How to remove pivot bearings from the telelever A-arm on the front suspension?

'96 R1100R with ABS here.

For background / context I am tearing my bike apart to have some parts soda blasted and then powder coated. I pulled the telelever A-arm off the front suspension of the bike to get it done, among many many other things. . The guy who is doing the blasting and powder coating said i need to remove the bearings from the A-arm. They wont survive the banking soda blasting and the 450f powder coating oven would cook the rubber seals anyways.

So I put the thing on a bench vise and applied pb-blaster spray lube but it occurs to me I don't know which way each bearing gets pulled out. Judging by the looks of things I would assume that the bearings get pressed to the outside of the bike to remove them, but it isn't working. I have been gingerly trying to press the bearings out hoping to not damage things. I tried a few bearing pullers and a hydraulic press to no avail.



Does anyone know the direction that each of the 4 ball bearings must move to be pulled out?

In the parts diagram, it shows installation from outside to inside,so I assume they come out the same way.

Looks from the parts fiche you need a good bearing puller, you should be good but;

Get your puller. Two jaw blind should be good. Line it up, get ready.

Warm the front arm to about 100C, 90C works too.

Gently use the puller, take your time, reheat if needed.

If you got something like AquaBlast, a squirt of a few or ten might help.

It shocks the bearing and with a few puller stress, may move, or likely won't.

Repeat process until you get some joy, repeat again.

This is akin to replacing wheel bearings, patience, some heat and some shock to get them out and repeat to install.

I don't recall the last time i did this particular job, but the principals remain the same for swell to fit bearings.

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Thanks. I guess I was not pushing hard enough. I will modify my technique based on the info everyone has given. Thanks for the info guys.

I just found out that the R1150R and rockster has a much more aesthetically pleasing telelever then the one on my R1100R and that it is possible to swap this onto my bike. Does anyone know what is involved in the swap? I did a forum search as well as a general duckduckgo search and found nothing relevant. Someone out there has to know what is involved!

type_259 said:

I just found out that the R1150R and rockster has a much more aesthetically pleasing telelever then the one on my R1100R and that it is possible to swap this onto my bike. Does anyone know what is involved in the swap? I did a forum search as well as a general duckduckgo search and found nothing relevant. Someone out there has to know what is involved!

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Just doing this, the axle is exclusive to the R and took time to locate a used one.( new is $120ish) It’s longer than all other models. Finding an undamaged telelever unit took some time as well for me. I powder coated this one, scratches workable, the dented one I looked at was a pass.
If you leave the wing oil coolers it is not in view as as well on the 1150, still a better visual

Sent a PM your way as well

Thank you for the info. When you say the axle is exclusive to the R I am guessing you mean that the 1150 telelever front trailing arm needs a matching 1150 axle shaft as well and that the 1100R shaftwont work. Does it also need the associated axle end nut and end caps or can i use the ones off my 1100R?


One last thing. My 1100R has a steering damper. Did any of the 1150R's or rocksters have steering dampers? All the pictures I look at show no dampers yet I see what looks like 2 spots where one could drill holes to mount a damper. Is it known if this has been done before?

type_259 said:

Thank you for the info. When you say the axle is exclusive to the R I am guessing you mean that the 1150 telelever front trailing arm needs a matching 1150 axle shaft as well and that the 1100R shaftwont work. Does it also need the associated axle end nut and end caps or can i use the ones off my 1100R?


One last thing. My 1100R has a steering damper. Did any of the 1150R's or rocksters have steering dampers? All the pictures I look at show no dampers yet I see what looks like 2 spots where one could drill holes to mount a damper. Is it known if this has been done before?

Click to expand...

Yes, the 1150 axle about three inches longer and uses a nut on end of shaft. The end caps are same.

Our 1150R has no steering damper and the arched lower fork bridge I found for 19” wheel clearance on the 1100 has no mounting points for it. Maybe the geometry changed enough to not require on the 1150’s. I’m thinking the 19” wheel changes it as well and will see if it’s needed