• Welcome Guest! If you are already a member of the BMW MOA, please log in to the forum in the upper right hand corner of this page. Check "Remember Me?" if you wish to stay logged in.

    We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMWMOA forum provides. Why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the club magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMWMOA offers?

    Want to read the MOA monthly magazine for free? Take a 3-month test ride of the magazine; check here for details.

  • NOTE. Some content will be hidden from you. If you want to view all content, you must register for the forum if you are not a member, or if a member, you must be logged in.

2007 RT Final Drive Bearing Replacement

Jankoman

R1200RT
After reading some of the increasing number of posts on the Final Drive (FD) issues, I decided to check mine. I disconnected the brake caliper and sure enough, there was some play and while spinning the rear wheel, there was clearly a bearing going bad in there. The bike has 16,000 miles on it and when I purchased it in Sept. 2011 with only 1600 miles on it, I had always felt (literally) as though the bearing was not good. I could feel the roughness in my feet, especially when braking. So I decided to change the FD bearing. I decided to go with an aftermarket bearing and thanks to Nick Plenzick, I called HermeyÔÇÖs in PA and ordered a new NSK 6013VVC3 and a new shaft seal (33 11 7 679 864). I had changed the FD oil at 12K so removing the FD required the additional step of removing the ISA Screw and Pivot Pin. This proved to be more difficult than I had planned. Make sure you have a good T55 Torx bit and either a 22MM or 15/16 six-point short socket. Once I got the screw out, the threads on mine were covered with red thread-locker!

I used the BMW RepROM for reference throughout this process (33 10 050 & 33 12 560).

Here is the FD mounted to a 4x4 with lag screws: Primitive but it works! Only need to remove wheel flange at this point. I did not have a T40 Torx bit long enough to remove the brake rotor. I had ordered one but found that it really doesnÔÇÖt need to come off unless you already have the long Torx bit. I ordered a 6ÔÇØ Impact T40. The rotor can be removed once the flange is pulled off the wheel axle, and a long bit is not needed. (I did remove the rotor when I was re-installing the flange near the end of this process.)

Note the tool I had made to pull the flange off the wheel axle. ItÔÇÖs the same as BMWÔÇÖs tool number 33 2 506. ItÔÇÖs sitting on top of the wheel axle.

DSC_0277.jpg
 
Below is another ÔÇ£toolÔÇØ I needed to make: 3/8ÔÇØ metal plate. Again, itÔÇÖs not pretty, but it worked great. I bought five ÔÇ£lugÔÇØ bolts at Lowes (M10-1.25x75). The hole in the middle is .750ÔÇØ.

DSC_0280.jpg
 
Here is the plate bolted to flange with 5/8ÔÇØ nuts as spacers. The 8ÔÇØ gear puller is mounted on top, grabbing the plate. I heated flange with Benzo-matic torch: took about 12 minutes to get to a temperature where the flange began to move. Once it started moving, it came right off. Now having the proper T40 bit, I would have removed the caliper prior to this step.

DSC_0281.jpg
 
Here is the housing after the wheel flange is removed. At this point I removed the ten T40 bolts holding the bearing housing to the FD housing. It took a little, careful prying, but the two halves split apart. I laid the shims and bolts out so that everything would go back together the same way. Keep an eye out for the large o-ring on the bearing housing. I think if I were to do this again, I would order a replacement o-ring when ordering bearing and oil seal.

DSC_0283.jpg
 
At this point, the wheel axle needs to be pressed out of the bearing. I was a little reluctant to apply pressure to the bearing housing using three-jaw gear puller. So I sprayed some penetrating oil where the wheel axle passes through the inner race of the bearing and let it sit for 24 hours. I choose meaty parts of the bearing housing to attach the jaws to, applied pressure, and tapped the gear puller screw and it eventually popped. (Sorry, no picture.) It startled me, I thought something broke but it was the wheel axle starting to move. A press would be a better way to go, but I did not have one available. Needless to say, the wheel axle came out of bearing without any damage to the housing.

Picture of wheel axle / crown wheel after pressed out of FD bearing.

DSC_0291.jpg
 
I removed the oil seal with a screwdriver without any major problems. The seal was damaged upon removal but I had ordered a new when I ordered the bearing. Next was to remove the internal lock ring. I managed without snap ring pliers, but I know that HD Snap Ring Pliers with 3mm tips would save a lot of time. ItÔÇÖs a heavy duty lock ring (BMW calls it a lock ring, I know them as snap rings or a circlips). Once I got the lock ring removed, I set up the gear puller again with the 33 2 506 tool and metal plate I had made, and pressed the entire bearing out of the bearing housing. I did heat the housing per the RepROM instructions. I could only press the bearing out about half way before I had to remove the metal plate. But by that time the bearing was moving so when I had to move the puller jaws to the housing to apply pressure, not much pressure was required. Out popped the bearing and I was glad to see it come out. It was clearly bad/going bad.

DSC_0294.jpg
 
No differences between old BMW bearing and new NSK bearing. I used calipers to measure OD, ID and thickness.

DSC_0299.jpg
 
Now time to re-assemble. I had heated the housing per RepROM to 200 degrees using a toaster oven. The bearing spent a lot of time in freezer. I had another tool made (BMW 33 2 507) to press new bearing into housing. The tool was made so that no pressure was applied to the inner race during this process. Fortunately, I did NOT need to press the bearing in. There was a total of .004ÔÇØ difference between the hot housing bore and the OD of the cold bearing which equated to .002ÔÇØ clearance all the way around. The bearing dropped in with a ÔÇ£klunkÔÇØ. (I had made sure both surfaces were clean.) Within one minute, the .004ÔÇØ was gone and the bearing was tight! I re-installed the snap ring and then used the tool 507 to set the new seal using the gear puller as a press (picture).

