1200GS Rear Wheel Bearings

[degsy]

rear wheel bearings

now had my final drive replaced hopefully it should be ok
all done under warrenty great work from dealer

 

[Kevmulcock]

Re: 1200 rear wheel bearing

Also had the high beam rocker switch replaced at an earlier date too

Love the bike but can i have some problem free time now please!!!!

Dek

I have started to notice that the rocker switch is unreliable. and very touch sensitive.

It can be switched in the 'on' position, but still not be active. a mere touch flicks the light to high beam

I guess I need to get it back to the dealer....

 

[degsy]

HIGH BEAM

mine just suddenly would not stay in the on position it felt more like the high beam flasher switch found on other bikes, its been ok since replaced

 

[chippelmike]

Light switch

Mine would not stay on main beam !
New one cured the problem , That was early last summer ! !
And they still give problems ???
Mike

 

[Bob1651]

Me too,

Noticed a noise at about 3500 miles (droning at spead (80mph), creaking when coasting) then noticed oil leaking from hub (nearside) at 4500 miles (told this was normal?) then at about 6000 miles 10mm of play in rear wheel. Repairs were made. Then at 8500 miles droning was back checked play and same thing had happened again.

Very concerned that its happened twice. My bikes April 04 are they repairing the bikes with April 04 bits or have improvements been made to this part??

Wishing I had waited until the bike had a few years under its belt to iron out its problems. Should have kept reliable 1150gs for a bit longer me thinks.

 

[Howard Millichap]

None of this bodes well for 2nd hand buyers out of warranty time! A phrase which includes "barge pole" comes to mind.

 

[Arthurwg]

Am I the only one who thinks these rear drive failures are disgraceful?

 

[ampthill]

Repairs were made.

Bob1651

Did they replace the whole final drive unit? This seems to be the normal procedure.

Had the same problem with my May 04 build which also developed freeplay at the wheel. Since replacing the unit, 7000m ago, all has (so far) been OK.

Peter

 

[Bob1651]

Unfortunately I don't know. The dealership in Nice only spoke French which I couldn't translate.

I heard from Ocean BMW yesterday who said the bike may be back today. I'll find out what type of repair they carried out. Although I'm pretty sure its the final drive unit as they seemed to know all about it when they first had a look.

When are BMW going to recognise there is a problem and accept its causing us riders to cancel trips and lose faith in our motorcycles?

 

[Howard Millichap]

When are BMW going to recognise there is a problem and accept its causing us riders to cancel trips and lose faith in our motorcycles?

Never.
I constantly had to have gearbox rebuilds (always at BMW dealer) and replace the drive shaft on my R100GS. I was always limping home from holidays abroad with something gone wrong. BMW thinks that 25~30K on a gearbox is acceptable! Just imagine that on a "5" series car!?

 

[Bob1651]

Thats worrying. The amount of miles travelled on my 1200gs compared to my car are about half. Although the cost of a BMW motorcycle brings it closer to car costs than any other bike manufacturer, yet we only get a fraction of the reliability of a car. It feels that us riders get a bad deal. Do BMW think because for the majority of us who ride for pleasure we dont require the same attention to detail or reliabilty? I think the opposite. When I have time to ride and use the bike for a holiday or short break which is disrupted by breakdowns it is worse than normal and leaves me totally frustrated that my leisure time is ruined once again.

 

[Arthurwg]

Bloody outrageous! But wouldn't you think that BMW's engineering/design departments could EASILY do a better job? Then why don't they?

 

[sjwb]

It's called costing.

 

[drdata]

Can anyone confirm the industrial bearing number for the r12's FD? We have someone with some bearing smarts over at Advrider, and we are trying to determine if:

a) The 11xx and R1200s use the same FD bearing

b) If no, then we want the bearing expert to fish out the specs on the r12's bearing, hence industrial part number.

Thanks for any info. If interested, the advrider thread is:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1683807#post1683807

Cheers

 

[Bob1651]

Just made a phonecall to BMW UK about my second rear wheel bearing failure. I always ring them as they never initiate to ring me as requested!!

Spoke to the Regional Manager Mr James Collins, who has offered to extend the warranty on my 12GS by an extra year. And offered £200 compensation for the inconvenience to a round Europe trip and two weekends where the bike was being repaired. Still not happy with BMW but its something. Blood out of stone comes to mind.

I wish BMW would take time to read this forum and admit something is wrong with this unit. Before it leaves us riders with a bad taste about 12GS ownership.

Mr Collins has requested that I ring him on Monday as he is going to see if the replacement parts are modified versions or direct replacement which I fear will keep failing.

 

[guffter6969]

Does anyone know what the BMW tolerances are for rear wheel play, I had a final drive unit changed at 1200 miles and this was replaced at 2000 miles as it was not painted properly ( should the mechanics have not noticed this when they were fitting it? ). Bike now has 3500 miles on it and the third one is on the way out, had it into Mills at Boldon and was told that it had 1mm of play which was within tolerances, mind you this was the day after I told the service rep that I did not want the bike back.

 

[drdata]

Does anyone know what the BMW tolerances are for rear wheel play, I had a final drive unit changed at 1200 miles and this was replaced at 2000 miles as it was not painted properly ( should the mechanics have not noticed this when they were fitting it? ). Bike now has 3500 miles on it and the third one is on the way out, had it into Mills at Boldon and was told that it had 1mm of play which was within tolerances, mind you this was the day after I told the service rep that I did not want the bike back.

Good Q. I find that when the wheel is hot I have a small degree of play that is just perceptable. Less than 1 mm. When cool, there is no play. I tend to assume that 1 mm or more is too much.

 

[JerryP]

Wheel bearings a common theme....

Ahh - ignore lists

 

[Mouse]

I wouldn't accept any play in a wheel bearing ... pretty sure it's an MOT fail whatever BMW say.

By the way, an extra year's warranty is "worth" about 600 quid since BMW put their prices up.

 

[The Machine Cat]

Hmmm...
I am not too sure that question is going to be liked but hell I am French, we are not here to be liked...

How come a few people have had several final drive issues when others (including me - 15000 kms) have never had one ? It is kind of weird...

Does the "driving style" can contribute to the problem ?