Splinal Surgery

[ABE456]

Inspecting the xmission splines on my 95 RT. The splines are shiny and pointy edged. No crud or dirt was present. I searched the MOA forums on spline lube and sure enough, pointy and shiny is not good.

My question is, will this lead to catastrophic failure, or just leave me stranded in some godforesaken place not of my choosing, like, for example, in front of the local Harley dealership?

I would like to ride for about 2K more until dead of winter, then deal with it. But if you think this will lead to more serious xmission damage, I'll bite the bullet now.

Being my first attempted spline lube, advice appreciated.

 

[20774]

It'll just leave you stranded mostly likely. Unless you were at WOT throttle when the splines let go and you over rev the engine and bend a valve or something like that... Not likely, however...

My thought is that since you're planning to remove the tranny and get things repaired, the need to fully remove the tranny now is not that great. Just to get in there and get some lube on the splines might be sufficient for now. Here's a couple of websites that I used to do a spline lube recently. I spent a lot of time reading these to get the lay of the land.

http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/inputsplinesthrowout.htm

http://www.webbikeworld.com/t2/spline/

 

[brickrider]

It'll just leave you stranded mostly likely. Unless you were at WOT throttle when the splines let go and you over rev the engine and bend a valve or something like that... Not likely, however...

My thought is that since you're planning to remove the tranny and get things repaired, the need to fully remove the tranny now is not that great. Just to get in there and get some lube on the splines might be sufficient for now. Here's a couple of websites that I used to do a spline lube recently. I spent a lot of time reading these to get the lay of the land.

http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/inputsplinesthrowout.htm

http://www.webbikeworld.com/t2/spline/

Agreed.

Not likely that you're going to go on a long trip this close to winter. Since most of your riding will be local, and won't be pounding the pavement hard, you should be ok until snowmobile time with just some lube.

BrickRider

 

[LOSTBOY]

Great Title!

The splines do come to a point. Compare the area where the input shaft contacts the clutch splines (the front 3/4 inch) with the area where they don't. If there is a significant difference, replace the input shaft and (at least) the clutch plate. When in doubt, slide a "known good" clutch plate on to the input shaft. If it is looser at the front than the back, replacement is in order.

Worn splines will lead to a horrendous screech and loss of forward motion. This always happens at a bad time.

 

[ABE456]

OK, finished the lube, the splines looked evenly worn front to back. They are definitely worn. Bike has 68k on speedo.

Took her out for a hour and it definitely is much smoother. Occasionally I hear a "clunk" between gears, but not that fast grinding sound that was there when shifting 1-2 and 2-3 as before. Hope I will be good to go until January teardown.

Thanks for advice guys. I wont stray far from home, LOL.

 

[r80andr100rt]

When mine sheared on my 95 R100RT It was an awfull sound like someone was going into gear w/o using the clutch.

 

[MIKEMAG]

1982 R100RT final drive splines

Three years ago or so my mechanic (no longer in the area) told me my final drive splines were at a point where I should look to find a new final drive. Another rider told me a story about some company in the midwest that rebuilds them. Any tips?

 

[krehmkej]

Hansen's BMW has a good reputation as spline repair specialists:

http://www.hansensmc.com/service/spline_repair.htm

 

[ABE456]

SPlilne lube seems to have done the trick. This RT is my first airhead. It is shifting much better since the spline lube.

My quesiton is, what is the norm for airheads? I had a 96 and 99 RT and they had the "box o rocks" transmissions that crunched with every shift.

Should airheads shift as quietly as a honda, more like box o rocks, or somewhere in between?