Vader's final drive woes

[StumpyFingers]

From what I understand the first signs are the ABS failure light comes on and the speedo goes erratic due to the ABS sensor getting covered in bits of cack from the failing final drive.

I know it must be a complete pain in the arse. And the wallet. Time for a change of bike I think.

I know Pete loves his GSA, but I would agree get rid of it and get another bike, there is definitely something wrong with this one.

[Chad]

From what I understand the first signs are the ABS failure light comes on and the speedo goes erratic due to the ABS sensor getting covered in bits of cack from the failing final drive.

I know it must be a complete pain in the arse. And the wallet. Time for a change of bike I think.

not this time mate it went pop pretty quick..it would seem that the guilty party is always the smaller roller bearing that gives the problem.

the alignment on petes bike is fine ,,if it was that far out to keep causing these problems it would ride like a pig.

but petes bike rides sweet and tracks true,,,im at a complete loss and await the prognosis of the guy who is doing the rebuild

[winxp-master]

Have you tried taking it to Buckingham Palace and asking for your money back ?...

LMAO...

Hope you get it sorted Pete, must be driving you mad!, but, like others have said, don't let it grind you down...

[Whealie]

I've told Pete this already but I spoke with BMW who took a look at the history they have.

Basically they are saying that it is very unusual for a GS to have four final drives go. They did not know for sure that this time is the final drive as Pete had not then taken the bike to an authorised dealer.

There are a number of concerns they have that, because the bike is not serviced by BMW, they cannot know.

If you ride the bike through water then shortly after you need to replace the oil in the final drive as it can dry out. A full service history would show them that this had been happening. They can't know that with Pete's bike.

Has Pete overloaded it? The Maximum weight is in the owner's guide and the maximum luggage weight is inside the panniers. Overloading might cause the problem. This was blamed for the Long Way round final drive problems - they overloaded the bikes.

Last time, although the bike was out of warranty, the final drive was replaced as a gesture of goodwill by BMW UK. They have all the photos of the old drive etc.

A dealer would still have to see it and make the recommendation. And they wouldn't want to get anyone's hopes up that they'd repair it.

They're basically saying that if it had been serviced by BMW they would be clearer about how the bike had been looked after. They'd be more likely to sympathetic with a full service history. But they'd still be concerned that the bike might be being overloaded or not maintained properly.

That's the official BMW line.

[Steve C]

Maan, I know how much you like your bike Pete; this is a very sad story

[winxp-master]

Chris, that just sounds to me like company BS (i know there not your words). BMW basically saying oh you should have paid a fortune for us to service it `properly` then we MIGHT be able to diagnose in more detail but it could be still caused by things out of our control. You just got to laugh, there saying you should always get them serviced by them in case of this kind of thing happening but theres still a few other things they can blame it on so it's still not there fault.

If it goes through water the oil in the drive should be replaced...lmao, i thought this was an adventure bike?, so glad i stuck with the strom, in 17000 miles all ive had to replace is 2 washers in the oil cooler and a clutch slave, total cost, under £30.

[Rubberchicken]

That's what you get with submerged shaft drives, there's a little air hole on them somewhere. Though it'd have to be some serious wading, not just a splash & dash through a little ford.

(Other things to keep in mind when doing serious fording in dirty water: I think the clutch is out in the open. At least it is on the old airheads, those get wet clutches when doing deep fords. Now imagine muddy water on a dry clutch plate... )

[StumpyFingers]

Vee haf Vays of making you pay.

[Buggles]

Sorry to hear of your final drive woes, really hoped the last time had it sorted!

Good luck getting the bike back on the road and I hope this is the last we'll hear of the FD issues!

JB

[j]

Found out to day the 1200 gsa can only carry 25 stone the 1150gsa can carry 30 stone.
THis information has really perssed me off and got me worried,as I'am 18 stone naked. with clothing and helmet you could add at least another stone taking it to 19 stone , My 13 year old Daughter is 8 stone with kit 9 stone. So we are overloading the bike already with out panniers and camping gear, Wot a Pisser....

BMW DODGY DIFF CLUB