Rear Drive Breather

[Bocephus]

I proclaimed to a buddy of mine what a fit bike and exceptional luck I have had with my 2000 V11 Sport while perusing the used stuff coming in down at BMW for their weekend deal they have going. Feeling great with the perfect PNW weather I climbed on and started on my way home. Took a side detour to my In Laws place to look over some computer problems and on arriving noticed my breather on the rear drive unit leaking a bit of fluid.

 

My spirits sunk.

 

I just had the rear wheel off this past spring in anticipation of the season and a new set of tires. Did the cush drive mod, lubed the bearings and all that.

 

I realize the breather is doing its job here but I am a bit concerned. Would this be indicative of a larger problem or am I being a ninny?

 

I have not noticed any leakage in the past and I look the bike over pretty well from time to time. This is a pretty good flow of redline I have going here.

[Guest ratchethack]

If it's correctly filled just up to the level plug, I'd wipe it off and not give it another thought.

 

But o' course, that's just me.

[dlaing]

Mine leaks, but not that much.

Open the fill plug, let any excess drain out, reinstall fill plug, wipe it clean, don't worry about it, carry a rag with you and keep wiping it if it if you want. I sometimes use the "free" paper towels at the gas station.

I don't think it will get on rear tire, but keep an eye out for signs of that happening.

[Bocephus]

Thanks for setting me at ease fellas. I'll keep a rag handy.

 

[Greg Field]

Mine'll dribble a bit, too. It's nothing to be overly concerned about.

[luhbo]

Well, mine does not, and I haven't heard of anybody else here that theirs would do so. I'd probably not worry too much about it either, but basically what you describe is no good thing. If oil gets pressed out, something else gets sucked in instead. This is not always just air, clean air.

 

Hubert

[Bocephus]

Well it ended up that the drainage kept going at a regular pace. I kept wiping knowing something was not right until the lower drive seal finally sent redline all over the drive unit as well.

 

To make a long story short I botched the hell out of taking the pinion out and managed to break the mount point for the torsion bar (?) by dropping the piece on the garage floor. Not the removable one either but the one that is cast to the drive casing. Did such a job of it that no welder I could find in the area would touch it.

 

I ended up finding one locally from a used bike. I wish I knew what caused the issue, the V11 had just under 50k on it at the time. The pinion once the rear drive unit was off was noticeably movable side to side and I am sure the bearing was out of spec and needed a rebuild.

 

At any rate it was an interesting time trying to find a replacement unit. The cost of a new one or rebuilding using a new case and my internals was prohibitive.

 

Not a good time but at least it is on the road.

[docc]

Glad to hear you're back in the saddle! It is much appreciated when folks follow up on their threads. So many of us are in this for the long haul!

 

After my second rear drive gear oil change to Redline Heavy (the red stuff), my vent also began to weep. Figuring I over filled, I let a little out. It seemed better for a while, then the big seal gave out. Trying to gauge the refill, I found a miserable time trying to get the right level. That stuff is so thick and tacky, I'll bet some 50 ml stays in the internals even draining when hot. I had 10 ml stick in glass graduated cylinder!

 

My new seal has been weepy. I opened the level plug and just let the thing sit for hours while maybe 4 or 5 ml drizzled out. Then I drained another 5-6 ml (hard to gauge).

 

So far, the weep looks better, but overfilling is a distinct challenge with the RedLine Shockproof. One of its drawbacks, to be sure.

[Bocephus]

This time around while sitting idly by I read quite a bit on the forum here and gauged that my issue may have been overfilling the whole time. This really helped me to feel like a ham.

 

I found a thread that mentioned the seepage and that after returning to a conventional oil it cleared up. It was one of my many late night searches while pondering my mistake and searching for a new part.

 

I did fill the new piece with redline this time but I let it sit for a few hours draining to be sure I have the proper level. The first sign I see of weep I will be returning to conventional recommended oils. So far so good though and not a hint of seepage.