R1150RT Clutch/Trans Failure

[Kenn45]

The weather was great, so I took a 300+ mile ride Saturday. Toward the end, I was getting a hellish noise from the clutch/trans everytime I shifted. Also, the clutch slipped going up a hill. I managed to limp home, and will have it towed to the dealer on Tuesday. The bike only has 25K. I just sold my '96 with 81K and never any clutch trans problems. This seems way too soon for something like this to happen. I have seen some info on the IBMWR list about some RTs being prone to this due to alignment problems. What should I look for as it is torn apart? I am concerned about this being a recurring problem. Somewhere I read that some bikes eat clutches every 25-30K like clockwork.
Any advice?

 

[PGlaves]

A failure at 25K miles is a bummer because a failure that early is seldom lubrication related and is sometimes a sign of misalignment between the transmission and engine.

Once it is apart the clutch hub will be thoroughly trashed. The transmission input shaft can provide some clues. After it is cleaned up and all the debris is gone look at it very closely. A slight barrel shaped pattern indicates an angular misalignment between the centerline of the engine output shaft and the transmission input shaft. That type is fairly easy to spot.

But - if the shafts are parallel but not lined up center-to-center, then the shaft wear won't show the barrel shaped pattern but the splines will be worn thin enough to fail.

It would be unusual for the misalignment to be detectable with the eye. A good machinist might be able to measure and find it. Correcting it is possible but a very futzy process with maybe both the engine cases and transmission out of the bike.

This happened on a number of K bikes - K75s mostly and some K100s. There it was an easy fix usually because the problem seemed to be the auxiliary case (bellhousing) which was a separate casting which bolted to the back of the block. In the case of oilheads - if there is an alignment problem it is either the transmission or the engine cases or both. There is no middle piece to replace.

It is time for a long heart-to-heart with a very good dealer. I wish you luck.

 

[stpete]

what year is your rt?

 

[Kenn45]

It's an '04. I loved everything about it, up to now.

 

[Kenn45]

I had it taken to the dealer today. The service manager listened to it and drained the oil. In bad shape with metal bits. They are pursuing it under warranty and seemed to think it was the alignment issue.

I pick up the '07 hexhead RT on Saturday.

 

[awagnon]

I had it taken to the dealer today. The service manager listened to it and drained the oil. In bad shape with metal bits. They are pursuing it under warranty and seemed to think it was the alignment issue.

Metal bits in the oil sounds like a transmission failure. I wasn't aware that the alignment problem eats transmissions, also. I thought it just ate input shafts. Very interesting.

 

[Cask23]

A failure at 25K miles is a bummer because a failure that early is seldom lubrication related and is sometimes a sign of misalignment between the transmission and engine.

Once it is apart the clutch hub will be thoroughly trashed. The transmission input shaft can provide some clues. After it is cleaned up and all the debris is gone look at it very closely. A slight barrel shaped pattern indicates an angular misalignment between the centerline of the engine output shaft and the transmission input shaft. That type is fairly easy to spot.

But - if the shafts are parallel but not lined up center-to-center, then the shaft wear won't show the barrel shaped pattern but the splines will be worn thin enough to fail.

It would be unusual for the misalignment to be detectable with the eye. A good machinist might be able to measure and find it. Correcting it is possible but a very futzy process with maybe both the engine cases and transmission out of the bike.

This happened on a number of K bikes - K75s mostly and some K100s. There it was an easy fix usually because the problem seemed to be the auxiliary case (bellhousing) which was a separate casting which bolted to the back of the block. In the case of oilheads - if there is an alignment problem it is either the transmission or the engine cases or both. There is no middle piece to replace.

It is time for a long heart-to-heart with a very good dealer. I wish you luck.

When Paul uses the word 'bummer', my stomach gets queezy.

 

[PGlaves]

Metal bits in the oil sounds like a transmission failure. I wasn't aware that the alignment problem eats transmissions, also. I thought it just ate input shafts. Very interesting.

I would not have expected the report about bits in the oil. But then I might have been wrong with the original diagnosis based on what it sounded like.

However - in tech there is almost always a however - an alignment problem that eats the input shaft also puts extraordinary streses on the front input shaft bearing. And as the bearing goes alignment can get worse - and it would be a downward spiral from there, causing damage to the clutch hub and input shaft, and damage internal to the transmission.

 

[Kenn45]

I had to stop by the dealer today. They had the trans out and disassembled. The clutch hub and input shaft were in what looked like perfect condition, so the alignment was not the issue. The teeth on the trans gears also looked good to my uneducated eye. Then, there were what looked like loose ballbearings and shredded bits of metal. Again to the uneducated, it looked like a catastrophic bearing failure.

On the other hand, the new R1200RT is awaiting Motolites. I hope to get it Saturday.

Paul, thanks for your interest and advice.

 

[AntonLargiader]

Internal failures on the 6-speed trannies are very rare. Never had to fix one (although there is a questionable one on the way).

No matter ... you'll like the R12 a LOT.

 

[stpete]

Since we're on tranny subject, '04 rt with 15k miles, should I use synthetic oil like castrol GL5 or stick with bmw GL5, same for FD drive.