rear wheel play tolerances

[birdseye]

On my new to me 1200gs of 2008 vintage and 10k miles there is a slight but perceptible sideways play ion the rear wheel. Sufficient for my local BMW indy to say it was an MOT fail but not sufficient for my local garage to actually fail the bike. The play is just perceptible but I guess that over the winter I will strip and replace the bearings. Has anyone got a link to show how this is done - I'm a competent home mechanic but I would like to know whats involved before I have the bike in bits.

At the same time, with the bike in first ge3ar, how much forward and backwards play should there be at the rear rim?

Lastly this bike backfires occasionally - maybe once a mile on back roads. I dont ever remember my previous 04 GS doing this. This new bike has a standard exhaust and indeed doesnt look to have been tampered with. Do they all backfire occasionally or have I got a problem. Maybe one of the plugs isnt firing for example.

 

[Pete D]

1 mm of play at the rim is the BMW limit.

Replacement of the bearing involves specialist equipment and heating the fd up...not something to be taken on lightly.

Have a search for Mikeyboy of this Forum; he rebuilds the things completely for about £350.....which is what I paid for a second hand but unused replacement for mine...which will be fitted next month...

As for backfiring - do you mean on the over run; if so, 'they all do that, sir'....

No idea on the fore/aft question.

Cheers

 

[mikeyboy]

there is a thread on the forum by patzx12 that shows the overhaul procedure,however once you have have read it and looked at other threads you may want to reconsider doing it at home unless you have a very well equipped workshop,and some special tooling.if the play is minimal as you say ,just keep a check on it ,it may be worth chating to your dealer regarding an out of warranty claim.if it gets worse or there is any roughness in the bearings it needs doing,if you are planning a big trip you may also want to get it seen to for peace of mind.i overhaul them all the time and my workshop is near grantham.pm me for more info.mike

 

[Bendy toy]

There has been some comment about the FD pinion needle roller failing and trashing the whole thing.

@MikeP suggested that wear in the FD paralever bearings (to the swing arm end and reaction rod) could be a factor. If these are looking even slightly loose it might be wise to have the whole thing stripped and a full set of bearings fitted.

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=317122&highlight=final+drive+bearing+failure

@ebbo's point about an angular contact wheel bearing being used in an 1150 is interesting but costly unless that was a typo by JC (below). From what I can see, the general opinion is that the internal shimming is probably wrong. However, JC's angular contact bearing(s) seemed to fix his problem.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/bmw-tech/1150gs-rear-wheel-bearing-failures-38600

 

[birdseye]

Thanks folks - I posted first and then googled and came across a lot of worrying and depressing information about final drives.

Thanks for the comments about the occasional backfire - my first GS didnt do that so this one has surprised me and I did wonder if the original owner had done some messing about with the fuelling. It's noticeable that this bike doesnt have the hesitancy about 2k revs that the first one did and that got me wondering whether the owner had had the bike re-tuned giving rise to the backfires.

 

[morre666]

hello,

friend of mine did Marrocco in september with his wife. Bmw r1200gsa 2011 with 20000km. 500 Km into Marrocco his rear axle started leaking oil a lot and eventually they had to stop the trip. The bike had to come back in a van. At the dealer back home they tried to repair the rear axle but the special tool broke in half, and he, as it should be, got a new rear axle....
After a little research on the Belgian and Holland bmw forum 's this is clearly not a one off....
The foto is not my friend 's bike bike it proofs my point...

regards
Mories


https://mail.telenet.be/service/home/~/fotojef.jpg?auth=co&loc=nl&id=114548&part=2

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

The big bearing/wheel bearing isn't very difficult to replace even for an average spannerman, its the pinion bearing thats a real sod to do and needs special tools. I haven't heard of these going on the 08 and newer bikes. The part was redesigned fairly early on with a larger bearing. Typically its the big inside bearing that goes awol now because of crap design.