paralever driveshaft from boxersupplies.com
 

Has anybody out there used a R80/100GS paralever driveshaft from boxersupplies in the Netherlands? It looks completely rebuildable and serviceable with removeable bearings and greese nipples, what are your experiences with this product? how far have you travelled with it? would you recommend it rather than a new BMW original?

Hi Mark.

Have a look on UKGSers in the Airhead section. You should get all the info you need there.

Airheads - ::. UKGSer.com .::

I have a re-buildable drive shaft supplied by motoren israel Germany I pull it out once a year and re grease everything as it has grease nipples to push grease into the bearings. The main reason the original shafts die is the bearings eventually dry out between 30 /50000 miles so it would make sense if they are re greased regularly they should not fail, maybe replace the bearings every 75000 miles as a safe guard. Much cheaper than replacing the driveshaft. They can be a bugger to get back into the shaft housing and seated on the bottom splines but patients pays eventually and they do go back together. I would say a better upgrade than the original simply because it can be repaired at the roadside - if you have a spare set of bearings.

Depending upon how many kms you ride annually, you might have to grease your bearings more often than once a year. The original beemer shafts have sealed bearings, making any servicing unnecessary. My first drive shaft lasted for over 110,000 ks, enduring lots of gravel roads on the way. he second drive shaft was one as described further up, with grease nipples and exchangeable bearings. It was ruined after a couple of months and 8,000 ks later. Only then was I told hat they should beserviced every 5,000 kays :(

So I ruefully returned to the original Beemer shaft....

hi vaufi that is interesting as i do a lot more than 5000kms a year, so maybe need to pull it out a few more times a year and give it a once over so thanks for the information.

Hey Mark

Here is another option
drive shaft with grease nipples for BMW R 80/100 GS R Paralever

I have had one shaft-failure during my 250kkm with BMWs.

6kkm before the failure I inspected the shaft and found everything okay. The shaft missed so much material that it would have been impossible to replace the bearing.

IMHO if the service-intervals are less then 50kkm it’s not worth it.

Bruno's , Bruno's in Canada is another site, for riders in North America to to look at.As yet I have not dealt with them but have heard good reports and may eventualy get a shaft done up by them for my '94 R100R which at 273000km is now on its fourth shaft. Alround a poor design from BMW. First one went after 160000km, second lasted 70000 and the third only 27000 within a year , so covered by waranty. The grease ages even while on the shelf at the central parts warehouse so even a new old stock shaft is doomed ,in my opinion. And teh owners manual makes nary a mention of this .Apparently one is expected to dismantle the entire machine at short intervals. They should have installed grease fittings at the factory.

Thank you for replies
 

Thanks to everybody for your input, I have heard from Boxersupplies that they recommend regreasing every 20,000km which is acceptable, I could not be bothered to do it every 5,000, part of the point of having a BMW is not having to spend too much time with a spanner in your hand. I will look at the other replacement shafts available and probably buy one rather than a BMW original.
Keep the advice coming.
Mark

Hi Mark,

...the older models had their shafts in an oilbath. Those oilbathed shafts "never" broke down...

I borrowed a K75 in 2001. I poured hypoid (Omega 690 80W/90 GL7) in its shaft - it still runs with the same oil, about 40-60 000km or so later according to the new owner.
The omega special hypoid litterally climbs and do not foam at all. If you are worried about the rubber shock absorber, use automatic gearoil, e.g. Omega 699 5W/20 which is just about as non-foaming as their hypoid.

The recommendation I got from Motorworks back in the 90:ties was "give it a good squirt of oil now and then" refering to the u-joints. I -am- lazy, so no way I do such service as you are prepared to do => I extrapolated the recommendation from MW to "if oil is ok in these shafts - then I'll fill'em up like the old once were!" That's how the K75 ended up with an oilbathing shaft.


Am I the -only- one who have tested to go retro on the beemer shaft service and maintenance?

The history is a bit unclear (at least to me). BMW used oilbath in some (all?) of the earlier bikes. There are multiple versions of the housing and you can find housing with a filler plug ( RealOEM.com � BMW K66 R100GS REAR WHEEL FORK ) and there is also housings with drain-plugs. I’m not sure if you find houses with both filler and drain plugs.

There are several theories why the oil was removed, some of the theories are:

-The new bearing-design didn’t need oil
-Oil clean out the grease from the bearings
-Oil destroyed the rubber-damper
-Oil leaked through the rubber-boot
-Oil leaks through the sealing to the final drive which might result in an overflowing finaldrive.

My swinging arm does have the casting marks for a drain and filler plug which I have considered machining out and putting plugs into, but have ruled out as I suspect that the oil will weep from the bottom gaiter.
I do get longer life by using a shorter shock from an R100R, the last one did 103,000 miles, that is about 165,000 km in new money, it also means my feet are flatter on the floor which helps.

I have spoken to Motorworks and am having my current shaft overhauled, it has not snapped, just developed a little play so should be suitable for a rebuild, thanks to everybody who replied.