RIP my Final Drive

bluegrasspicker · Sep 8, 2011

Just got back from the Rocky Mountains - last 100 miles in a trailer :uhoh

I friend had just bought a trailer and rescued me.
almost made to 100 K on the bike - 99.2
I am going to sleep on this and decide what to do tomorrow. I am looking for suggestions.
Ebay a final drive, replace the bearing, ???, have someone else do it?

nrpetersen · Sep 8, 2011

I suggest CharlieVT, or Anton Largiador or at least someone that will measure & set the preload correctly for the particular parts you have. This eliminates most dealers.

You could look for a used one but you still should get one of those experts to make it right.

CharlieVT took out ~.2 mm of shim on my LT FD.

henzilla · Sep 8, 2011

Just had the FD rebuilt and on the way here for Helen's R1150R with 98K on the clock. Tom Cutter at Rubber Chicken did his thing. As much as I want to support my local dealers, they don't take the extra time to " do it right".

I would buy a used one in a pinch, but, you might have the same issue with the unknown shape it could be in. Would hate to bolt one in and have it leak/bearing failure shortly after.

And yes, you can do it yourself and many do. It's not something I have the patience for ...yet.

bluegrasspicker · Sep 8, 2011

henzilla said:
Just had the FD rebuilt and on the way here for Helen's R1150R with 98K on the clock. Tom Cutter at Rubber Chicken did his thing. As much as I want to support my local dealers, they don't take the extra time to " do it right".

I would buy a used one in a pinch, but, you might have the same issue with the unknown shape it could be in. Would hate to bolt one in and have it leak/bearing failure shortly after.

And yes, you can do it yourself and many do. It's not something I have the patience for ...yet.

Thanks Steve what was the turn around time on that?
Tom

MarkM · Sep 8, 2011

Tom Cutter

+1 on Tom Cutter at Rubber Chicken Racing Garage. Call him up for turnaround time.

bluegrasspicker · Sep 8, 2011

nrpetersen said:
I suggest CharlieVT, or Anton Largiador or at least someone that will measure & set the preload correctly for the particular parts you have. This eliminates most dealers.

You could look for a used one but you still should get one of those experts to make it right.

CharlieVT took out ~.2 mm of shim on my LT FD.

Thanks for the tips

JIMSHAW · Sep 8, 2011

henzilla said:
Just had the FD rebuilt and on the way here for Helen's R1150R with 98K on the clock. Tom Cutter at Rubber Chicken did his thing. As much as I want to support my local dealers, they don't take the extra time to " do it right".
And yes, you can do it yourself and many do. It's not something I have the patience for ...yet.

Cutter rebuilt mine, after a dealer did it wrong and it only lasted for 800 miles. The Cutter rebuild now has ~55k on it, with no problems.

Tom turned mine around in a couple weeks or less.

There's a bit of a good trick to getting the rebuild right: many say the factory preload specs are wrong, and are the cause of the trouble. That may be why so many dealer rebuilds fail quickly.

henzilla · Sep 8, 2011

BluegrassPicker said:
Thanks Steve what was the turn around time on that?
Tom

seems like under four weeks since I shipped it,with a Holiday weekend in there... supposed to be here the 13th. A lot of the time was in transit and me slow on responding back to Tom via email.

JimMoore · Sep 9, 2011

BluegrassPicker said:
almost made to 100 K on the bike - 99.2
I am going to sleep on this and decide what to do tomorrow. I am looking for suggestions.

With that kind of mileage I'd say your bearing just wore out, as opposed to having it fail due to improper preload. I'd use the same shims and put a new one on there.

Tome Cutter and Anton Largiader both do great work. Anton rebuilt my transmission in a week.

rxcrider · Sep 9, 2011

JimMoore said:
With that kind of mileage I'd say your bearing just wore out, as opposed to having it fail due to improper preload. I'd use the same shims and put a new one on there.

Tome Cutter and Anton Largiader both do great work. Anton rebuilt my transmission in a week.

That assumes there isn't enough tolerance range in the bearings to impact the shim requirement. Is that a safe assumption? I haven't been inside a FD yet, so I don't know the answer.

JimMoore · Sep 9, 2011

That's a valid question. I've always assumed the bearing was the constant. If the bearing manufacturer's tolerances are all over the place I think we're doomed, lol.

bluegrasspicker · Sep 9, 2011

JimMoore said:
With that kind of mileage I'd say your bearing just wore out, as opposed to having it fail due to improper preload. I'd use the same shims and put a new one on there.

