BMW R1200GS / R1250GS | Spline Lube & Final Drive Oil - Part II 

I've seen lots of videos on lubing the final drive splines, but why do I not see videos that include the transmission end splines. Isn't that equally important?

Funny that BMW recommends a specific grease, yet they didn't apply any from the factory.

Watch what type of moly grease you use...they are not all the same. 'Honda specifies a spline grease which is 60% molybdenum disulfide ("moly"). Moly is a dry lubricant which bonds to the metal surfaces, offering lubrication properties even when the parts have squeezed everything liquid out. A lot of greases now say "Moly" on the container, but you must be careful about this. Ford and Caterpillar specify moly greases for particular applications, but the requirement is for 3% moly, not even close to the 60% requirement of Honda. It's not enough to buy a moly grease, what you really want is basically dry moly in a grease-like carrier which makes it easier to apply. These days, most BMW shops seem to be using the Honda moly paste on drive splines. I have no idea what Kawasaki, Yamaha, or Suzuki dealers are doing, but if it's anything like what most Honda dealers are doing, it's simply not acceptable. My informal survey of Honda shops, backed up by observations from several other riders, has convinced me that essentially none of them use Moly-60. They use the cheapest brake and drive shaft grease they can buy. If you let a dealer or shop change your rear tire, be certain they are using Moly-60 paste or Krytox, or you're going to be needing new drive splines in about 50,000 miles. Guaranteed. I recommend you remove and replace your own wheels, leaving the spline cleaning and lubrication up to you. If you want nothing to do with this, then I recommend you have a talk with your favorite mechanic before tires come up, and buy your own tube of lubricant if necessary. Moly greases with 60% + molybdenum disulfide content: Honda Moly 60 paste, $9 for 3oz, pn 08734-0001 at your Honda dealer, or $8 from Kim Leong, STOC 3073, California Sport Touring. LocTite Moly paste, 65% molybdenum disulfide. $20 for an 8oz tube from Enco, part #505-1197, 800-873-3626 TS-70 Moly Paste, 4 oz. ctg. $14 from TSMoly. (800) 508-5545 An alternative to moly is the new poly-flourinated lubricants made by DuPont called Krytox Teflon Bearing Grease. These chemicals are simply magic. They have almost no known solvents, are chemically inert, and don't burn at any temperature, even in a pure oxygen atmosphere. This is pretty clearly the only grease to use. See this article. Nascar mechanics have found that Krytox grease can reduce the temperature of spline joints on drive shafts by 150°. Also, this stuff lasts forever. It is, unfortunately, quite expensive." motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Shaft.html

I always loosen the fill plug first. If you drain the oil and find that the fill plug is stuck... then you will be stuck...

Thanks for the video, to elevate your game , strap the center stand to the front wheel, this will prevent the bike from falling if it gets pushed forward

Thanks for this update about the importance of moly paste to keep those sliding, high pressure steel-on-steel splines happy. Now, can we make your hypoid gears happier? I completely agree with you about changing it often. And synthetic oil is a must. But please bear in mind that GL-5 is a minimun standard, and not every GL-5 rated oil is going to do a good job back there and prevent wear. BMW has special requirements that exceed GL-5. Anybody who haunts the BMW forums knows that final drive failures are real, and expensive. The conditions in that FD gearbox are extreme, with just a tiny amount of unfiltered oil. The oil has to have HUGE film strength. There are several gear oils with additives to meet these extreme demands. So, in the name of precaution, and with the thought that oil is cheap compared to hard parts, here are my four picks for exceptional oils to use back there: (1) RedLine Heavy Shockproof (2) Amsoil Severe Gear (3) LIQUI MOLY Fully-Synthetic Hypoid Gear Oil (4) Castrol SAF-XO. Final note on viscosity: Testing at Liqui-Moly shows "greatly reduced wear" in BMW FDs using their 75W-140 oil (compared to their 75W-90 oil).

As a watchmaker I recommend to use silicon grease for the rubber as a sealer. This is what we use to waterproof divers watches. Great video btw 👍🏻

Provided you don’t have to replace the rubber boot at the front of the FD, what does it matter if the splines are not lubricated. In terms of driveshaft function it doesn’t matter if the front of the driveshaft is rusted, seized or even welded to the output shaft so long as the rear spline is free to slide according to swingarm position. For me, it’s more important to do the rear than the front. The rear is certainly within the scope of the average home mechanic, the front is much more tricky which is why most wouldn’t do it. If spline lubing generally is so important, why is it not on the BMW service schedule??

