In January 2022 the BMW Airheads had a Tech Day on gearboxes at one of the Airhead member's homes in Illinois (Dave). A group of us (12 Airhead members) got together and rebuilt 4 gearboxes. I was fortunate to be one of the 4 participants to make the list to have the rebuild done.
We worked in teams of 3 under the supervision of the Indiana Airmarshal (Don). Part of the deal was that we purchased the refresh kit before the Tech Day. This was actually coordinated by another member (Jim). This had everything to refresh a gearbox including seals, gaskets, springs, rollers, etc. If we needed more major parts (like gears, shift forks, or bearings), they would have some of these 'spare' parts available (Don had a box of these type of parts). But if these were needed, it might have to be completed at a later date. I brought some tools, but they were all available for us, including some special tools.
It was amazing how we got through the 4 rebuilds before the end of the day, even with a leisurely and delightful lunch. My gearbox wasn't in too bad of a shape, and I was glad to see the inside was fine. This meant all I had to do was take it apart, replace the basic refresh items from the kit, then put it back together. But as you can see from the pictures, this meant taking it all apart. As a side note, for those in the know, since I didn't replace the bearings, I didn't have to re-shim the cover when it all went back together.
We finished early enough that a 5th gearbox was started. Brad from Wisconsin brought his just in case. Good thing, since we were able to help him get started. Lucky for him, I bought bearings and brought them along. Since I didn't need them and he did, I sold him the bearings. WIN WIN! There was a press he used to remove and install the new bearings. His gearbox was nearly completed (that's right, actually 5 in 1 day!), but he lost one of the small parts and he couldn't put it back together. We couldn't find it, so he was going to take it home, order the replacement part, then finish putting together himself.
All in all, it was fun. Always good to get together with BMW Airhead people, especially in the middle of winter...
If you know anything about BMW Airheads, you'll understand what I did by the pictures. If you don't, then you probably couldn't care less about this page of my website anyway...
More coming soon...
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