I went out for a 200k ride just to make sure all was good for next weekend and had just come out of some nice twisties and accelerating up to 100kph and bang down goes the back end smoke every where and a very quick stop that was starting to get sideways toward the end. If you haven't guessed by now it was the famous bolt on the rear drive at the bottom of the shockie.
Fortunately the group had 2 harley riders and my mate who was delivering his just sold bergman had his wife following in his work ute which was full of tools and I always carry a spare stud after the last time.
Now after last time I made some very strong studs fron S10-40 steel but even that broke. I would have thought that it was not possible to break that stud but it had only done 80000kms.
Now I have to have a feed of crow because after Ulrich broke his going to bingara I gave him my spare stud I carry and it was made from the same steel so he will have to change it out to a standard stud.
I cant do the trick as is done on the K100 like Paul did because the paralever drive has a different case.
And just to make my day the little pink rocket is back to its old trick of running on 2 cylinders at low speed but it feels a little worse this time and is down a bit on power even when running on all 4.

Ouch, hope you are ok and the K gets sorted soon.

What a bummer. Glad you're OK Rick. These studs are proving a problem, maybe change out with an OEM item every X miles is a solution?

Cheers
Dave

"maybe change out with an OEM item every X miles is a solution?"

Yes. That's what I think I'll start doing!

I can't replace with an OEM at the moment but I will be changing yearly from now on it just isnt worth the risk.
As for the back to its old tricks I have just taken the plugs out and #4 is very oily or carbon from rich. Will have to wait till morning to get compression gauge from my brother. We have a deal he borrows my tools and I go and get them when I need it.
So Narrandera is a big question at the moment as I need a new back tyre that was torn to bits, a few big tears in the tread right down to the cords and I did 80kmph the rest of the trip and finding a new stud in this dump of a village or Warwick.

Oh well I seem to remember one Australian Prime Minister saying that life wasn't meant to be easy.

Aaaagh!! Here I was , feeling quietly smug within myself, with the full knowledge of an indestructible bottom rear sock mounting stud. My head has started to spin!! Leaving early Thursday, Tues and Wed tied up with grandson duties!! Monday is the only day I've got! I think I'll bite the bullet and try not to fret about this...well, maybe not too much.

How many Km's had yours done before it failed, and under what circumstances? (eg, fully loaded panniers, hit a big hole in the road??)

Rickmeister.

Sorry to do that to you. Mine did 80000ks so you should be ok but change it for OEM when you can and get Sidecar Paul to make you a support as his were spot on as is all his work.

Rick, I've sent you a PM.

What!? Do you mean that the rear shock tends to break off while riding? Did I get it right?

I took the stud support plate off the outfit a couple of weeks ago to change the rear spring and there was evidence of a lot of pressure between the plate and the drive housing, so the support does appear to be working.

I do have one spare support plate, I made 6 altogether, so if you want it Ulrich, PM your address and I'll send it to you; it wouldn't get there before Narrandera though.

Paul.

sidecar paul wrote: I do have one spare support plate, I made 6 altogether

Could you please post a blueprint of your plate?
I personally never experience this problem, but it's better preventing than fixing.
I would be interesting to find what grade the original stud is.

Bert,
The details of the stud support are here:-

https://www.k100-forum.com/t5094-studs-who-wants-a-stud?highlight=stud

Post 35 onwards.
Paul.

I might just inform people of the concrete guarantee I gave people when I supplied studs to them....when the bike sees or touches concrete...guarantee is finished.

ainsjac wrote:I might just inform people of the concrete guarantee I gave people when I supplied studs to them....when the bike sees or touches concrete...guarantee is finished.

Oh, that's what we call a 30/30 guaranty.... 30 feet or 30 seconds. What ever comes first.

I still have a spare stud. Got two off Ainsjac and one is reserved for Charlie.
Bringing both to Narrandera.

I have the SCP Stud Plate fitted so I don't think I need to 'stress' (get it...stress) too much at the moment.

RicK G wrote:Sorry to do that to you. Mine did 80000ks so you should be ok but change it for OEM when you can and get Sidecar Paul to make you a support as his were spot on as is all his work.

Rick, Is there any possibility that there is some other factor that is adding to the failure problem of the stud?
Does this bike have a "Bone stock" rear shock and coil spring? As it was equipped with when it was new?
I'm just wondering if there could be some other factor that is excessively stressing the stud???
I'm probably just asking useless questions........I'm quite sure you've probably ruled that out.

Tenox wrote:What!? Do you mean that the rear shock tends to break off while riding? Did I get it right?