It is obvious you’ve been doing maintenance on the BMW R1200GS (A?). There are a lot of videos outlining certain procedures to follow for owner preventive or periodic maintenance. My experience with the BMW dealer maintenance department hasn’t been a good one. No one will look after a motorcycle better than the owner. Without seeming to bash my dealer I will not highlight my experience with them. I’ve had all manner of motorcycles. Some like the Goldwings have drive shafts and internal mating bevel gears that require hypoid gear oil. I do not use the differential oil recommended by BMW. It is $25.00 for 7 ounces. I use the equivalent at $12.00 a quart. I also do not use the moly paste recommended by BMW for the drive shaft. Here is why. These bikes came from the factory with little to no lubrication at all. I do use a specific lubricant not recommended by BMW…..Remember, they didn’t think lubricant was needed???? I use marine wheel bearing grease. This grease is VERY sticky and does not wash out even if it gets wet. It withstands high temperatures and maintains it protective properties. By the way, I also lubricate both ends if the driveshaft, this way I can inspect the entire length and do corrosion control on any rust that may be starting. I enjoyed your video and thanks for showing everyone the “HOW TO” of differential and spline maintenance. 👍👍

Good video. For you RT riders the final drive fill plug is a 6mm hex. The drain plug is a T45 torx. Remember to clean the drain plug and instal a new rubber o-ring before replacing plug.

Enjoy your videos on BMW ownership. Hope the wife doesn't see the video with kitchen utensils in the garage 😬

CV Joint moly paste 5% works for me Just did mine yesterday. I check my shaft every 6 months. Thanks for the Video interesting comments.

Another one who forgets there is 2 ends to the drive shaft.

Wow,- you skiped the removing, cleaning and greacing of the shaft!!! This is what this video was to be showing,- what is wrong with you.... show the stuff that is important in your video. Please. Well, you have made over 300 videos and you dont have a real mic for your voice!! OMG..... some on now. Buy a Røde wireless video mic. Your voice is not great if you are far from the camera....

I just did my final drive oil and 220ml oil from the factory came out. I was careful catching the oil in a measuring jug. I’m assuming the assembly grease in the factory (black gunk) had increased the quantity

Use the Honda grease…then buy a Honda. Worst purchase I’ve ever made was my 2018 bmw r1200rt.

But more importantly, how difficult is it to change a burned out lightbulb?

I used Supertech molly lithium grease and it worked just fine....for one day😮😂😂😂😂🎉🎉

I didn’t catch if you mentioned to make sure to use a new ‘O’ ring on the drain plug. I suspect you probably used a new one but to anyone else wanting to change their own oil, do not reuse the old rubber O ring.

Hi Ian ! Good service buddy, but please as I've mentioned in your previous video about the same subject, don't forget to check the other side of the drive shaft.

Does the drive shaft phasing need to be checked after this? Or would that only be if the gearbox side of the shaft pulled out?

Thanks for the videos. I have a 2018 GSA that I was going to lube the splines. Took it apart and the rear spline and shaft are seized together. I can't get them apart. I have used penetrating oil for 2 days now. Hit with block of wood and hammer and nothing. Really displeased with BMW right now. Seems to be a regular issue.

So reading the gs forums recently, a lot of others advise against gear oil that is “limited slip” or “LS” as it gets into bearings that it’s not supposed to in the final drive. Just a note for others

On my 2007 GSA, BMW recommends replacing the nut holding the paralever arm to the rear drive on every change. I just buy a tune up kit from Beemer Boneyard and they send the correct nut and O rings. There is some discussion on servicing the upper splines coming from the transmission. It is a real pain in the rear to deal with (especially if you have to replace the boot....) but I do mine every 12K. I had a split in the back of that boot a few years ago and it was a real job getting it off the output shaft. The easiest way I found to attach the front joint is to slide a piece of wood under the front of the U joint to keep it in position. It is one of those jobs where you try and try until it just magically pops on with no effort.

Definitely use a molybdenum grease on the splines, I use Castrol Moly. Greasing the rubber gater is essential to prevent water sprayed by the rear wheel, getting past the rubber boot... I use a Yamaha outbound engine marine grease, seals a treat! It’s an easy job, do it! 🏍👍

Thank you you gave me the confidence to do the job on my own bike and it was very rusty and hard to part from the splines I will revisit the job with the right grease when I get back from my tour .ps it’s quite sad that bmw install them with little if any grease

Thanks for this and the original video you posted. I also used a video by BoxFly and he spoke about greasing the rubber boot to seal it. I did my 2014 R1200GS yesterday and was pleased to see that someone had been in there before me and done a great job of this. Everything looked really clean, I used some BMW brand Paste MP3 as I had used this on an airhead F/D spline lube previously. Also, my F/D oil was changed two weeks ago and I didn't want to replace it again. I found that a foam earplug inserted into the speedo sensor hole prevented any oil from leaking out when I dropped the rear hub down. Hope the front splines are as good as the rear was. I will do those at the end of the season with all the other winterizing jobs.

