Clutch / Transmission

[EvMachina]

Hey All,

New guy here and I'm wondering if anyone will have any insight on this.
I'm having a little trouble with my transmission...



Also my clutch is looking pretty swell...



I can see the problem very clearly I'm curious if anyone has any ideas as to why something like this would occur?

Bike is a 2004 Rockster

Danka!
Ev

[iowabeakster]

tor1150r is having the same problem

see his thread called "the 33k km tranny shaft...again!"




Welcome to the board, sorry to hear about the problems, and great pictures.

[CycleRob]

Looks like a serious durability shortcoming with the clutch plate's hub splines. They turned to mush while the input shaft is nowhere near as damaged, but still needing to be replaced.

Another failure episode that erodes the warm fuzzies I get when riding my bike.

[tor1150r]

Wow...
I just posted pics of the same 2 damaged parts on my earlier post
What year is your bike, and what is the mileage? This happened to my '04 # 33k km and again @ 66k km.

My bike is at the dealer and I should have all the details (repair, warranty, cause) this week. Would be interesting to know how your diagnosis goes.

[EvMachina]

Bike is an 04 R1150 Rockster. With 17K, I've picked it up used with 8K but I've had no problems and no signs of problems until this happened.

Pull up onto the highway I shifted into 4th, the bike disagreed with this. I was lucky enough to pull into the shoulder before stopping.

Before I opened up the transmission BMW refused to goodwill the repair or even meet me halfway on costs. I've since pulled the bike apart and re-visited the issue.

Let me know if they give you a reason why this happens. I've heard various things at this point.

—Ev

[baltm604]

did the dealership give you the brush off, or BMW of NA?

Bill

[tor1150r]

Ev,
See my post "33k km tranny..."

Boxermania has the last post, with some interesting observations.
My pics appear to be identical to yours. His thoughts are certainly convincing.

[EvMachina]

BMW NA brushed me off, in fact they would not allow me to speak to the decision makers in this case. The dealer went to bat for me several times and was constantly shut down. They claimed BMW said I didn't have a strong relationship with the dealer was part of their logic. This I assume is because I did my own maintenance and didn't take it to BMW to have the fluids changed.

Boxermania has an interesting perspective indeed. I also got some feedback from a neighbor/bmw rider/aircraft mechanic

"BMWs has had a history of problems with those input shafts they have gone through several vendors with heat tempering problems"

also interesting.

[boxermania]

EvMachina

Things like this positively make me ballistic......I am amazed at the logic of the BMW organization......the damn bike has 17 K miles, it's under warranty, or missed it by very little and the failure has nothing to do with dealer maintenance or dealer relationships......

I pray to God that these people will not reproduce, if I could just figure out how can I drive a bike onto dark hole........

All I can say is raise Holy Hell and tell them you will be taking them to small claims court........also tell them that you have documentation that the failure is not sporadic but rather common.....se if that helps you.

I do find quite interesting that both recent faults where on 04 models......that seems to point to a bad batch of parts......may I inquire as to what are the serial #s of the two currently posted......there might very well be something there..........

[tor1150r]

I agree with boxermania. Looks like an 04 epidemic?
There is a site out there that will look up the mfg date based on S/N

Mine ends with ZK72964

[tmoran]

It's not just the 2004s, my 2002 R1150R coasted to a stop two weeks ago with a stripped transmission input shaft. Dealer says the fix is $2,000, I'm still waiting to hear if BMW will do anything for me. Bike has 46,600 miles on it, but that's still way premature for that kind of failure. I bought a BMW to avoid this kind of problem....

[iowabeakster]

There is a manufactured date on the vehicle info placard, right side, front of tank, near steering head .

Mine says 02/04... You guys have me worried. Worried like I would do far better to ditch the BMW and picking up a cheap Jap bike, at least for the long distance rides.

Things like this positively make me ballistic......I am amazed at the logic of the BMW organization......the damn bike has 17 K miles, it's under warranty, or missed it by very little and the failure has nothing to do with dealer maintenance or dealer relationships

If BMW is not going to stand by their product, why should I? Why would I pay the extra "quality, durability, reputataion" premium they include in the price? I Probably won't again. If I save a few thousand in the purchase price, a few thousand in repairs is nowhere as painful.

Another poster shredded his drive line this summer, He said it happend as he pulled a wheelie, just as he had a thousand times before. I have pulled only one, if my driveline gives way...some Japanese manufacturer will be getting my future bike purchases, no question about it.