Tome Cutter and Anton Largiader both do great work. Anton rebuilt my transmission in a week.

I am thinking along those lines myself. I appreciate the suggestions here. I will have to see now much damage was done making it a few miles to the top of the next exit.

Is there a step by step on rear drive removal online?

rxcrider · Sep 9, 2011

JimMoore said:
That's a valid question. I've always assumed the bearing was the constant. If the bearing manufacturer's tolerances are all over the place I think we're doomed, lol.

Axial stack up in the bearing based on ABEC race width tolerances and radial clearance charts could result in a combined axial tolerance of up to ~0.09 mm (or possibly up to ~0.24 mm depending on the ABEC rating and radial clearance selected) on a 120mm OD deep groove ball bearing. That is after taking a press fit into account. When your target is 0.05 - 0.10 mm of preload, that is bearing to bearing variablilty which may exceed your preload spec range. Add the fact that BMW has changed the bearing design (at least in terms of the number of balls), and I think measuring is a good idea.

bikerfish1100 · Sep 9, 2011

BluegrassPicker said:
I am thinking along those lines myself. I appreciate the suggestions here. I will have to see now much damage was done making it a few miles to the top of the next exit.

Is there a step by step on rear drive removal online?

Clymer's or Haynes manuals are good resources, and well worth having around.

happy wanderer · Sep 9, 2011

BluegrassPicker said:
I am thinking along those lines myself. I appreciate the suggestions here. I will have to see now much damage was done making it a few miles to the top of the next exit.

Is there a step by step on rear drive removal online?

Searching this thread for "final drive bearing", "final drive bearing replacement" etc. will yields a lot of threads on this subject. Here is one I found in a couple of seconds on the whole removal procedure with pictures. http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=198&highlight=final+drive+bearing+replacement

There is also a good video link somewhere of a guy doing this bearing job in his garage that was great. It's all here and then some. You can also check the ADV Hall of Wisdom. More procedures and info there as well.

bluegrasspicker · Sep 9, 2011

156327 said:
Searching this thread for "final drive bearing", "final drive bearing replacement" etc. will yields a lot of threads on this subject. Here is one I found in a couple of seconds on the whole removal procedure with pictures. http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=198&highlight=final+drive+bearing+replacement

There is also a good video link somewhere of a guy doing this bearing job in his garage that was great. It's all here and then some. You can also check the ADV Hall of Wisdom. More procedures and info there as well.

Thanks I am almost there with the removal.

Can someone tell be what I need to remove the right pivot pin? the 12mm hex worked fine for the left pivot pin after heating but seems sloppy on the right.

It looks like a hex recess within a torx recess??

bluegrasspicker · Sep 9, 2011

BluegrassPicker said:
Thanks I am almost there with the removal.

Can someone tell be what I need to remove the right pivot pin? the 12mm hex worked fine for the left pivot pin after heating but seems sloppy on the right.

It looks like a hex recess within a torx recess??

I'll answer my own question

It's a T60

hottech · Sep 9, 2011

Final Drive

I was on the ADVRider Web Site and noticed this add,(I have a rebuilt rear drive packaged up with tools and lube. This was the backup unit for my 03 R1150GS Adventure
which I no longer own. $395.00, located in Huntsville AL. beemererik a t bellsouth.net ) I am not affiliated in anyway just passing on the info.

JimMoore · Sep 9, 2011

rxcrider said:
Axial stack up in the bearing based on ABEC race width tolerances and radial clearance charts could result in a combined axial tolerance of up to ~0.09 mm (or possibly up to ~0.24 mm depending on the ABEC rating and radial clearance selected) on a 120mm OD deep groove ball bearing. That is after taking a press fit into account. When your target is 0.05 - 0.10 mm of preload, that is bearing to bearing variablilty which may exceed your preload spec range. Add the fact that BMW has changed the bearing design (at least in terms of the number of balls), and I think measuring is a good idea.

That's very interesting. Thanks. Ya just can't win sometimes. I guess you have to replace your bearing, then do a fit-test, then order shims, then sit around until they show up.

bluegrasspicker · Sep 9, 2011

Final Drive pulled and shipped to CharlieVT. Thanks to all for your help!
Tom

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