Blown gearbox

[heathy65]

Went for a ride on my 35000 mile 2005 this morning and pulling away from a junction went through 1st, 2nd and 3rd OK. Shifting to 4th nothing happened. Couldn't downshift so coasted to a stop with horrible noises coming from the gearbox and transmission oil pouring out. Suggestions please?

[gogs01]

Went for a ride on my 35000 mile 2005 this morning and pulling away from a junction went through 1st, 2nd and 3rd OK. Shifting to 4th nothing happened. Couldn't downshift so coasted to a stop with horrible noises coming from the gearbox and transmission oil pouring out. Suggestions please?

Sorry to hear of your transmission troubles.
I'm not sure I can diagnose the problem, but I'd do the simple things first - look at the linkage and see if it's all still connected (maybe the gearbox isn't getting the signals your foot is sending ?).

[heathy65]

Given the noises that were coming from it and the rate the oil was leaking I fear it's something far more serious.

[B787MECH]

Can you tell where the oil is coming from? Is there something obviously broken externally or has an oil seal popped?


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[David.]

Doesn't sound good, if a new gearbox is required, this thread from Adventure Rider, http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/m ... ss.655998/, shows the gearbox removal process on a 2007 R1200GSA, gives some insight into the work involved.

[heathy65]

Until it's stripped extent of the damage cannot be assessed. Fortunately a friend who is a top line motorcycle mechanic has agreed to do the work. So it's wait and see. best case is a blown seal, worse is a replacement gearbox from Motorworks at around £500.00 plus labour.  I'll update one I know what the damage is

[gogs01]

Good to hear you're on your way to a solution.  Sorry I didn't take in the extent of the problem before my last post.  Keep us updated ! 

[heathy65]

Thought I'd post an update. My mechanic friend has now stripped the box. The rear gearbox casing has been cracked and holed, explaining the oil loss. Once the gears were removed input shaft was in two halves. Examination suggests that the shaft has failed in the past and been bodged in order to enable a short section of the spinning to engage in the gears, rather than having been repaired. Also one of the selector forks has only one finger on it, the other having sheared and the missing finger is not in the box!!  Bottom line is we need to source a good condition used 20 spline box, oh, and a big bag of used banknotes.

[mcwhirtj]

... rear gearbox casing has been cracked and holed ... input shaft was in two halves ... one of the selector forks has only one finger on it ... need to source a good condition used 20 spline box, oh, and a big bag of used banknotes.

Not what you hoped to find, obviously.  But at least now you know and path forward is straightforward if pricey.  Best of luck hunting down a gear box at a reasonable price.  Keep us posted
Jim


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[Twinstacks]

Hi. How did you get on sourcing a gearbox. I might be replacing mine. I see they are on motorworks for around £300 and even seen one on eBay for under £200 but not sure if I would be buying someone else’s troubles. At least motorworks gives you 6 months warranty.

[heathy65]

So, apparently my bike was one of a series produced for just 3 months before some substantial changes, thus making sourcing a second hand replacement somewhat difficult. my mechanic eventially tracked down a match in Austria and imported it. The curriers made him literally dismantle it before they would release it to him, presumably on the assumtion it contained some illegal substance! Theclutch was also on it's last legs so has also been replaced. All in the parts bill is in excess of £1200. When it came to reasembly he discovered many of the fastenings were in the wrong holes, so had to sort all ot the bolts and screws and identify their correct location before reasembling everything. Eventially were almst there, just waiting for some bodywork fasteners that were missing to be delivered. Hopefully I'll get the old girl back in far better condition than she was in.
Our conclussion, having examined what came out is that at some time the main shaft in the box had broken and that someone had dismantled the box, ground the rearmost part of it down and reasenbled it so that approximately 5mm of the splining was engaing in the gear to provide drive. This conclussion is supported by most of the bolts holding the back plate to the rest of the box were loose.
I can oly wish the wrath of the rain gods upon the indiviual responsible.
This really has been a loose, loose situation. If I'd scrapped the bike I'd have been out of pocket by more or less what the repair has cost. This way atleast I've got something to shaw for the expenditure.
Happy biking folks.

[heathy65]

So, final update on this thread, I hope. Finally got the old girl back yesterday and though I only managed a few miles, all seems well. The replacement box my mechanic sourced from Austria is smooth and quiet, and the new clutch does the job. Not even going to go into how much it cost, as I have said it really was a loose, loose situation, but at least this way I,ve got a bike I now know it reliable.
All that's left to do now is make a plastercine effigy of the individual who made the original botch job fix and proceed to stick very long and blunt pins into it every day for the next 12 months.

[Levisp]

Good to hear you have your bike back on the road. At least you now know you have a reliable bike you can now trust. Enjoy. IMHO I think the money you spent was probably worth it. Look at it this way. If you had bought something newer, it would have cost more and you would still have lost cash due to depreciation. When I rode my new RT out of the dealer 4 years ago I lost around a £2K straight away on depreciation. Four years on the depreciation has cost something between £5 - £6K One reason why I intend to keep the bike for a very long time and hopefully at least 100K miles.