Top yoke play

[stumpi]

I have a small amount of play in my top yoke.
The 10mm allen bolt is tight, I cant see anything thats wrong.

Can anyone offer me a little insight as to why this is, is it normal?

Thanks

 

[hops]

try

rocking the bike and forward while holding the front brake on. If you get a bit of free play at the top yoke as well as a slight clunk the headrace bearings might be worn or need adjusting. I think they are numbered 5 and 9 in the diagram.

 

[stumpi]

Thanks,

Been there though, Its has new bearings etc etc, and everything is torqued up to the correct settings.

I''ve just checked my friends adventure and thats exactly the same, so i'm guessin its probably meant to be,

I get the feeling theres an amount of movement designed into the way the bearing works and that only goes to confirm my thoughts by the fact that its called, an " angular contact bearing "

Just wanted to be 100%
nothings loose, but the bars have an ever so slight sort of flex feel if you push down on one side and visa versa.
Go try it and tell me what yours is like....

 

[Steptoe]

Re: try

I think they are numbered 5 and 9 in the diagram.

Number 9 is a spacer ring

 

[littleredrooster]

Good G0d - mine's the same. Never noticed that before!!

 

[El Thermidor]

I had this. Found it a little disconcerting. Replaced the bearing with genuine BMW part (though could have saved myself 80% by going to a bearing supplier) and it went away. Bearing was shot.

It's a simple press fit into the top yoke. Took me the best part of 15 minutes to fit.

 

[Ian B]

I'm probably stating the obvious here, but could it just be the rubber-mounted ends of the handlebars, moving on their flexi-mounts while the central part stays rigid?

 

[littleredrooster]

Nope!!

 

[Patch]

Well mine does it as well. The Bars rock on the yoke mounts all torqued up right.

I'll pop to SPC tomorrow and see what their feedback is, I'll let you knwo

 

[Patch]

Popped into SPC today and they had a wiggle and confirmed that all was not as it should be. Initial deduction is that the "ball-joint is worn".

1st question was do I use it off-road, erm yes, well thats likely to be it then sir as off roading puts a lot of lateral stress on the ball joint.

Mine is not at a tolerance that means it is off the road and ad I use it every day I have agreed that they will fix it under warranty when I am in for the next service.

 

[littleredrooster]

.....Initial deduction is that the "ball-joint is worn".

What 'ball-joint'??? The 'ball-joint' is miles away from this problem!

I smell bullshit!!

Is this not just the normal movement in the 'pot-joints' in the top of the fork-legs which allow articulation of the legs when the suspension moves?

Go on - give yours a good heave - press vertically down on the right and left bars alternately. Does it move?

 

[beakmeister]

Guess what....just tried it on mine and it rocks!!

 

[DanBkk]

Had the same problem about 5 years ago on my 1100. There was also a slight click when the bars were rocked and the bearing looked corroded.

I got the bearing replaced by a dealer, and hey presto I now had twice the amount of play I had with the knackered bearing. After a bit of digging I found out they had just hammered the old bearing out and the new one in without heating up the yoke first as recommended by BMW, damaging the interference fit in the process.

Eventually after a lot of arguments they replaced the yoke and bearing FOC.

A little word of warning - I think after I initially dicovered the small amount of play, my paranoia got the better of me and I was forever in the garage hanging off the bars trying to decided if it was normal. I think this constant testing definitely made it worse!

 

[stumpi]

Right well Im up for a 6k service now so I'll get it in to Vines, its not two years old yet, I'll see if I can blag it....