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BMW clutch R&R- cost break down

Ironbutt

Ironbutt

Loves the anecdotal
Joined
May 25, 2006
Location
Aurora, Co
Moto(s)
Yamasaki
BARF perks
AMA #: 2880504
Here's the breakdown of what this cost to replace the clutch in my RT and reseal the transmission and differential..

Wunderlich parts $827
Transmission seals replaced by BMW shop- $580
Misc items $48
Beemer bone yard- 299

Total $1754 -

It took me like an hour to disassemble and 12 hours to reassemble. :laughing

How does that work? Who knows, I'm riding to work today though..

:thumbup I still can't get a $6500 touring bike of this size that handles this well with this low of mileage, I'm ahead of the game.
 
How many miles on the clutch before you had to replace it?

What was the trickiest part of the reassembly?
 
MCCRASH said:
How many miles on the clutch before you had to replace it?

What was the trickiest part of the reassembly?
Click to expand...

38k miles.. it died prematurely due to oil contamination and was run hard while it was leaking. It was a burnt mess. The starter was busted in two, too.. as well as the flywheel, it was missing teeth.

it went KLANK..KACHING-- zzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzzzz..

Trickiest part? Ordering the correct parts and figuring out how to work on this bike for the first time.

Beyond that it was easy, time consuming, but easy enough. I'm familiar with BMW's of older vintage but not this specific variant and year, it has a lot of plumbing.. much more than the older ones.
 
I had a '95 GS1100. I liked it, what an amazing bike- but it had 60,000 hard miles on it when I got it and was going to get expensive fast. Transmission was doing that "hiccup" thing and making lots of noise. Sold it a year later.
 
I got a similar quote on my R1100S. except I couldn't do the work myself (no space or tools) so the dealer quote was MUUUUUCH higher. ended up buying a VFR instead. no regrets.
 
what did you get from wunderlich ?
 
Hope it runs for many more miles IronButt!

I did the work when my clutch went out on the 1150gs at 80k. Was an eye opening experience, really strange stepping back and seeing your baby 50% in pieces.

I can understand why shops want so much for labor as there is a lot of little things that need to be done. Believe BMW SF quoted my 950 for the labor alone.
 
Brown81 said:
How much would it have cost at a dealer?
Click to expand...

An educated guess?

It was $580 for BMW SF to rub their 'magic hands' on my transmission..

I'd say nearer 3k+; the parts were almost 2k themselves. + 1k in labor, min.

There was a lot of stuff to do though, I touched everything, even the brake pads and why not? The bike is in 100 pieces anyway.

planegray said:
what did you get from wunderlich ?
Click to expand...

Just about everything for the clutch save a few bits here and there. The slave was less at Beemer boneyard.

Nice guys, they called and verified my order.. and found some things missing/wrong and fixed it before it shipped.
 
I enjoyed the process now that I look back. I made mistakes but nothing job stopping, mostly made it hard on myself getting things apart and back together.

My plastic pony needed major surgery too soon though.


Demoni said:
Hope it runs for many more miles IronButt!

I did the work when my clutch went out on the 1150gs at 80k. Was an eye opening experience, really strange stepping back and seeing your baby 50% in pieces.

I can understand why shops want so much for labor as there is a lot of little things that need to be done. Believe BMW SF quoted my 950 for the labor alone.
Click to expand...
 
Was this an R1100RT or R1150RT?

I am still in the honeymoon period with my R1100RT, but the transmission is dreadful. I understand they come like that.
 
I think it can be done a little cheaper, but sure as hell not easier. I am thinking this might be a job I will be subjected to this winter. Did you use the fancy ceramic clutch?
 
Meter Man said:
Was this an R1100RT or R1150RT?

I am still in the honeymoon period with my R1100RT, but the transmission is dreadful. I understand they come like that.
Click to expand...

Yea and it's kind of crappy that this has to be done and I've fought it and got pissy.. but that won't fix the transmission.. I had to pull up my big boy pants and just do the job. :laughing

Or not have a bike to ride, right?

yarrrrr said:
I think it can be done a little cheaper, but sure as hell not easier. I am thinking this might be a job I will be subjected to this winter. Did you use the fancy ceramic clutch?
Click to expand...

I went with what would destroy the clutch to begin with.. oil leaks.. that cost $450 for BMW to wave their hands over the transmission for an hour.

I'm not sure how it could have been done for less? I did all the labor except for the transmission. I could have done it, but not as well as BMW.

I could have kept the clamping plates but they were glazed, the friction disk had been slipping. and the spring plate was worn, as was it's mating push rod..

And I busted the slave cyl like a dumb ass by pulling the clutch lever. So I had to buy another one of them. :laughing

And the starter and it's flywheel were missing teeth.

It could have been more if I'd have gotten that fancy ceramic 'microwavable' clutch disk.. :laughing
 
Be glad it wasn't the tranny.... :rofl

My tranny locked up in 2nd gear and burnt the clutch. $4,000 to replace the tranny under Zurich extended warranty, $1,800 to replace the smoked clutch. I wasn't going to do all that work, especially since the tranny was a BMW-shop obtainable item anyway.

If Zurich hadn't honored that warranty, I would have parted the K12R out to pay for the repairs. :cry
 
Meter Man said:
Was this an R1100RT or R1150RT?

I am still in the honeymoon period with my R1100RT, but the transmission is dreadful. I understand they come like that.
Click to expand...


Yes the r1100's shift atrociously ! ( FU Getrag :mad )

Change your shifting style... you ever drive an old car with the syncro's wiped out ? think something like that. I shift differently depending on; hard acceleration :)laughing), light acceleration, deceleration, coasting along, and rpm.

For hard acceleration I hold the throttle steady momentarily, when I pull the clutch in, to spin up the gear box. Also.. Never EVER release foot pressure on the shifter until the clutch is all the way out. Sometimes you will feel (in your foot) the "snick" into gear just as the clutch is almost full release.
Generally, it's easier to short shift, (below 4K rpm).

But yeah, work on it :twofinger
 
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