Good day I want to ask about the other side of the driveshaft that goes on the gearbox?

this is the last thing you want to fail going down the freeway

Is there any way of telling if you need this work without opening it?

What about the front splines?

Popped mine open last night and it was clean. I also got it done in one sitting.

Hi Ian. Thanks for sticking your head over the parapet to help the rest of us, You'll always get critics ( I have a 70s bike resto channel so get the odd griper too) but most of us are really happy to get the advice and the honesty that its sometimes a wee struggle, especially the first time one has a go. Lookin' forwards already to that new lip-smacking' turkey flavour when I've sneaked the baster back into the gadget drawer-I'll tell the Mother In Law that its a new herb I've found....and cite you as the source. Thanks again, Rod

The bolt on my 1200gs Paralever uses a lock nut and should be replaced each time and not reused as per service manual. I got lazy and reused with locktite, I was lucky and noticed the nut backing off after a short time. I now keep keep spare (new lock nuts) in my tank bag so they are always handy.

Use moly grease or paste unless you your bike sees plenty of water. Enough water will set up a corrosive action. A lithium complex EP grease with moly in it is a better all round spline grease

Great video, hope all the advice was well received and like me, as a GS owner were all learning here as we go; BTW saw a piece of advice to avoid the drive oil leaking out, stuff an expandable ear plug in the speed sensor hole to stop leaks👍

There's an internet rumor that BMW doesn't recommend final drive spline lube maintenance. It's on actually on the 2017 DVD manual.

I use the Honda spline lube you showed. I replace boots, only used silicone lube which disipates as it dries out quickly and the ribbed mating surfaces of the boots and final drive and swing arrm and transmission seat better, and do not have a tendency to slip off when using grease, or collect grit, dirt etc.. We have zero rust on any of our driveline.

Question 🙋 No one grease the articulation of the drive shaft???

What difference does it really make what grease you use if your bike only has 3 thousand miles and it was rusty. I think any type of grease like wheel bearing grease is just fine

Make up a funnel that uses the fill hole threads fill the funnel and let it trickle in ? The splines and yoke need a cv boot to keep the grease in and moister out clamped at both ends

I wonder if a seal or boot over the slip splines could help keep the lube in moisture out Also i wonder if some sort of metal treatment that race cars use on diff gears would help

What about the GL-5 vs. GL-3 specification, beyond the 75W-90? Important or not? And which one to use for 1200GS and 1250 GS? (Is GL-5 "backward compatible" i.e. as good as GL-3 and better, or not? I.e. Like the "API Service" letter code for engine oil.)

Thank you for the update 🙂

Hi Ian. You missed the front part of the drive shaft!

Don’t you also need a G-911 in order to reset the service alert?

36000 kilometers my fd was rusted and grease every 5000 kilos now

What about the front splines??

What's the torque setting for the paralever bolt you put blue loctite on?

I learned so much. Thanks for posting both of these videos.

Thanks!

Thist was useful.

👍

Once again you still have not completed the rear driveshaft service properly. There is a second set of splines at the front end of the drive shaft near the rear of the transmission. You have only done half the work. To access the front set of splines you need to remove the swingarm pivots. It is an easy task.

Good quality video Ian thank you.

Another great video!!

Great video!!

Nice follow up video.

Not the first time I've heard about the splines being dry / all but dry from the factory. Unforgivable given the price of the bikes and the, dwindling, reputation of the brand.

May I offer the reason why rust is a problem? Remember the spline is designed to stay engaged while the final drive assembly moves up and down. The articulation is a pivot point, thus the final drive distance moves forward and backward in relation to the bike. If that spline is not free to slide due to rust, well many bad things could happen. That's why you're lubing the spline. Also if you buy the "BMW" replacement oil it's pre-measured and the bottle comes with a nozzle to fill the final drive, no kitchen equipment needed. I can't imagine not using the OEM fluids, the piece of mind is worth the little extra money. Last an "update" to a step-by-step important procedure is disjointed and renders both videos useless.