K11 Owners Group

duckbubbles · Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:16 pm Post subject: Transmission swap

The transmission in my trusty old K became not so trusty recently. It started jumping out and into second gear right after shifting up with any moderate throttle applied. The shifting fork and drum get worn enough that it doesn't engage the gear fully enough to stay in. This quickly rounds off the engagement dogs on the gear and you are finished.

I've seen this before when I rebuilt it about 130,000 miles ago. It now has over 317K on it overall and I don't think it would go another rebuild.

I bought another tranny from the salvage yard from a K11. Unknown mileage so I opened it up and it is just about as pristine as you could want. So I'm putting in new seals and will use it. I got it from Fred Rowland of Cycles Recycled in Morganton, NC.

I am also getting ready to install a set of 2.54 cruiser rear gears in the rear end. This will keep me real near my tall gearing that I have now. I really appreciate how BMW keeps a basic design in production for a long time so that all this swapping is possible. Try that with your Honda, etc.

The old K ought to be ready to see service beyond 400K after this. (Fingers crossed/knock wood)

Frank
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85 K100/1100RS, 321,000 miles, 25 years
96 Ducati 900SS/SP, sold it
05 R1200ST, 35,000 miles, 5 years
400,000 BMW miles

Off the grid · Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:35 pm Post subject:

Good show Frank.

How difficult of a job is it?

My bike jumps out of 1st gear once in a blue moon so this might be something I will be looking at in the next 50k or so.

You have an insane amount of miles on that bike!
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Bane of your existence since July 2006
2007 Triumph Tiger ABS. "Sabertooth"
2009 Husqvarna TE610. "The dirty Italian mistress"

Das Boot · Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:35 pm Post subject:

Good Luck Frank Wink

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Dom

abreeze · Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:28 am Post subject:

are you going to go ahead and go with a para lever too, might a well while you have the K11 tranny! then a K12 rear wheel!!

Klinker · Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:24 pm Post subject: Re: Transmission swap

duckbubbles · Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 10:26 pm Post subject:

Off the Grid- If you are asking about rummaging around in the transmission, it's not a terribly difficult task with a competent manual. I've done it once before, so I don't feel too threatened.

Abreeze- I thought about going with the paralever but don't want to spend the money on that. Besides, it lengthens the wheelbase and weighs a lot more. I don't know how the 85 chassis would be affected. It would take more modifications to the bike than I want to do now.

Today I painted the case silver to match the rest of the engine, etc. and installed the new seals. I got one that was the wrong one, I have to check if it was my fault (gave them the wrong part number) or their fault (ordered the wrong number). That is going to delay final assembly of the transmission.

The up side is that when I get around to installing it, I will remove the old one, transfer a couple of items and put it right back together. The rear end is another story. I am depending on my local BMW tech to get it done for me as I don't have the proper tools and he is a lot more knowledgable of the setup.

Frank
_________________
85 K100/1100RS, 321,000 miles, 25 years
96 Ducati 900SS/SP, sold it
05 R1200ST, 35,000 miles, 5 years
400,000 BMW miles