Final Drive Gone in Ecuador

[MikeB]

Hi,
does any one have details of how to strip down the final drive. ( in Spanish would be a help too! ;o) ) Haynes is not helpful on the subject. Take to BMW dealer it says.

Am currently in ecuador. and my final drive has been making a slight noise for a while a while and have found metal fragments in the oil. been changing it regularly to keep an eye on it as knew something was up. was hoping to make it to bogota and the BMW dealer, but after hitting a pothole rather too hard yesterday while riding through the clouds at 4000m, with not much visability ( it`s a hard life you know down here !) it has started leaking oil. From the seal on the drive to the wheel. not sure what that is called, sorry.

There is still no play in the wheel and no real vibration while riding but it is making a duff noise. The oil on the brakes is a problem though!

Another post on here says the bearing a seal pack are about 55quid. are they standard sizes or BMW unique ( or BMW branded more to the point).

And how difficult is it to change?

thanks in advance for any help.

cheers
mike

 

[Colban]

www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87214&page=2&highlight=steptoe
Take a look at this thread on ADVrider.Shows Steptoes field fix.
The bearing is a standard size,but if the seal is gone......
Good Luck

 

[Colban]

The bearing number is 61917 C3 (post 28)

 

[Welshman]

www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87214&page=2&highlight=steptoe
Take a look at this thread on ADVrider.Shows Steptoes field fix.
The bearing is a standard size,but if the seal is gone......
Good Luck

I had a leak not major just spots on the Rim, replaced the bearing myself no problems. I did not replace the seal and have had no leaks in 20,000km,s of mainly dirt roads. From what you say you may have caught it in time. I could find a bearing here (from bearing shops), but not the C3 tolerance, and the BMW price was about the same as the Bearing people!

Welsh

 

[MikeB]

Thanks a lot, that´s perfect!
Steptoe you should write for haynes, your photos are 10 times more helpful than their´s!
Bike has done about 53,000miles if anyone is interested. hard riding fully loaded with kit for the last 30,000miles. I even broke the subframe a few months ago, so i dont treat my bike with that much respect. but i´m learning a lot.

That thread and the cost of total failure ( and steptoes "Why?" comment) have convinced me to stay put and try and fix it here in stead of risking another couple of hundred miles to Quito.

I may be back to ask about the seal. but i have my fingers crossed, it ok. sounds like a problem if it has gone.

cheers
mike

 

[Steptoe]

Good luck Glad to help

isn't the modern world amazing

 

[Welshman]

Just as an aside, if you have access to a deep freeze and a Camping Gas Lamp, it makes fitting of the new bearing easier.

Pop the crown wheel into the freezer and let the bearing stand on the Aluminium cap of the Lamp, works a treat.
One cold

One Warm

And Done

Welsh

 

[MikeB]

Hola, me again.
Taken the final drive apart, no problem there, apart from finding a 7mm allen key!

The bearing cage has collapsed completly so i did catch it just in time. the spring on the oil seal was slighty damaged so hopefully that explains the oil leak. the seal looks ok and i have found a replacemnet spring from a same sized seal at the bearing shop. hopefully that will fix it.

Unfortunately i have to order teh bearing from somewhere so may be here some time.

Now the questions.
The tapered roller bearing also has a lot of movement in the cage parallel to the shaft. Is this normal? it rolls smothly and doesn´t stick, but doesn´t seem a very tight fit for want of a better word.

Also i found fragments of rubber when i disassembled the final drive. This is what had been making the oil black, i now realise, not just dirt. ( as i said , i`m learning!) where has this come from? Is it from the broken bearing? it looks like a ground up "o" ring, but looking at AS cycles micro fiche parts list there is no o ring in the final drive. The o ring on the drive casing is ok. Looking at teh photos of the new bearing on advrider, i can´t see any rubber seals anywhere.. dont expect to see them either if you need to heat the bearing up to "very hot".

Also i see from the parts list there are many different sizes of shim. Does this mean that after this field fix (using the old shim) i need to go to a proper work shop and get everything fitting and alligned more accurately?

I see welsh man did 20,000km on his field repair so assume its not too important.

cheers
mike

 

[Steptoe]

Hola, me again.

