too many sidewinders Waz, bet you've been having fun though.
did the bike roll to a smooth halt? could it be anything in the final drive gearing , maybe not holding up for you , just a thought.
start your inspection from the rear and work your way forward. Lift the rear off the ground and rotate the wheel , you may feel something grinding from back there, that may give a sign of where the damage is.

Rolled to a smooth but noisy stop. Hope it's the final drive because I have a spare but I rekon it's the shaft. Have a few other jobs to do on RS before I start on it.

bugga

hope it is an easy fix waz

cheers

hmmm .... be interesting to see what the other end of the shaft looks like.what is still rotating at this stage?

The universal joint from the drive shaft is still attached to the out put shaft of the gearbox and is still rotating.
Got another drive shaft and fitted a new universal joint with a grease nipple and welded a new spline in the other end.

really ...?

got pics waz ?..... never seen it done before

details please

I would like some details on the uni joint and how it is retained please.

I got a rebuilt driveshaft of Rockman a good while ago now, I think it was in his adventure sidecar once.
It had new splines welded in and a new universal joint fitted, the uni is retained by spot welds. I did a similar thing with the universals on the driveshaft's of my Suzuki king quad about 10 years ago and it's still going strong.

The grease nipple that came with it was no good, too large I replaced this one with a smaller straight one.

After measuring, cut the worn splines off.

The new splines slip inside the drive shaft, the new piece has a 45deg edge so I ground the drive shaft edge to 45v deg as well leaving a nice V shape to fill with weld.




Then ground it smooth




easy peasy

I would like some details on the uni joint and how it is retained please

It come from Munich motorcycles WA
It was just a compression fit. Took some force and a large vise.

Gaz suggested tack welding the caps on the uni but I haven't yet, maybe I should after seeing your comments Craig

Good job Waz, well done

excellent work there Waz. Be good to see you back on the road again.

Waz wrote:I would like some details on the uni joint and how it is retained please

It come from Munich motorcycles WA
It was just a compression fit. Took some force and a large vise.

Gaz suggested tack welding the caps on the uni but I haven't yet, maybe I should after seeing your comments Craig

usually the caps of the uni joint are peened over with metal from the surrounding housing

seems to work




thanks for the pics mate ...made a lot of questions ....solved

just an observation  ,,, id really like to know how you intend to get to the grease nipple once assembled....giggles
but I guess you could pressure it up before fitting... to confirm good grease has made it to the roller bearings  ... I guess with  a very slim adaptor it could be done through the input spline ....good thinking was




good luck

Yes the preened over metal tabs can still be done again, but with spot welds it wont go anywhere and if you need to change the uni again in the future it's much easier to grind the spot welds off.

RicK G wrote:OoooHHoo worst case of K-pox I have ever seen.

Do you think you can save him doctor or has it gone too far?

I'm with you mate she has to be bent.......

id really like to know how you intend to get to the grease nipple once assembled....giggles
Yeah can only get to it after removing the drive shaft but can do it when I am greasing the splines.

My little grease gun fits


I will tack weld the caps just to be safe, the originals where tough to get out very tight fit.

That's a good job Waz. 

It would be worth repeating the pictures and detail in the 'How To' section, so that we can find it easier in the future.

Paul.

Thanks I will do that.
Removed the swing arm to get remainder of uni joint out.




Tack welded the caps and bolted it all back together today.


Replaced the final drive too it was growling. Back on the road.

Thanks Was. Interesting read. Glad to see you got it sorted.
Can the uni-joint be regreased without the grease nipple?

I don't think so.

1. Just get the dog to sit in the sidecar while you're fiddling about nearby, give him his bedding and maybe some treats.  make it a nice place to be.
   
   
2. Start the engine and let it run, dont ride it you're just trying to get him used to the noise.
   
   
3. Short rides first maybe go to a favourite place, visit another dog friend, go to the park or the creek or something.  Try to make him associate a ride in the sidecar with a good experience.
   
   
4. Then work on building more confidence.  Make sure you give him a break regularly, it's good for stretching your legs too.
   

Getting there, steps 1 and 2 completed he was jumping out as soon as I hit the starter but now will stay until I put it in gear then he launches out.

Place a photo of a cat on windscreen of side car and tell him to focus.

smithy wrote:Yes the preened over metal tabs can still be done again, but with spot welds it wont go anywhere and if you need to change the uni again in the future it's much easier to grind the spot welds off.

The way I've heard some do it is to place correct sized flat washers over the end caps and weld to the washers.  Doesnt put so much heat into the caps and rollers inside.

Al

Just had a thought....adding a sidecar to a BMW....how much additional weight would that be...consider that the bike and the standard driveshaft has to deal with a lot more weight?
The driveshaft is only as strong as its weakest point which I consider to be the uni joint..
Those cement bags wouldn't have helped?
I'm no expert......compare the driveshaft on a truck compared to a car....
The"twisting" forces on that driveshaft trying to move forward when the total weight of the bike is doubled......just a thought...
Any opinions...
BMW has a policy of discouraging owners from adding a sidecar...how many of us know they technical limitations of the standard driveshaft whe adding extra weight to a bike...
The k100 has a maximum weight limit...for a reason...adding a sidecar doubles, triples that weight limit?

