CARC Boot Split

This happened on my recent return Bike trip down to Setubal, nr Lisbon in Portugal.

Went with a friend, Danny, he was on his 2017 GS1200.
Plan was a two day ride down from St Malo (overnight Portsmouth-St Malo Ferry) down to Setubal, then the same on the way back, but taking the Caen-Portsmouth crossing.
In between, my Wife and youngest Daughter and I would tour round Central Portugal in a hire car for 10 days, they flew out and back.

Trip down went fine, just over 1400 miles of Autoroutes/Autovias/Autoestradas, with one night-stop in Haro, N. Spain.

The trip back wasn't so straightforward . . .

 Left Setubal on the morning of Sat the 2nd, Caen-Portsmouth Ferry was booked for 2300 on the Sunday.
Followed the same route as on the way down.
Just south of Valladolid, in Simancas we pulled off the Autovia for fuel.

After filling up, I noticed the Rear Wheel was dripping with Oil, as was the R/H 30% of the Tread!!
Luckily the turn off for the Services was a 90° Junction, and not the usual nice fast R/H Loop!
Thought it must be the Main Seal in the Final Drive, so nothing I could do at the roadside.

Everything from the Hub outwards was soaked, I cleaned it up as best I could with Paper Towels, then we trundled off at a more sedate pace to see how bad it was.
My friend flagged me down after about 4km, the Tyre was wet again, pulled in at the next services.

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Danny had to be back for work on Monday, and couldn't miss the Ferry, so he carried on.

I rang home to see if I was covered by my breakdown service (AA), I wasn't, but they gave me a number for a local recovery firm.
Booked a hotel for two nights in Valladolid while I waited for the Truck, which took me and the bike there.

Stuck it in their underground Car-Park, and started researching ways to get it sorted.

Couldn't believe it when I found there was a Guzzi dealer just 4km from the Hotel!
Sunday the next day, so had to wait until Monday to do anything.
Rode it to the Dealer Monday morning, their mechanic said it would be the Seal, and that they could probably get one for the next day.

Walked the 1km to a BMW Dealer, the Seal is the same on the earlier BMs with the R/H Final Drive, just a couple of mm thicker, but it does the job.
They said they could have one in the next day too.

That afternoon, I thought I may as well whip the Wheel off to see the damage, it was possible that the Main Bearing Cage had failed, and that would chew up the Seal, causing the leak.

This is what I found, the Seal was the only part not covered in Oil . . .

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Turned out to be the Boot on the top.
It's a double-skinned design, the inner part keeps the Oil in, the outer part that you can see just tidies up the look.

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HUGE relief, as it meant the Bearing was also OK.
It also meant I could stop thinking about renting a Van to get it home, or paying to get it recovered home, and flying back, or nursing it up to Santander/Bilbao and taking the Ferry, or any of the other expensive scenarios I was contemplating.

Easy enough fix, I picked up a universal CV Boot Kit, cut it to size, and Wire-locked it on.

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Got some Oil from the Guzzi Dealer, and cancelled the Seal order (still picked up the BMW one though, might as well have a spare).
Took it out for 20 miles or so, all good.

I'd originally booked the hotel for two nights, then extended it by two more, so I stayed the full four days.
The weather didn't look great on the Tues anyway, so I left Weds morning.
Decided to take it easy (well I am retired now), didn't have any particular day to be back for, so decided to go see friends in France on the way back.

Stopped over in Pau Weds night, then at my friend's Thurs/Fri.
Booked the Ferry for Sat night at 2300, so had the whole day to get there.

Boot held up fine, dry as a Nun's chuff still.
Will probably leave it as-is for now, no real need to change it.
I have a spare Final Drive Unit, I'm going to modify the upper part where the Boot clamps on, so it's a larger diameter.
That will mean I can get rid of one section of the CV Boot, so it's not so squished up.

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You are very lucky not to have wrecked, that could have been catastrophic!
good job with the improv fix and safely home
cheers

Bush mechanics at its finest - well done, my grandfather would have been proud of you.

Chris W wrote:

You are very lucky not to have wrecked, that could have been catastrophic! . . .

Definitely!
Just about every other exit to the services, in France and Portugal as well, was a nice big loop where I'd be cranked right over at around 80kph or so . . . doesn't bear thinking about.

Oz1200Guzzi wrote:

Bush mechanics at its finest - well done, my grandfather would have been proud of you.

The original Boot is pretty much the same as a CV Boot, but with the extra layer that just sits over the rectangular bit.
I thought about trying to get that to seal, but the Lip is quite shallow, and with the straight sides, it would be tricky to get enough 'squeeze' on the rubber to make it Oil-tight.

In the first photo, what is the line from the filler plug which is cable-tied to the brake line and the boot?

Well done DOc

Brilliant job of diagnosis and repair

Motoguzzimackers wrote:

In the first photo, what is the line from the filler plug which is cable-tied to the brake line and the boot?

Was wondering the same

Motoguzzimackers wrote:

In the first photo, what is the line from the filler plug which is cable-tied to the brake line and the boot?

It is a remote breather for the final drive unit to prevent water getting in to the oil, which can occur if the unit is hot and you ride through a deep puddle.
Fairly rare occurrence and mainly an issue on Stelvio's if used off-road in wet conditions.
The are usually vented somewhere high up on the frame and are a cheap and effective insurance policy.
Pete invented the original version a decade ago and used to offer a kit but there were to many tightarses who didn't want to pay the reasonable cost, so he stopped offering it.
Some people made their own versions (this is one), with some being less robust than the original Roper design.

Mark, Doc is a bit anal, some might say, *Special*. That's a bevelbox temperature sensor. His Stelvio is highly modified. If it's worth anything he gets a HUGE tick of respect from me for building his bike into a highly developed vehicle for HIM.

Mad as cheese he may be but when he does stuff he does it properly!

Oops!

Pete Roper wrote:

Mark, Doc is a bit anal, some might say, *Special*. That's a bevelbox temperature sensor. His Stelvio is highly modified. If it's worth anything he gets a HUGE tick of respect from me for building his bike into a highly developed vehicle for HIM.

Mad as cheese he may be but when he does stuff he does it properly!

High praise indeed from the Master himself!!

Yep.
There was a discussion a few years ago on some other forum, about how hot the CARC Unit gets.
Someone suggested it could reach 100°C, but I was a bit dubious myself.

I had a spare Sensor and Gauge (it's a Trail Tech Unit), so I decided to fit it.
I machined up that Alloy Fill/Level Plug to take the Sensor (M6 thread).

Highest I've seen in around 3 years, is 52°C, coincidentally just before the Boot split.
OAT was around 30°C, and we'd been sitting at a constant 80-85mph since the last fill-up, so at least two hours ~ 170+miles.

Maybe in hotter Climes, and with 'harder' riding (more work up and down the Box), it might go a bit higher, but I just don't see it ever getting near 100°C.

Great work! You were very lucky indeed not to go shiny side down. Years ago a mate on a fully-faired Kwaka 900 came into a roundabout in Canberra at very low speed, hit a literal spot of oil and went arse up in a split second. Luckily only cosmetic damage done.

BowraBoy wrote:

Great work! You were very lucky indeed not to go shiny side down . . .

Not possible, my Stelvio doesn't have any shiny bits!