What happenes is that the lower bolt/stud which screws into the rear drive housing breaks due to fatigue, usually about 1 thread turn into the alloy housing and the rear of the bike suddenly drops and you come to a very quick stop with a huge cloud of smoke to slowly surround you.

ibjman wrote:

RicK G wrote:Sorry to do that to you. Mine did 80000ks so you should be ok but change it for OEM when you can and get Sidecar Paul to make you a support as his were spot on as is all his work.

Rick, Is there any possibility that there is some other factor that is adding to the failure problem of the stud?
Does this bike have a "Bone stock" rear shock and coil spring? As it was equipped with when it was new?
I'm just wondering if there could be some other factor that is excessively stressing the stud???
I'm probably just asking useless questions........I'm quite sure you've probably ruled that out.

The shock I have is the last of the true Koni shocks.
What I believe is the cause of the flexing is that the shock has a rubber mounted eye and that rubber allows the bolt to flex slightly. The bolt as far as I can asscertain is mild steel or very close to that grade.
I have fixed a few of these including one on the k75 and on my old K100 and noe my K1100 and all had a rubber mounted eye. If a ball joint type eye is used the pivot ball will make the bolt much stronger as it can be made very tight without crushing and it has a much bigger area to sit against the housing and help prevent flexing, so then the only thing that break it is lateral shearing which is very unlikely to happen.
What I did after the first breakage on the K75 I made some studs from S10-40 steel and to be honest I didnt think they could ever break but have been proven wrong and from now on I shall be using OEM and changing them each year because its heaps easier than trying to wash the crap out of your undies.
This has been a known problem for a long time but it seems to be a bit more common in Australia, maybe because of our crap roads.

RossKo, Blakey has been very good and has posted a new Ainsjac stud to me but getting to Narranderra is still a big maybe as I have other engine problems that surfaced yesterday but more later as I have yet to do a leakdown on the pink terror or if anybody knows a sucker with some cash send them my way. Oh boy do I now regret selling my grey K 100 but spilt milk and all that. I may even drive down Well it is still a BMW.

Rick...in Australia is the stud problem a "Rick" problem......two Ricks on the forum....two broken studs?

Have BMW acknowledged there is afault with the rear spring strut mounting bolt?
The recall notice below mentions the spring strut mounting eyelet failing but doesn't mention the bolt.
BMW Motorcycles—Models K75, K100, R80GS

PRA number: 1988/0320
Date published: 5^th January 1988

Product information

Product description

What are the defects?

Rear Spring Strut Lower Mounting Eyelet May Crack.
What are the hazards?

Component Failure.
Where the product was sold

• Nationally
  

Supplier

BMW Australia Limited
What should consumers do?

Contact the supplier undertaking the recall action

If BMW hasn't said there that the bolt breaks then sorry but I fail to see the relevance. The eye MAY split for the same or similar reasons but it isn't the subject.

I sent an email to realm engineering asking if they know of it and what if anything they do so I will post it here if its a positive reply. BTW my bike wont be getting to Narranderra as there is absolutely zero compression in #4 cylinder. I havent popped the head yet but it is apparently a head gasget but it hasn't gone into the water or oil system si it won't be a big job hopefully but I certainly cant get it done in time so I will still be there but in the beemer not on the beemer

RicK G wrote:but in the beemer not on the beemer

booo hissssss.
Buy yourself a reliable bike next time. Not one where it is only wise to service every 5000km and maybe do an engine overhaul after 1,000,000km.
What I am saying is 'get a keeper'
I have a spare K100 here just waiting for a new owner. Choice of two actually.

Dare I say leave Marg at home and bring her bike?

Or would she leave you at home and come alone

I think the latter would be far more likely

Bummer Rick G
I hope you can make it in body , no matter the medium. Been looking forward to catching up

I have another engine to put in but time isn't on my side. See ya there

You and Marge were coming on two bikes.....4 wheels. Your new plan sticks to that main idea.

ainsjac wrote:You and Marge were coming on two bikes.....4 wheels. Your new plan sticks to that main idea.

Yeah but it's not quite the same but I will open the sunroof to help.

Well after being on my knees hard at work on the trusty crusty pink rocket I finally took the head off and this is what I saw a piece of exhaust valve missing and broken off not burned away.

I say Rick you obviously dont fertilise it much, them's litttle valves arn't they, can you see why that piece came off? best to put a two valve head back on there then, oh where did the piece go? hopefully not into the piston, surely gravity took over and it went into the port and down into the header. Have you got another head for it? without pinching from the gs I mean?

...but wouldn't that hole make the engine breathe easier? Isn't that the idea?

K75cster wrote:I say Rick you obviously dont fertilise it much, them's litttle valves arn't they, can you see why that piece came off? best to put a two valve head back on there then, oh where did the piece go? hopefully not into the piston, surely gravity took over and it went into the port and down into the header. Have you got another head for it? without pinching from the gs I mean?