No problem with a well lubricated driveshaft gabriel,

I had a uni joint fail on the outfit in the early '90s, with about 25,000 miles on the clock. I bought a new shaft and a spare, in case it happened again, but the spare is still in it's BMW waxed paper wrapping and the replaced shaft still looks as good as new after 112,000 miles.  

Paul.

That's a good job Waz.


Not really, I did NOT tighten the rear wheel properly and it transformed into a two wheeler again.


But it was going very well before this happened. I fitted a new rear shock and that fixed the poor handling.

I have just ordered a new rear disc. Should be ready for the NSW BMW touring club new members BBQ at Mt Wilson 28th June. Hoping to get to the BBQ and back without a tilt tray or trailer.

Maybe be a hidden message here...motorbikes have two wheels. :cyclops:

Has anyone one had to use helicoils? are they strong enough to hold the back wheel on?

Yes they used to hold my nitro engines together. Not sayin that they never left a big pile of crap under then from time to time but none of the helicoils ever let go.

Thanks Rick, I will have a go.

I've used small ones a few times Waz on covers etc. and was surprised at how easy it was to fit them. Nothing as serious as Rick has used them for but having his feedback I'd say go for it!

Cheers

I will carry the final drive with helicoils as a spare, I had a spare 16 tooth final drive and have fitted it with a new rear disc. Been out testing and all is good again but handle bars are now bent. I must have been hanging on too tight.

I thought you might also need to have the seat recovered to remove the pucker creases out of it.

Cheers

I can help with the seat recovering if need be

Good to it will be back on the road again.

Al

I did have a firm grip on the seat but it's ok

Waz wrote:Has anyone one had to use helicoils? are they strong enough to hold the back wheel on?

I was once having a sook when the mechanic at the workshop where I worked was suggesting Helicoils in the slightly stripped sparkie holes of my '77 Airhead. He just looked at me sideways and asked if I'd ever seen an aluminium helicopter chassis. He'd been a chopper repairman in Vietnam. I said no. He replied that every single steel fastener went into a Helicoil or time-sert. The Helicoils are still in my Airhead cylinder heads nine years later.

I was very close to pulling it apart and making a bike out of it.
I have been having squirming handling problems since the loose wheel ordeal. I have reduced the overall width, stiffened rear suspension, replaced sidecar torsion suspension, replaced connecting bars (bent) and replaced all connecting nuts and bolts. But still unpredictable wandering on rough or uneven roads, I was getting nowhere until Saxon give me some tips and got me on the right track. Now it's very close and I can ride or drive it again. Only needs some minor adjustments now.

Big thanks Seanii firstly for getting me motivated again and secondly getting me on the right track.

great to hear Waz

keep at it mate ..

good luck

Oh Waz, such a short memory.
I'll look out for some brown undies for you.

good to hear you're moving in the right direction Waz . Cheers.

My new steering head bearings where also chewed out. Didn't think to check them because they were new. Another set of bearings has made a huge improvement. It may make an appearance at Philip Island next week if I can find brown undies for the trip. Still feels like it is 90%. Every time I get an improvement I think now it's 90%. Now it will cruise at 110 without wandering.

Hi Waz - I've enjoyed reading the last 40 odd posts in this thread, not sure how I missed it previously. Some good stuff here - I like the idea of being able to re grease the drive shaft uj for instance...
A project I dream about every now and then, is the idea of one day finding a small CV joint off a drive shaft from a front wheel drive vehicle that I can use to 'upgrade" one of my K75 bikes! Has anyone heard of this being done anywhere? It would surely ease the duty on the final drive splines to my mind.

By the way - I'm with TWB as regards helicoil equipped fasteners often being more reliable than those in standard tapped bores. As long as the larger drilling in the unit doesn't compromise the integrity of the original item as could be the case in aluminium castings not specifically designed with helicoils in mind as was obviously the case in the helicopter story. For steel bolts in light alloy castings the female thread is the critical one and the increased bore diameter when fitting a helicoil means the area of the thread that is seeing the load is increased. This results in lower stress levels in the female bore thread for a given bolt load. The first helicoil I ever saw was in the rotor of a cropping machine designed to cut multiple one inch wide by 1/4 inch thick strips of pure nickel into squares. The fitter I was assigned to for the blade change task wasn't familiar with the spring insert concept so I HAD to grab the tail of this 'spring' with a pair of long nose pliers and pull this odd looking thing out - I wasn't in the Foreman's good books when I took him the extended helix of a steel snake to ask 'what now?' Foremen love an opportunity like that to ask learner Engineers - 'don't they teach you ANYTHING at that university". Anyway - those helicoils were per original design specification. Presumably due to it being a classic fatigue loading scenario - production machine doing 20+ hours a day in a refinery producing electrolytic grade nickel for manufacturers of turbine blades....