If you are comfortable standing a 600 pound bike on it's rear tire and verticle you could. I have some funny pics of it, but can't get to them from work! Jim
Since the 9:00 hole in older model, is also the only way out, how do you remove the oil without lowering the diff.? And on the new models the plug is at 6:00. So as you can see your theory is not working. 220 ml was just too much oil for such a little diff. But the original idea was to put in as much as possible so that it would have last very long time. But as we all know now, that's history. 180 ml on the other hand fits nicely at about half way level (like almost all other diffs. on this planet) But you could meet half way, say 200 ml....
My FD fluid capacity rant: San Jose BMW replaced my FD June 2009 under warranty and it was time for my 24K service and over 1000 miles on the new FD, so I did the fluid change (yeah, I know it shoulda been done at 600miles). I drained 250ml out of it! WTF! I called SJBMW and they confirmed the "new" capacity spec to be 220 but could not 'splain why they filled it with 250! The rep thought maybe the Tech Bulletin was issued after June but I have since discovered it was issued in MAY...arggggghhh. Don't get me wrong, I am not tweeked on the fact that I ran 250ml for a 1000 miles, it's insignificant. What really bothers me is that BMW issues a change order and the mechanic either was unaware or didn't give a shit. On another note I drained 900ml out of the tranny....WTF! Again, I am not too worried that these "over fills" are going to cause a premature failure. I guess the moral of the story is "If you want it done right, do it yourself".... Now back to our regular scheduled thread.... Thanks.
Not to stoke the fires...but a similar inconsistence occurs when BMW dealers put in 75w140 rather than the spectd 75w90 in FDs...my dealer and many others put in the 75w140 at 600 mile "check in"...to complicate issues I went to RL Heavy Shockproof in trans and FD..hey it is my bike.. I suspect that a lot of dealers dance to their own tunes and so do many of us...but to dogmatically say it is BMW's way or the highway seen in many threads ignores what a lot of BMW dealers/BMW representatives are in fact doing...oh well it is what it is...
Wallowa, I dunno what FD lube was used on the install. I used the high zoot BMW 75w90 ($27 a quart!) which is RED. The stuff I drained out was not RED, so who knows...
the fill hole on my bike is more like 11 o'clock to the left of the speed sensor, not 9. the drain is at 6. may be that's why i wasn't to the top of it when filling.
N1, You have the new style FD with the drain at the bottom (0600). You don't have to stand the bike on end to drain, or un-hinge the FD. Don't fill it to the top of the speed sensor or the fill hole at 1100, just fill with 180ml and move on. FP
That totally explains it. Check out this tutorial to see what I mean: http://www.jimvonbaden.com/R1200_Final_Drive.html For those interested, and alternative method for 9:00 FD draining: Jim