Don't know where the bit went but there's not a mark on the piston and the muffler don't rattle at all so its lost and I wasn't gonna weld it back on anyway. Probably went scootin out the back like a red hot rocket.

I will be putting a complete spare engine in that has done about 75000klm and rebuild this one.

Anyway like Ned said "such is life" and it isn't exactly the first time I have to contend with this sort of problem.

Just thinking I wonder if running it up on the rev limiter in 5th had anything to do with it...................Nah no way must have been a faulty valve.

Where's your sense of adventure.........drop another valve in that hole, button her up, slap the head back on and go on your planned journey........see what happens........LOL

Still trouble getting over this.. Yesterday cornering this nice little road, long tight corners at speeds up to 130km/h. Thought came to my head: What if that damn bolt snaps while doing this? Not nice. Change of underwear would not be enough afterwards I think.

ibjman wrote:Where's your sense of adventure.........drop another valve in that hole, button her up, slap the head back on and go on your planned journey........see what happens........LOL

Ahhh you make it sound so easy but for a fussy old codger it will take a little longer.
I will give my spare engine a leakdown and if it comes up ok I'll just put it in as is. Well maybe I'll put the 1200 cams in it and the harman chip and and and oh no here I go again I just can't help myself.

I remember my dad saying when I had the engine out of the Bonneville in 1969 "you had that out last week what the heck are you doing now" I said "just trying to make it go faster" he shook his head and walked away he never did understand that making it go fast was just as much fun as going fast.

Rick Said he shook his head and walked away he never did understand that making it go fast was just as much fun as going fast. Yes yes yes thats it Its the journey as much as the destination Every waking moment in thought of just that, (and people would say theres nothin going on in there) How little they know.

The almost "obsession" that seems to infect 1 when a K machine gets under one's skin......reminds me of a time in my younger days when I had seemingly un bounded bunches of nervous energy to burn off. Besides my /7 I was into "Corvair's". Perhaps they were known under some funny name in the down under (like today's Fords).
I had a 1965 Chevrolet "Corsa Convertible" 140HP engine with a four speed.......White with a red interior.
Oh how I loved that car (Ralph Nader is a total idiot). It was however susceptible to a wide variety to questionable mechanical dependability difficulties, oil leaks and a defect in the flywheel (rivets) design just to mention a couple.
The point of the story is that I actually had the engine in & out of that car 15 times in a single year.
Here are representative photos of the 3 Corvairs that I enjoyed in my earlier years.



After that, I got into Moto Guzzi's


Some folks say I was just born a "LOSER". :|
This photo ensemble certainly shows that I was never afraid of lots of hard work...LOL
Often times, I compare my Moto-Guzzi to the likes of a 2 wheeled Fiat.

ibjman wrote:
After that, I got into Moto Guzzi's

Some folks say I was just born a "LOSER". :|
This photo ensemble certainly shows that I was never afraid of lots of hard work...LOL
Often times, I compare my Moto-Guzzi to the likes of a 2 wheeled Fiat.

I have a lot of good memories about the 750 California. I compared it to a farm tractor with a lot of torque and no brakes.

In the late 70's, I was a bike dealer selling Italians (Guzzi, Laverda, ducati, moto Morini,..)
This is when the Italians started to build more modern ones (1000 Le Mans, 900ss, 1200 Laverda)

Oh what's the difference between a BMW and a Guzzi?
A BMW is a Guzzi with hanging tits

OOPS, inappropriate! The moderators will ban me

Gee any of those Corvairs would be a prize nowdays especially the convertible.
They never made it to Australia as that was when ford was trying to play us for fools and tell us that the Falcon was an all aussie car to compete with the GMs Holden which was a cheap and downsized copy of the Chev.

I did a leakdown on the spare engine and it is not a very healthy engine so I decided to take the head off and make up the best one from 2 bad heads.
I got the head of the engine in the bike with the aid of a very long breaker bar but 5 of the 10 bolts on the spare engine just wont budge to the extent that I twisted a 1/2 drive T50 torx bit and smashed another. The twisted one was a Kinchrome and the smashed one was a Snapon so tomorrow its out with the drill and take the heads of the things if I can drill the stuff. *#@&^%$*

try a impact wrench.

Brian

I tried that but the bolts have some spring in them and will twist about 30deg before they crack and so the impact gun just bounces around on the bolt.
I will try to get some other brand of bit and it might work, even a new Kinchrome might get the rest out as it did 15 bolts so far, 10 on the bike and 5 on the spare before it twisted.

