• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

Wheel Bearings

dennypink

DennyPink
Greetings!
1992 R100RT with 51,300 miles with the sealed front wheel bearings. Don't feel or hear anything funny when I spin the wheel. I'm assuming since they are sealed, they can't be greased. Been careful not to spray water at the bearings. Live in Colorado so pretty dry air most of the time. Now the 64,000 dollar question for you airhead experts. Should the bearings be replaced?

Denny Pink
 
On my 1981 R100RT, they were definitely a wear item. I destroyed mine on a ride once. They had to be replaced. I wondered what that funny noise was. Fortunately, the damage was only to the bearings, not the wheel.
Doug
 
I have 67k miles on front wheel bearings & they're still good, as you say "don't feel or hear anything funny" when I spin the wheel. I'll be running these bearings till that changes. If it ain't broke don't fix it. I think my manual says to replace every 25k miles, maybe they're trying to sell bearings. I live in New Mexico where it's high & dry.
 
Not the same bike but still quite relevant:

A couple of years ago, I hit a piece of trash in the road (night & foggy) hard enough to put a small ding in my front wheel. When it came time to change the tire, I discovered that I had a ding in the bearing too...
 
Denny- I'd suggest that next time you pull the wheels for a tire change that you give the bearings a good "feel" test.
Thre is a bearing supply house off of Mulberry that i used to get bearings for my F8GS. Price was about half that of what BMW was asking, possibly even better quality. pm me if you want me to find thename.
 
With the good advice here, I'll wait until my next tire change, then have the bearings checked.
Bikerfish, I know the place of which you speak, so I will certainly go there when it's time for new bearings. See you Saturday at tech day?
Denny Pink
 
Back
Top