Rear wheel bearings

[Scarborough sauerstoff kopf]

Evening all, just had bike in for MOT, 58 plate 1200GS. My friendly mot man said he thought ere was a bit of play in rear wheel bearings. I had a grab of wheel at 12 and 6 o'clock and gave it a wobble and there is a fraction. He said it MAY be down to the engineering as its hard to remove all the play from large needle bearings ?? And it may be to tolerance for when the bearing expands with heat when running. Anyway he said have an ask on here so here we go.

It's passed but I don't fancy being overtaken by my own wheel anytime soon

 

[birdseye]

You wont be or at least thats what I was told. Just had mine done by mikeyboy ( recommended) and there is now no play. Whats more the gear change is a lot less jerky.

If you ignore the problem, the risk is that the bearing breaks up and you lunch the bevel box. Big money.

 

[BlueBird]

You wont be or at least thats what I was told. Just had mine done by mikeyboy ( recommended) and there is now no play. Whats more the gear change is a lot less jerky.

If you ignore the problem, the risk is that the bearing breaks up and you lunch the bevel box. Big money.

Im sorry but how the fuck would you be overtaken by yr wheel coz of a worn bearing and how does having new bearings make the gearchange less jerky complete bollocks, in the nicest possible way of course.

 

[Beemerman59]

Maximum allowable movement of the wheel is 1mm at the rim when cold. If you can feel vibration from the bevel box (hold one hand on top of it and spin the wheel) then the bearings knackered. If movement is greater than 1mm and/or there's vibration on the bevel box then you will need to get it sorted.

 

[morty]

i think it would be a bit tasteless having an fd for lunch,maybe with some chips though?

 

[Scarborough sauerstoff kopf]

Im sorry but how the fuck would you be overtaken by yr wheel coz of a worn bearing and how does having new bearings make the gearchange less jerky complete bollocks, in the nicest possible way of course.

It was a joke flash. But well done. Try to keep up sparky

 

[Scarborough sauerstoff kopf]

Maximum allowable movement of the wheel is 1mm at the rim when cold. If you can feel vibration from the bevel box (hold one hand on top of it and spin the wheel) then the bearings knackered. If movement is greater than 1mm and/or there's vibration on the bevel box then you will need to get it sorted.

Thanks mate top reply. It's fractional when cold probably less than a mm.
Thanks again. As a precautionary measure I used some no nails to stop the wheel coming off and overtaking me

 

[BlueBird]

It was a joke flash. But well done. Try to keep up sparky

If you read the inane questions on here for long enough you too will wonder how the fuck some people are let lose on a bike at all.

 

[Scarborough sauerstoff kopf]

If you read the inane questions on here for long enough you too will wonder how the fuck some people are let lose on a bike at all.

Stop reading them then and just be happy you know it all.

 

[NZRalphy]

There is normally up to 1mm play.

Put the bike on the main stand and spin the wheel by hand - it should be quiet and smooth - a slight rumble feeling from the bearing means you have a few hundred km to get it fixed. Big rumble means get it done now (and why didn't you check it earlier)

 

[Pukmeister]

It's also worth repeating the check for play whilst observing the "hinge" of the final drive. I thought my FD bearings were worn until I discovered play in the rear para lever needle rollers. New bearings for £30 and its all good again.

 

[Bendy toy]

My Yamaha had what I thought was gearbox backlash. It turned out to be worn needle rollers in the rear suspension linkage. A few rollers were doing all the work going flat on one side and grooves in the races. The others were pristine. Chances are the BMW suspension will do the same.

 

[Scarborough sauerstoff kopf]

Thanks for all the constructive advice lads (and lasses)

It all looks good to be fair. No vibration or grinding from the fd and the merest bit of play. Just was a bit paranoid as on the Enduro bike a little bit of play quickly leads to a lot of play and being overtaken by the back wheel.

Or somethinglike that

Cheers

 

[biker/trucker]

You wont be or at least thats what I was told. Just had mine done by mikeyboy ( recommended) and there is now no play. Whats more the gear change is a lot less jerky.

If you ignore the problem, the risk is that the bearing breaks up and you lunch the bevel box. Big money.

just curious what sort of mileage are ye getting out of rear bearings? ive a 1100gs got 35,000 outa the last set only small bearing was knackered but replaced the two and new seal, only got 27,000 miles outa big bearing this time went yesterday, whats an average? I change oil in FD every service, doesn't take much so figure might aswell do it.

 

[steveh]

42k out of mine, just overhauled by Mikeyboy and zero play now and a simple diy to take off and refit the FD.

 

[birdseye]

Im sorry but how the fuck would you be overtaken by yr wheel coz of a worn bearing and how does having new bearings make the gearchange less jerky complete bollocks, in the nicest possible way of course.

No it isnt bollox you twat ( in the nicest possible way ). I was more than a bit surprised when it did improve the gearchange and went so far as to ring mikeyboy to see if he could explain why. He commented that others had had the same experience. We decided that what was happening with the knackered bearings was that float due to wear was allowing the crownwheel and pinion to partially torque out of full mesh both on the power and over run thus increasing backlash. When I measured backlash at the wheelrim after the bearing job it had reduced from about 10cm to about 6 cm.

I'm much more inclined to believe thats what has happened than an improvement in my riding skill

 

[Time Traveller]

Q1. What is the "bevel box" ? Never heard of anything being called that, and I've been (reasonably competently) mechaniking for the last 36 years.

I'm sure BMWs have a whole language of their own

 

[Beemerman59]

Q1. What is the "bevel box" ? Never heard of anything being called that, and I've been (reasonably competently) mechaniking for the last 36 years.

I'm sure BMWs have a whole language of their own

Its the Final Drive - FD

 

[Steptoe]

just curious what sort of mileage are ye getting out of rear bearings? ive a 1100gs got 35,000 outa the last set only small bearing was knackered but replaced the two and new seal, only got 27,000 miles outa big bearing this time went yesterday, whats an average? I change oil in FD every service, doesn't take much so figure might aswell do it.

Your asking an 1100/1150 question in the 1200 section. The 1200 has a completely different final drive to yours. .

Q1. What is the "bevel box" ? Never heard of anything being called that, and I've been (reasonably competently) mechaniking for the last 36 years.

I'm sure BMWs have a whole language of their own

Nothing to do with BMW having a language of their own.
The bevel box contains the bevel gears.
Ducatis also have a bevel drive. And it's called a bevel drive because it also has bevel gears.

Bevel gears. After 36 years of mechaniking (you don't say what you've been mechaniking.... airfix models ?) you've now learnt what bevel gears are. Lots of mechaniky things use bevel gears.

 

[Bendy toy]

Some people call it (wrongly) a differential but a bike has only one wheel so there is simply a pair of bevel gears and absolutely no differential gears.