K100 Clutch Splines

[roy]

1) According to the Clymer manual lubing the clutch splines on a K bike may not be necessary and to ask your dealer about this. My preference is to ask you experts what the requirements are for an 85 K100 with 42k on the odometer.
When I parked the bike last fall the clutch was operating smooth as silk.

2) I read on one the posts the the recommended lube for splines in general is Honda Moly 60. My local Honda said "you want what". Does anyone out there have Honda's part number for this?

Thanks Guys & Gals

Roy

[DonHamblin]

1) According to the Clymer manual lubing the clutch splines on a K bike may not be necessary and to ask your dealer about this. My preference is to ask you experts what the requirements are for an 85 K100 with 42k on the odometer.
When I parked the bike last fall the clutch was operating smooth as silk.

Roy

Roy,

I lubed the clutch splines on my '85 K100 at 45K. The splines showed no signs of wear, lube was evident, and the clutch operated smooth.

I lubed them again at 80K while replacing the clutch plate (due to a "blown" main seal cause by my overfilling the engine oil - when I get in a hurry I can get pretty dumb!). The lube from the 45K service had dried, but now spline wear was evident yet. So maybe the dumb move saved me a lot more work! Yes, the clutch was slipping, but it was also VERY worn.

I lubed the clutch splines on my '93 K1100LT at 48K. The clutch operation was "harsh" at best. Lube was dry, and nowhere to be found on any of the linkages (had to replace a number of bushings and parts).

Lube is the cheapest maintenance insurance there is. Anymore, I'm a bit gun-shy and welcome the chance to inspect what's really going on inside.

Don

[roy]

Thanks Don.

Yes grease is cheaper than parts and I won't learn any younger on how to tear this beast apart.

[deilenberger]

1) According to the Clymer manual lubing the clutch splines on a K bike may not be necessary and to ask your dealer about this. My preference is to ask you experts what the requirements are for an 85 K100 with 42k on the odometer.
When I parked the bike last fall the clutch was operating smooth as silk.

2) I read on one the posts the the recommended lube for splines in general is Honda Moly 60. My local Honda said "you want what". Does anyone out there have Honda's part number for this?

Thanks Guys & Gals

Roy

Boy Roy - this is WONDERFUL - numbered questions! Love'm..

1. I would have to say that a spline lube might be a wise thing to do on a 20 year old K bike.. for the following reasons:

a. Someone else may have done one in the past and used BMW #10 grease - which BMW no longer recommends for spline use (and it was a mistake to begin with.)

b. If no one has done a spline lube on the bike prior to now - I can about guarantee that the factory lube has hardened up. It is doing very little lubricating at this time.

2. The Honda parts guy is just being dense. The lube is called Honda Moly60, spline lube, used on Goldwing splines. There are several other greases that are also good such as Redline Synthetic Moly Grease (used for high-temperature applications on CV joints on cars).

The reason we know these are good greases is a number of us in the IBMWR who did some experimenting found that splines last MUCH longer using these greases. We also tried other greases and found that there was still wear. BMW now has a new grease available at dealerships for spline use - but since I have no confirmed data on wear using this grease I can't recommend it's use.

If you take a look at this months MOA-ON, you'll see a most excellent article by past-president Paul Glaves on lubing the rear-drive splines. You can also find writeups on doing the clutch splines on the IBMWR website under K-tech pages (http://www.ibmwr.org)

Once you do lube the splines with one of the greases above - if there wasn't significant wear on the splines, I would feel comfortable in going another 30-35,000 miles before feeling the need to re-do the clutch spline lube. As Paul points out in his article - the rear-drive splines should be done every other tire change.

HTH,

[roy]

Thanks Don, I figure I am going to end up going through this bike from stem to stearn since as you pointed out it is 20 years old.

I prefer to work in my garage with tools at hand Vs calling 1-800-need help in the middle of no where, especially since I do not have a cell phone. Ya I know I am a dinosaur :)

Are their items I am missing from my maintenance list?

I Have already changed all of the drive train fluids, & the fuel filter.

1) Lube Clutch & final drive splines.
2) Clean and inspect All electrical connections .
3) Inspect & replace All vacuum lines that look dry or cracked including throttle bodies to intake.
4) Inspect & replace All fuel lines that look cracked or dried out.
5) Inspect Air Filter
6) New plugs & check plug wires.
7) Replace brake fluid, may need new rear master cylinder.
8) Change Front fork oil . New seals were put in in 01 by dealer at 31k so these should still be good.
9) Check stearing head bearings.
10) Verify if updates have been done on instrument cluster. Have four service bulletins from dealer on things to check and do. Have also looked at the tech pages from ibmwr.
11) While replacing leaking oil pump shaft seal look at all coolant lines and probably replace the thermostat.
12) Look at center stand since I have seen arcticles on these breaking.

Any suggestions on what I am missing.

Thanks

Roy

[Bruce_C]

Roy
Add valve clearence check to your list.
Bruce C :)

[roy]

Roy
Add valve clearence check to your list.
Bruce C :)


My bad, :doh I forgot this and it was on my list since the valve cover gasket is showing signs of slight weapage on bottom rear.

Thanks Bruce

[DonHamblin]

My bad, :doh I forgot this and it was on my list since the valve cover gasket is showing signs of slight weapage on bottom rear.

Thanks Bruce

Roy,

Yep, checked mine on my K100 at 80K (since it was already down waiting for that clutch plate). They were still spot on! It's a great feeling when that happens. It seems to be the K1100's that need a frequent look-see (found that out when I bought a K1100), along with watching the exhaust "nuts" for tight.

Don