com). While these options involve shipping, that is an issue which can be overcome. Anton also has a large number of tech articles at largiader.com. Both of these gentlemen are very highly regarded.

And definitely a +++1 on Kurt's suggestion for the "missing circlip" inspection. If it's not there, you should not hesitate to have the shaft removed, have the necessary groove milled in, and have the circlip installed. BMW's removal of this part for a couple years to save a tiny amount of production cost was a huge mistake, as evidenced by the fact that once the problems started showing up in the field they put the circle back into the later airhead transmissions.

 

[tallcanuck]

I’ve nothing to add since I’m a newbie, but I’m definitely following this since I have a 1986 r80rt.

 

[GTRider]

It's Matt Parkhouse and he lives in Colorado Springs...just to make sure he looks for the right person!

Thanks for that, I’ve corrected my post!
Best,
DeVern

 

[Davesbmw]

Thanks for the advice.
Spent a couple of hours with Matt Parkhouse @ his SHOP, disassembled gear box while there. Great experience. As suspected broken spring on shift mechanism and missing circlip.

 

[20774]

Sounds good! Did you then have him mod the gearbox to include the circlip?

 

[robsryder]

The circlip modification involves removal of the output shaft, the bearings, and I suspect, the gears on the shaft. The shaft must be "turned" on a lathe and the groove cafefully machined in the proper location. Then the gears and bearings reinstalled on the shaft followed by the circlip. I shipped my output shaft to Boxer2Valve to have the circlip added. B2V took care of removal and reinstallation of the gears and new bearings. Matt may have someone near him that he relies on to do this machine work, but I expect that it is more than an afternoon activity.

 

[omega man]

Anton has a really good page on this.

Circlip failure

Circlip problem with Airhead transmission

largiader.com

Thanks Anton!
OM

 

[AntonLargiader]

If you're set up for it, it's a really fast lathe operation. I don't really charge anything specific for it; if the shaft needs it I just do it.

 

[Davesbmw]

The bearing had pushed creating space between the bearing and gear. Sent shaft out for turning a circlip groove. Hopefully the cheesy spring last longer than 28k miles this time.