Play in rear wheel and bearing questions for R1200GS

[Marco13]

Hi all,

I have some questions about rear wheel (final drive) bearing as I noticed my R1200GS developed an unusual play. The bike has 44000km now and the play that was almost nil seems to be more and more important and I think (I still have to measure it accurately when I get the measurement tool) is more than the 1mm limit at the wheel rim edge.

So here are some questions:

1) After checking micro fiches I discovered a SKF bearing is used (SKF ref is 60132RS and BMW ref is 7 11 9 904 694).

The SKF internet site shows a bearing with rubber seal.
If it is a rubber sealed bearing, oil change in the final drive has no influence and therefore all the failures already mentioned in the past have no relation with oil change frequency.

Am I missing something?

2) I am also wondering what is the part (item 10) “needle sleeve” ?

3) Is there anybody who already changed the rear bearing on its 1200GS.

I would be grateful for any information before I go further.

Cheers

Marco

 

[BBR]

i have already change the bearing number 10 (needle sleeve) because the wheel had radial play like yours.
after change the play was nil but 15 000 later the play came back.

ps
have a look on the bearing number 15 witch support the imput bevel, i found play on my FD .
to solve this defect , a new oversized bearing has been introduced in 08/2006 (but not applicable on first mount )
http://www.maxbmwmotorcycles.com/fiche/MainDiagrams.asp?mospid=47824

 

[Marco13]

BBR, thank you for your info.

How did you notice bearing "15" had some play?

If you replaced the bearing "15" you had to adjust a play using the various spacer rings "14". How did you measure the play?

Do you mean play in wheel is due to needle sleeve "10" only and bearing "7" is not involved ?
Did you change again the needle sleeve after 15000 when the play was back?

Any picture during the operation?

Sorry for all those questions.

Marco

 

[BMW TEKKY]

FD Bearing advice

Speaking as a mechanical engineer, if it is just seals leaking then I would strip the FD and replace them, but when it comes to bearing replacement my advice woud be to take the FD unit out complete and take it to a dealer to have checked and rebuilt. (This cuts down on labour costs)
My reasoning for this is as follows:
If the correct heat and press procedures are not adopted it is easy to write off the complete unit.
If certain new bearings are fitted then the correct size shims as seen on microfiche have to be inserted to obtain the correct play and for the relatively low cost of bearings and seals while the unit is stripped down you might as well get the BMW mech to replace them all.
The specialist BMW mechanic due to his wealth of experience in stripping these things down all day long can pin point exactly where the problem areas are and repair, giving you the reassurance that all the correct tolerences have been maintained.
Pick it up, bolt the completed unit back into your bike, reoil, and job done perfectly for hopefuly many more thousands of miles.
You know it makes sense.
I would however be interested to know the full cost charged by BMW to carry out this work...anyone know??

 

[BBR]

BBR, thank you for your info.

How did you notice bearing "15" had some play?

If you replaced the bearing "15" you had to adjust a play using the various spacer rings "14". How did you measure the play?

Do you mean play in wheel is due to needle sleeve "10" only and bearing "7" is not involved ?
Did you change again the needle sleeve after 15000 when the play was back?

Any picture during the operation?

Sorry for all those questions.

Marco

from my understanding, the shims / spacer are used to adjust the play between the case, the crown and the bevel .
i think (perhaps i'm wrong?) that due to the fact i did not install new crowngear, it is not necessary to re-adjust.
i simply re instal the same shims.
i even install the old o'ring (item 2) and i have no leak

about the play on the wheel axle i only change the needle sleeve because i thought it was the only origin and because i did not have the special tool to extract the main grooved ball bearing.
since, i "home-made" an extractor and i'm ready to rebuilt all the FD .

Since i rebuild the FD, i have riden about 30 000 kms with play on main axle bearing , needle sleeve and bevel bearing.
i even make a trip to Dakar with a lot of dirt tracks with no problem .
i make a close monitoring of the differents plays and wait for the last moment to reduilt it one more time, to see how long it is possible to ride with this defect.

if you want to have a look here for picture:
http://pdgdv.free.fr/BARBOUZE/divers/cc/DEMONTAGE/
http://pdgdv.free.fr/BARBOUZE/divers/cc/REMONTAGE/

 

[BBR]

a complete report of my FD issues:

a own two FDs (one on the bike and one spare)

at 10 000 kms original FD --> little play on wheel axle
at 50 000 kms original FD removed because the play had increase a lot and i found play on the bevel bearing
i install a brand new FD (0 kms)

at 65 000kms (after 15 000 kms on the second FD)
--> little play on the wheel axle
at 80 000 kms (after 30 000 kms on the second FD)
* i remove the second FD with big play on the wheel axle and bevel axle.
* i install the original FD with a new needle sleeve

at 90 000 kms
--> little play on wheel axle

at 110 000 kms (the original FD have 80 000 kms)
-->medium play on wheel axle and big play on bevel bearing


a friend had replace under warranty 2 times the FD within 80 000 kms , on his third FD witch have 30 000 kms , there is a very little play
BMW

 

[Marco13]

The specialist BMW mechanic due to his wealth of experience in stripping these things down all day long can pin point exactly where the problem areas are and repair, giving you the reassurance that all the correct tolerences have been maintained.

Unfortunately I do not think the BMW mechanic are so experienced (I am talking of my dealer of course) as they replace the complete drive when they fail. And to be frank I do not trust the BMW mechanic anymore since he f"****d up a seal when he replaced the front cover engine. And this is only one example of mistake among others.

BBR, thank you for the pictures.
Here is a site with good explaination regarding adjustment (shiming) of the BMW final drive http://www.bmwra.org/otl/finaldrive/

Thanks for your help

Marco

 

[BMW TEKKY]

FD bearings

I must admit, I am beginning to doubt the capabilities of the Bmw workshop monkeys myself.
Never mind, Yamaha are bringing out their XTZ1200 version next year.
Wet clutch (trouble free), chain and sprockets (trouble free). clunkless 1st and 2nd gear.......no leaks......heaven.

 

[Engineer]

BMW specification allows for up to 1mm play at the rim. They say that this is down to the types of bearings used, that it is normal and does not affect the handling.

 

[Marco13]

BMW specification allows for up to 1mm play at the rim. They say that this is down to the types of bearings used, that it is normal and does not affect the handling.

Yes Engineer I read that on a BMW service bulletin.
My wories come from the fact there was little play before and it becomes more and more important. In addition I have now a weird noise (like a resonance) that was not there before. The question is: until which limit can Igo without damaging the crown gear?

Concerning the resonance noise, I have to change my rear tyre (the front is new) to be sure the noise is not coming from my old tyre.

Cheers

Marco

 

[ampthill]

Hi all,

I have some questions about rear wheel (final drive) bearing as I noticed my R1200GS developed an unusual play. The bike has 44000km now and the play that was almost nil seems to be more and more important and I think (I still have to measure it accurately when I get the measurement tool) is more than the 1mm limit at the wheel rim edge.

Play in the rear wheel bearings was a problem with a batch of the early 2004 1200GS. I know as mine was one of them anyway final drive was replaced by BMW under warranty I presume that all of these have been attended too by now but I suppose some may have sneaked through. Maybe worth a search on the site for further details.

Peter