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True, but 1993-on doesn't provide insight into the crush of crown bearing failures that became prominent starting ~2000.Final drive failure on a BMW. We've never heard of that. It must be an urban legend started on the internet.
More seriously - those 328 entries (I didn't try to count same bike multiple failures of which there have been some) represent a.16% (16 hundredths of 1 percent) of the approximately 204,000 new BMW motorcycles sold in the US since 1993.
True, but 1993-on doesn't provide insight into the crush of crown bearing failures that became prominent starting ~2000.
Agreed -- although after the initial GS issues with insufficient interference fit, and the early seal issues which have tapered off with each model year, it appears that the frequency of issues is far lower than in the past, and that BMW AG has actually been fairly successful in finally getting the bugs out of the new design. At this point the failure rates appear to have dropped back down to the rare-but-statically-impossible-to-eliminate level.The Big Hole FD does have it's own failure modes.
True, but 1993-on doesn't provide insight into the crush of crown bearing failures that became prominent starting ~2000.
What was the failure mode of this FD?Of the several final drives that I have rebuilt on the LT's the only ones with any bearing wear had to much pre-load from the factory. My personal FD that I rebuilt at 80,000 miles had no wear at all on the crown bearing. The pre-load was on the high side but within spec. I cut it apart & inspected each ball bearing plus the inner & outer race under a microscope. Not one mark on anything.
I'm not sure what your asking. All the FDs I've rebuilt execpt for one were in good shape. Mine is the only one that had the proper preload from the factory. On one FD the owner saw one little flake when he changed his oil. The LT had 102,000 miles on it and the preload was .016. Max is .004.What was the failure mode of this FD?
Bearings apart from being mounted on the shafts and housings have to be preloaded properly for their proper functioning. Preloading is the methodology by which we remove the internal clearance in the bearing by applying a permanent thrust load to it. In other terms we can say that we push the bearing to such an extent that it has to move only in the groove (raceway) and cannot move axially in either direction. We will look on when and how to preload bearings in this article.
My RT-P isn't on the list - 51,000 miles.OK Mark, I'll play
I used 1993 because that is when they introduced the R1100RS - the first Oilhead. But if you would prefer I'll use 2000 as the start year. In that case the 328 cases represent .27% (27/100 of one percent) of the approximately 120,000 new BMWs sold in the United States.