Drive Shaft assy. Procedure

Discussion about modern BMW twins
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ibjman
Posts: 65
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2013 6:35 pm
Location: Phoenix, Arizona

Drive Shaft assy. Procedure

Post by ibjman »

Anyone Have any tips on the proper assembly procedure for the drive shaft parts on my 98RT? I've had it apart to inspect the clutch & lube splines.
I have the front 1/2 of the driveshaft lubed & "snapped" on to the trans tail shaft spline and the swing arm back on the transmission.
I am having trouble getting the final drive together with the rear u-joint lined up with the back end spline of the front drive shaft so I can assemble the paralever pivots.
My common sense says that the u-joint knuckles on the front u-joint & the rear u-joint need to be properly "phased" with each other & I have them match marked for that.
I'm thinking I may have better luck if I remove the rear u-joint from the final drive and attach it to the driveshaft and then try to attach the final drive up to the complete shaft.
Anyone know how this is done????
Major Softie
Posts: 8900
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:46 pm

Re: Drive Shaft assy. Procedure

Post by Major Softie »

Sorry, only done K's and Airheads - no Paralevers.

I'm not sure if there's anyone here who's going to know the answer to this one.
MS - out
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ibjman
Posts: 65
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2013 6:35 pm
Location: Phoenix, Arizona

Re: Drive Shaft assy. Procedure

Post by ibjman »

It's kind of a trick.
Couple of technical thoughts here. The driveshaft has to be "Timed" so that the U-joints are rotating in "phase" with each other. They can be assembled wrong. Best bet is to assemble the driveshaft splines on the bench insuring that both u-joints are exactly parallel with each other. One way up, they are correct. Rotate a half turn of the splines, they will look nearly correct, but be slightly out of line with each other.
The splines are slightly offset so only one way is correct.
Once they are perfectly in line I put some temporary "match marks" on all the pieces with a magic marker.
That way when you are struggling with getting them all back together inside the rear half of the swingarm swivel joint, you'll be able to see that the marks are correctly matched.
Once the front 1/2 is assembled and the swing arm is reattached at the trans, fold up a shop rag with 1 corner hanging out and place under the back end of the driveshaft to support it more or less in the center of the rear swing arm housing.
Following that you can work your fingers and or other tools in and around the split between the swing arm & the final drive to manipulate the floppy end of the rear u-joint spline up and engage it to the driveshaft. Once connected pull the rag out through the opening.......manipulate the bearing pivots into place and install the boot.
It may take several tries.
Regards, Ibjman
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