Engine front cover question.

milleplod

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I've just picked up a cheap front cover for my RT, the intention being to have it stripped and powder-coated, then fitted in place of the eyesore currently on display. Quick query! It looks like there's a bearing in the bottom hole - I've looked on RealOEM but can't find anything that seems to fit in there. Would it need replacing, or just press it out and re-fit? :confused:

Pete
 
Heyup Mike.

'05 RT, it's got the square(ish) black cover with 4 bolts.
Take the plastic cover off and push/hold the shaft rear wards as you remove the cover,
The bearing is not a tight fit in the housing but the shaft can pull forward and the gears can come out of mesh leaving you scratching your head,there are timing marks on the gears so it can be reinserted but they are not very obvious.
This could of course be complete rubbish as it’s awhile since I’ve done one:blast
 
Early bikes had the bearing. Later bikes (after 2008) did not.

The corrosion comes via the bolt holes. Cover the screws top to bottom in anti-seize paste helps a lot to stop the corrosion returning. The bottom belt cover screw caused a wide area of damage before I realised it was not stone chips doing the damage.

Trimming the belt cover edge to leave a gap solved the paint fretting issue.
 
Just had another look at the workshop CD. It mentions a locking pin to lock the engine at TDC, a puller for easing the cover off and a sleeve used for fitting the top seal. I'm assuming it can be done without any of those items!

Pete
 
Just had another look at the workshop CD. It mentions a locking pin to lock the engine at TDC, a puller for easing the cover off and a sleeve used for fitting the top seal. I'm assuming it can be done without any of those items!

Pete
You won’t really need any of those tools.
The only slightly tricky bit is getting the seal over the crank end .
I fit the new seal in the casing,then as i offer it up to the crank I run a slim tapered feeler gauge around the seal to ensure the lip hasn’t flipped or anything,
A bit of oil or light grease on the seal and crank as well
 
Make sure that you mask off the mating surface of the cover prior to powder-coating, and also the bolt flanges on the cover. If not - it produces a thickish powdercoating in way of the bolts and this will crack under pressure when bolted on - causing the bolts to slacken in service.
 
TBH, with hindsight, it maybe cheaper to just buy a brand new cover? Motorworks talk of £18 used, whereas a german supplier was asking 42 euros for NOS plus a bit of carriage.

Or, being plastic, how about a good dose of 'back to black' - I got some Harley Davidson branded spray on cleaner from M&P that brings up my E.Glide crinkle black engine cases a treat. I think it's probably an S-Doc product.
 
Thanks for the info and advice chaps, appreciated. :thumb2

I've taken my Dremel to the existing cover and applied an etch primer to the bare metal followed by brushed-on black Smoothrite - it doesn't look too bad really, especially as I've got one of those stainless 'crud-catcher' plates that goes in front of it, which hides a good part of it. I'm tempted to leave it like that for a while - it might look better if the Smoothrite wasn't so shiny tho! :)

squibb34 - I think you might be talking about the plastic belt cover rather than the cast alloy engine timing gear cover. I got the used one from an eBay seller, so that can sit in the garage pending a plan!

Pete
 
You won’t really need any of those tools.
The only slightly tricky bit is getting the seal over the crank end .
I fit the new seal in the casing,then as i offer it up to the crank I run a slim tapered feeler gauge around the seal to ensure the lip hasn’t flipped or anything,
A bit of oil or light grease on the seal and crank as well

The first time mine was refitted the seal flipped and got damaged. I pulled out the seal with the self tapping screw method and replaced. No more worries. When we did brother's bike, we left the seal out and fitted it after the cover was back in place. His never gave any trouble.

BMW have a plastic cone tool to ease the seal over the shaft end. Handy if you have one but expect to pay a small fortune.
 
Make sure that you mask off the mating surface of the cover prior to powder-coating, and also the bolt flanges on the cover. If not - it produces a thickish powdercoating in way of the bolts and this will crack under pressure when bolted on - causing the bolts to slacken in service.

It's just a cover so you "could" coat it over the joint face. BUT the sharp edge would have to be filed round and the oil seal would have to be masked. It would need to be checked for lumps and levelled as needed as the cover carries oil supply channels. Leaks there would be (very) not good and totally hidden from view.

I chickened out on that and masked off the joint face but did not mask the screw holes.

The screws/holes are the cause of the original corrosion so I wanted them well protected. The powder coat softened with the first use then went harder over time. The screws will need checking and tightening (dont go mad). Use anti seize paste all the way up the screws and under the heads. Clean off the mess when it's fitted.

Loctite 518 Anaerobic did a great job of sealing the joint and seems to have protected the bare edge as well.
 
Brother's bike had a crud catcher. All very well but had a shock when he removed it. Corrosion around the lower screw heads was close on terminal.

I believe that stone chips are the least of the worries on cover corrosion. Mine (no catcher) had no lower/central paint damage other than the nasty patch spreading from belt cover bottom screw. The screw holes were all suffering to some extent. Being hidden away, Brother's got really bad and he's very fussy with ACF-50.

The snag with powder coat is that deep corrosion pits are very unlikely to fully clean out. They lead to metal gassing in the curing oven spoiling the finish. If doing it again, I would Dremel any corrosion pits, etch prime, epoxy fill and paint.
 
I've started getting the used cover ready for powdercoating. I've taken the top seal out and ordered a new one via eBay. The bottom bearing came out easily enough, somebody had already removed the circlip. Should I renew the bearing? I feel inclined to for the sake of a few quid - it has some light corrosion on the faces, and it's not quiet when spinning - but should it be as there doesn't seem to be any grease/oil on it at all? I looked on RealOEM but can't see the bearing on any of the exploded diagrams. Does anyone have a part number for it?

I found a place that supplies masking products specifically for powdercoating - silicone bungs for the holes, tape and the like, so hopefully I might not have to do any trimming after it's been done.

Pete
 
Well, I think I've answered my own question, but am still a bit confused! :confused: I think the bearing I might need is no. 8 in this diagram. It's the layout of the parts that's confusing me - shouldn't the bearing and circlip be on t'other side of part no. 3? :nenau

Pete
 

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