1983 gs1100L

[bummerkat]

Hello,I am a new member.I pretty much rebuild motorcycles and do it for a hobby.I just picked up a 1983 gs1100L.I bought it not running.I got it running.What a nice bike,love the way it rides.
I am afraid I got into a big project with problems.
I looked through the posts for the particular issue I am having.Found usefull info,nothing quite like my problem.
I have never worked on or owned a shaft gs 1100.
I took it out for a ride,ran great,leaked a little out of secondary drive boot.It was nasty brown gear oil.Took it home changed it.Took it out ran great.Changed it again,then it sounded like a box of rocks.
I also pickup a parts bike complete,non running,same year same model.
I have a question,rather than take mine apart.I was going to swap swingarms and all from the parts bike to the box a rocks.Will there be any potential problems with changing the bevel gears?
ps I have think skin so rip me a new one if you want,ha.
Thank you,bummerkat

[matt1100]

You can remove the secondary driven housing by removing the swing arm, loosening a few case bolts near it to relieve pressure, unduing the engine mounts so you can tilt the engine and get that housing to clear the frame. Once its out you can determine where your at. This is only one half of the gear set though, the drive gear can only be serviced with the cases split. Your leak is likely the large oring that encircles the housing. You could have a siezed bearing, there are two on each drive and driven gear, or a chipped gear. I dont know what your best course of action is, but the secondary gears are not easy to work on.

Good Luck

[bummerkat]

Thats what I was thinking.The o ring deteriorated from the bike sitting to long.Hopefully I did not do any further internal damage.I can see why the manual recommends removing the engine.Unfortunatly I am not set up for that.I am a long way from even starting this.Just getting some ideas and any input from you guys.I will work on getting the housing out.See what it looks like.When you say loosen a few case bolts.There are a couple near the housing.I am assuming those are the ones u are referring to.Thanks for the input.

[matt1100]

You dont have to remove the engine just get it to tilt a little. Pry bar, rachet strap...something. Yes those case bolts and if you pry too hard on the flange of the chunk when trying to slide it out it can break...hard lesson learned

[bummerkat]

Sounds good.ther is another bevel drive housing on he left side under the gear oil drain cover right?What are your thought on removeing that and replaceing that as well,thanks.

[matt1100]

Someone else may need to chime in here, I believe that you could get it out also. I had a chipped gear, it still worked but created enough undue vibration that it compromised the seal between the engine and secondary compartments resulting in engine oil pushing its way into the secondary area and overflowing it, so i had to split cases. I dont see any reason it wouldn't be removable. The gears are a matched set so they should be replaced together. It was tricky for me b/c i replaced the bearings also, which meant resetting the preload and mesh depth. If the ones in your donor are all good, you may be succsussful just swapping them into your other and rollin out!

[bummerkat]

Exactly that is what I am hopeing for.First things first.I have to get the secondary out of my bike and take a look.All I keep reading about these bikes is how bulletproof they are,the engines as well as the transmissions.The digger I deep the more I read about problems.Then again that is to be expected,they are old.Not sure about the engineering design.Thanks for the help and input.