Grease clutch plate and splines

[badgertom]

How often do you think the grease spines and clutch plate should be grease. I read in a manual that the splines should be greased once a year. I put on about 3000 miles a year and greasing the splines that often does not seem reasonable.

[nhmaf]

Unless you are doing some heavy duty/adverse conditions (such as lots of off-roading, riding in the desert, or riding in alot of mud or salt water), the usual consensus is every 3-5 years or 15,000 miles is OK.

I wrote up a procedure in the FAq/procedure section on replacing the clutch which you could use/follow to do the spline maintenance without replacing the clutch itself.

[Bob_Roller]

Has it ever been done on your bike

[badgertom]

yes, last year I greased the splines ( but I don't know when the clutch palate was last greased)

[Bob_Roller]

What type grease did you use for the spline lube ??

[Barry]

It's 5 years 3 months and 10,000 miles since I last lubed mine and I'm not seeing any gear change problems yet.

[nhmaf]

Badger, one only greases the gearbox input shaft splines - and not the mating splines in the clutch disk.   When inserting the gearbox shaft back into the clutch disk, it will get whatever it needs.   If you put grease into the clutch disk, inserting the input shaft will push any excess grease out forward, where it will drop onto the clutch disk and/or pressure plate, contaminate them with grease, and you'll get clutch slippage and have to replace the friction disk.

[badgertom]

I used Kluber Paste  46MR 401 ( purchased at the BMW dealer).

[georgesgiralt]

Hello !
It is important to grease the gearbox input spine because the spines are very thin. Without grease, the spines will wear fast and the input shaft is expensive and hard to replace.
To grease the spine, it is easier to sustain the engine on wood blocks and remove the engine bolts after disconnecting the mufflers. Then you can disassemble the gearbox/ engine bolts and pull the engine to the front as far as it will go. Then you'll have access to the spline to grease it. No swing arm removal, no dismantling of the output shaft bolts and rubber...
Easier.