DSC_0149.jpg
 
Once the bearing and seal were in place in the bearing housing, I had a third tool made (BMW 33 2 505, sleeve) to now press the wheel axle into the inner race of the bearing. Tool 505 was made so that all the force of the press was distributed on the inner race only. No force was exerted on the ball bearings within the sealed bearing unit. I used a 5/8ÔÇØ HD construction bolt in place of threaded rod. The bolt had enough thread to allow me to completely press the wheel axle through the inner race to seat it. Note the thrust bearing: Per the RepROM, this was required to be able to turn the crown wheel during installation so that the oil seal would not be damaged during installation. However, it was not needed! Because the tool (sleeve 505) was exerting all force on the inner race, I was able to turn the crown wheel as the wheel axle was being pressed into the inner race. I assume then that the BMW sleeve places the force on the outer race of the bearing, thus the thrust bearing would allow the turning of the crown wheel during the pressing process.

On the crown wheel side of the wheel axle (right side in picture), I used the metal plate I had made. It already had a .750ÔÇØ hole in it for the 5/8ÔÇØ bolt to pass. I made sure the oil seal and the surface it contacted were well lubricated with gear oil before I pressed wheel axle into inner race.

DSC_0152.jpg
 
Prior to pressing the wheel axle into the bearing, I took several measurements of the spline side of the wheel axle with my 6ÔÇØ calipers. I then measured the thickness of the bearing. I subtracted the thickness of bearing from the length of shaft so I knew when the shaft and bearing were fully mated.

DSC_0154.jpg
 
All went extremely well. The tooling worked to perfection! Once the wheel axle was pressed in, I re-assembled the bearing housing to the final drive housing. I took my time and all went well. I re-attached the FD to the bike, re-assembled everything else, torqueing as I went. Took the bike out for a 10 minutes test ride, and all was good. ItÔÇÖs January here in New York so I wonÔÇÖt be putting any major miles on the bike until it warms up a little, but I am confident that the new bearing will make a difference and now I donÔÇÖt have to worry about it failing on my next major outing.

Here's a shot of the tooling I had made.

DSC_0003.jpg
 
Here's the setup where the 505 sits on inner race and the 507 sits on top of the 505 sleeve. This is the setup for pushing the wheel axle into new bearing. That's the old bearing on the bottom.

DSC_0005.jpg
 
Awesome write up! You have a lot more confidence than I would have attempting to do this!
 
Good job and great pics! not everyone realizes the benefit of the heat differential in both dis-assembly and re-assembly, makes all the difference in helping a job go smoothly! (we use heat regularly on helicopter components) I like the tools you made also. Thanks.
 
Here is the plate bolted to flange with 5/8ÔÇØ nuts as spacers. The 8ÔÇØ gear puller is mounted on top, grabbing the plate. I heated flange with Benzo-matic torch: took about 12 minutes to get to a temperature where the flange began to move. Once it started moving, it came right off. Now having the proper T40 bit, I would have removed the caliper prior to this step.

View attachment 37257

Another method that can be used to pull the flange is to use a harmonic balancer puller attached to a slide hammer. Mine came as part of a cheap ($12) slide hammer kit. It attached to the flange using three of the wheel lug screws. As you noted it doesn't take much to pull the flange once it is heated. A few gentle taps with the slide hammer did the trick.

p-20091129-1421-1338.jpg
 
No differences between old BMW bearing and new NSK bearing. I used calipers to measure OD, ID and thickness.

View attachment 37263
I am certainly not a mechanical person, and am very impressed with your construction of tools, photography, & perseverance but as noted in my quotation from one of your steps, if there is no difference between the "old BMW bearing and new NSK bearing" what is the point? I think the purpose of your work was to replace that bearing, wasn't it?
 
I am certainly not a mechanical person, and am very impressed with your construction of tools, photography, & perseverance but as noted in my quotation from one of your steps, if there is no difference between the "old BMW bearing and new NSK bearing" what is the point? I think the purpose of your work was to replace that bearing, wasn't it?

I understand. From a dimensional standpoint there were no differences. The outside diameter (OD), the inside diameter (ID) and the thickness were the same. The BMW bearing was bad: the roller balls sealed between the two races were not smooth and there was play between the races. Again, someone might ask if there are any dimensional differences between the two manufacturer's, and there were none. Had I bought a replacement bearing from a BMW dealer, the dimensions would not be of concern. But, because I bought an aftermarket bearing, I would want to know if the aftermarket bearing is the same as the BMW bearing. And it was, down to a thousandth of an inch. The only difference, one might argue, is the quality. Time will tell, but my guess is that the NSK is of better quality.
 
Another method that can be used to pull the flange is to use a harmonic balancer puller attached to a slide hammer. Mine came as part of a cheap ($12) slide hammer kit. It attached to the flange using three of the wheel lug screws. As you noted it doesn't take much to pull the flange once it is heated. A few gentle taps with the slide hammer did the trick.

p-20091129-1421-1338.jpg

Agreed! I was expecting to have to apply alot of force to slide flange off. However, the heat was key. After about 10 minutes I could start to hear the flange expanding then off she slid a couple of minutes later. Sliding it back on went even smoother: I had wrapped the flange in foil and put in oven at 200 degrees for about a 1/2 hour, she dropped right back on!
 
Impressive write-up and pictures. Takes some (much) of the mystery out of the 'hidden' parts of the drive train. Even if I never do this repair on one of our RTs it is good to know what the mechanic is doing should there be any issue with the repair, cost, or parts required. Information like this is very helpful. Thanks.
 
Back
Top