Rick,
It might be too late now but I agree with the previous poster. You could try a REALLY big impact wrench.
I have an Ingersoll-Rand #2131 or 231 (Sears sells this too)
http://www.ingersollrandproducts.com/am-en/products/tools/impactools/maintenance-automotive-impactools/1-2-drive/2130-series
that makes over 600 ft/lb at 175 psi air pressure. I had to use all I had to get the biggest bolts at the rear from the lower crankcase 1/2, loose. The bigger the better in this case because you need a huge "whack" to overcome that spring in the long bolts. If the bolt fails, you're no worse off. If the tools fail, well, you did the best you could. it sounds as if, though that by now, the heads of the suspect fasteners are too far gone for the big "windy" to save you.
As far as drilling goes, I've had pretty good luck with "cobalt" style bits that we used to by in the fleet I worked at. We got ours from a place in the US called Imperial supply. It's very difficult to find High quality drill bits. these are characteristic as being a medium dark golden brown color.
Keep us posted.

Crazy Frog wrote:Oh what's the difference between a BMW and a Guzzi?
A BMW is a Guzzi with hanging tits

More like this...

ibjman wrote:Rick,
It might be too late now but I agree with the previous poster. You could try a REALLY big impact wrench.
I have an Ingersoll-Rand #2131 or 231 (Sears sells this too)
http://www.ingersollrandproducts.com/am-en/products/tools/impactools/maintenance-automotive-impactools/1-2-drive/2130-series
that makes over 600 ft/lb at 175 psi air pressure. I had to use all I had to get the biggest bolts at the rear from the lower crankcase 1/2, loose. The bigger the better in this case because you need a huge "whack" to overcome that spring in the long bolts. If the bolt fails, you're no worse off. If the tools fail, well, you did the best you could. it sounds as if, though that by now, the heads of the suspect fasteners are too far gone for the big "windy" to save you.
As far as drilling goes, I've had pretty good luck with "cobalt" style bits that we used to by in the fleet I worked at. We got ours from a place in the US called Imperial supply. It's very difficult to find High quality drill bits. these are characteristic as being a medium dark golden brown color.
Keep us posted.

I have some good equipment like a 3/4 drive air impact that will snap a 3/4 8.8 bolt like a carrot but the bolts on this head dont respond to my shinano 1/2 drive impact because there is about 30deg turn in the spring of the bolt before the thread lets go and an impact gun just wont turn that much and just rattles away till the cows come home. All the 3/4 gun will do is destroy the bits and head of the bolt which I have managed to keep intact so far.
I think the bolts have actually bottomed in the thread because the head turns on the cyl head but has to be twisted about 30deg before it lets go with a very loud crack then just comes out as clean as they come, no corrosion or any signs of anything like that.
I have come across bolts as stubborn as these but they dont move even a thousanth of an inch till they crack but these give the initial crack as they relieve on the head then start twisting and thats when the fun starts. I reckon that some "mechanic" has been at this since it left the factory.
The bolts on the engine in the bike were very tight to shift but once they cracked they came out easily, I would say that I had to go to at least 120ft/lb to get them to crack maybe even more.

Are they out or are you drilling? How many? If you end up drilling the last 1 or 2, I'll be curious to see how "stuck" the nubs remain in the block. Definitely something wrong here, Rick. I just took a 4V head off that had 235,000 miles on it & I did not experience any real problem till I got to the last 2 bolts on the inside rear of the lower crankcase.
If I were you, if I get down to the last bolt, I'd put the big 3/4 windy on it just to see what happens. I am not sure weather these are needing speed or extra hard hit to do the trick.
We are all waiting to hear what occurs.

Don't hold your breath as I cant get what I need toll Tuesday and its 2.00pm Saturday here now. Thats the problems with living in the country. It's 12km to the nearest town and that is small then 60km more to a bigger one and another 80 to any reasonable city then they say "we can get it in come back in 2-3 days. Got a medical appointment in Brisbane which is 230km so we make a big shopping day of that.
I can often get parts delivered to my gate in less time from UK than from Brisbane because they often have to get them from Melbourne or Sydney then send them on to me.
Fortunately I don't need the bike for about another month so I have time.

I dont know if you think it silly but. If you knacker the head bolts then weld the head bolt, the heat may be what you need to free what ever is freezing the thread, they;re allen head bolts right? its possible to stick a allen key in then weld the bolt not so much the key and then turn the key and with a third hand shock the bolt head under tension. i used this method on an old gemini, my nephew was about to take to it with a power saw, he was driving it a week later. With new head bolts naturally

It may be common knowledge and even un necessary, but I'd recommend disconnecting the Motronic injection unit, the ignition module, the hall sensors and the neg battery wire before doing any arc welding on the motorcycle.

Does the Shinano key have enough room to add a ring spanner so you can pretension that 30% with some 11/2" GI then hit the gun?? Hold the GI at 10oclock as if it lets go you have a bit of time to dodge it