Drive shaft woes - R 1200 S

[ted]

I don't know if this is a common fault but whilst I was out yesterday the bolt which goes through the front of the drive shaft torsion bar and secures it to the frame fell out. Nothing was obvious until I went over a crest under power, this let the final drive pivot back and the drive shaft disengaged resulting it shearing about 5mm of the splines of the driveshaft. At the moment it looks like its only the driveshaft that's damaged.

Does anyone have a spare shaft they want to sell? I believe its the same as a R1200 GS one up until about 08. The part number is 26117665803.

Thanks
ted

[timbox2]

Never heard of it before, when was it last serviced? Fastener security is part of a service Im sure.

[bikesnbones]

Jeez

Sounds like you were lucky to stay on.
I shall be in the garage with the torque wrench tonight

[ted]

I must admit at first i never thought about the wheel locking and bringing me off - i was too depressed looking at the shagged splines!

The bolt has never been off whilst i have had the bike (3 years)

its looking a bit hard to get another shaft and they are £505 new, Just hoping when it all gets back together that its all ok

I had to remove the swing arm to get the drive shaft out and everything looks fine with the bearings etc - so at least i can grease all the parts etc

I would definitely check the bolt though on your bikes - could have been a lot worse

[bikesnbones]

I must admit at first i never thought about the wheel locking and bringing me off - i was too depressed looking at the shagged splines!

The bolt has never been off whilst i have had the bike (3 years)

its looking a bit hard to get another shaft and they are £505 new, Just hoping when it all gets back together that its all ok

I had to remove the swing arm to get the drive shaft out and everything looks fine with the bearings etc - so at least i can grease all the parts etc

I would definitely check the bolt though on your bikes - could have been a lot worse

Any chance you could take some photo's, just to get a better idea of what we're potentially dealing with here.

[Corvus]

If there's only 5mm damaged, can it not be put back into service? Or is it too mashed? Bent?

[Droptarotter]

If there's only 5mm damaged, can it not be put back into service? Or is it too mashed? Bent?

That's what I am wondering? Could you not just grind of the damaged bits, and reinstall?

Was it on the trans end or the bevel end where the damage occurred?

The only loose bolt I have found on mine was on the back of the trans housing and the rear brake master cylinder kept the bolt from falling out.

When I posted about that loose bolt on Pelican, 3 other bikes had the same loose bolt!

Cheers

[ted]

the damage is on the bevel end and at a push i probably could do as you say, grind it smooth and refit it. My main concern would be that all the power would go through a smaller area and i wondered if it might speed up the wear on the FD splines. ive just managed to get one off fleabay for £90 so it could have been worse.

first job will be to tighten every bolt in sight !

[Corvus]

the damage is on the bevel end and at a push i probably could do as you say, grind it smooth and refit it. My main concern would be that all the power would go through a smaller area and i wondered if it might speed up the wear on the FD splines. ive just managed to get one off fleabay for £90 so it could have been worse.

first job will be to tighten every bolt in sight !

Can't comment precisely on bmw splines, but generally speaking there is usually a decent size chamfer on the end. With any luck most of your damage could be confined to that? How much normal engagement is there?