Now the questions.
The tapered roller bearing also has a lot of movement in the cage parallel to the shaft. Is this normal? it rolls smothly and doesn´t stick, but doesn´t seem a very tight fit for want of a better word.

Thats normal.

Also i found fragments of rubber when i disassembled the final drive. This is what had been making the oil black, i now realise, not just dirt. ( as i said , i`m learning!) where has this come from? Is it from the broken bearing? it looks like a ground up "o" ring,

There are no "O" rings inside. Sounds like it could be residue from the main seal thats has the leak. They usually leak due to the bearing roller cage scraping the inside of the seal as the bearings starts to break up. Which could also leave the fragments you've found.

Also i see from the parts list there are many different sizes of shim. Does this mean that after this field fix (using the old shim) i need to go to a proper work shop and get everything fitting and alligned more accurately?

I see welsh man did 20,000km on his field repair so assume its not too important.

cheers
mike

You should be ok using the existing shim.

Sometimes the bearing fails due to the wrong sized shim being installed from new. But that normally shows up within 5-8 thousand miles.

 

[Welshman]

Correction, my bearing / seal is still 100% after 20,000, but I picked it up quite early. No debris in the oil, just a rumbling bearing, a weep and no seal damage.

Kak, those pics are on my office PC.

Sorry to be negative, but ordering a new seal as insurance seems a good idea to me?

Welsh

 

[Welshman]

So, did you come right?

Welsh

 

[MikeB]

Thanks for asking , but i´m still waiting for the parts to arrive.
The original reason i only wanted to change the bearing and not the seal was, i was told i could get a bearing locally in 3 days ( 1 week latin time) but a seal was going to be at least 3 weeks. i was going to try and get the seal further on in my travels.

However once i found out the price here and vague lead time, over 150 dollars for the bearing, i decided to order both parts from motorworks at at lot lower price. Assuming customs doesn´t sting me!

My seal was chewed round the edges albeit very neatly, so it may have further damage i cant see.

Hence next question. How do you change the seal?
Earlier posts indicate it can be tricky, if so how?
There is a workshop with a hydralic press and various bearing pullers in the next town that i can get to.

Steptoe do you have another of your very helpful idiot proof photo story books for this job? if so it would be appriciated

cheers
mike

 

[Steptoe]

Hence next question. How do you change the seal?
Earlier posts indicate it can be tricky, if so how?
There is a workshop with a hydralic press and various bearing pullers in the next town that i can get to.

Just push out the old seal with your fingers.

Gently tap the new seal in place with something soft .

No need for hydraulic presses

 

[Hambo]

Good luck

Good luck Mike, hope you get it sorted ok. I caught my final drive seal leaking in Aus, fortunately not as a result of a knackered bearing. Replacement no problem. I carry a bearing with a lot of hope I never need to use it! Now in Patagonia, heading North, so may catch up if you're based in Peru?

Cheers, Hamish
www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/hameandem/

 

[MikeB]

I´m pleased to report that at last my parts turned up, with no customs duties! allbe it after they had a slow and scenic tour of Quito.

But the final drive went back together again, no problems, and has been running fine for the last couple of days. The oil seal needed a bit more than finger pressure to get it out, but after 6 years and lots of dirt i suppose that is to be expected.

Steptoe should write his own manual

One of the reasons i didn´t bring a spare final drive bearing, apart from the fact they don´t go that regularly, is that in Haynes it says nothing other than take it to a BMW dealer. i thought if it is that complicated then there is no chance i could do the repair my self, as when i started this trip i didn´t have that much experience of working on the bike other than the basics. How things have changed!

Hambo - I´m heading to colombia then back down to brasil after here. I´ll have a look on horizons and see where you are. What sort of time shedule are you on? From what i´ve heard about the women in Cali and Medellin, you may catch me up there

cheers
mike

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

the shim is for machining tolerance stack up on the other parts of the drive

the bearing itself is a much tighter tolerance on the width - so you should NEVER need to change the original shim - unless something was wrong initially or something has worn, or 'bedded-in'

 

[Blackal]

Puta madre! Mal suerte!

Al