Don't ignore the wheel bearings!

[henzilla]

Just another maintenance item that seems less of a concern with sealed wheel bearings to some.

Typically, check for smoothness at tire changes and go from there. Have caught several prior to failure.There are no set interval levels for maintenence, ie, replacement. We have a few bikes with over 100K and no issues and some that needed attention with less than 50K. Have changed on RT's and Wedge K's recently.

I had replaced a neighbors TPM sensors on a K13GT last week and didn't check front bearings like I do during tire changes...a fail on my part and correctable. I had replaced tire last year and felt no roughness.
We rode back into town and he said he felt odd input at front end. He is heading to MX today and was doing final prep on bike. I had him come by yesterday to discover a very hard to roll wheel when on stand.
When I pulled axle and wheel, the few bearings left on one side fell out
Mileage is around 50K on this bike, he had a K12 failure at 24K before.



A little late to get bearings, so I pulled wheel off H's K12S...he asked me if she was OK with that and I told him better to seek forgiveness if not
I installed and test rode to see ABS failure warning...a head scratcher as I had swapped wheels before on K12's with no issues. Looked at ABS ring and saw differnce in hole sizes between the 12 and 13...so swapped his rotors and ring to H's wheel and all was well again and he is on his way with the rest of his " last trip to MX" trio.

Anyways, Will be a bit more proactive whenever a wheel is off and try to catch before it becomes a problem...glad he didn't have to call me out on the road or have a bad result.

A side note is you need a blind bearing puller on these wheels as you can barely touch the outer race with any tool from the opposite side. I was lucky to get a small pin punch, long one, to contact the outer race on the destroyed bearing from the backside.

 

[Rinty]

Thanks for the heads up, Steve.

This, with some additional text and pictures, would make for a good article in the News.

 

[geozad]

Great advice
Both my R1200RT and my sons R1150R were rough [grinding]
Both less than 50K
Did both with a heat gun and drift pin
Bearing puller would have been nice

 

[akbeemer]

Checking wheel bearings..... prudent.....

Replacing notchy bearings..... smart.....

Informing members..... thoughtful.....

Using Helen's wheel without asking..... Foolhardy!!!!!

​

 

[omega man]

Here is a thread that may help those checking and replacing wheel bearings- F800GS Wheel Bearing(s).
OM

 

[henzilla]

I recall that thread now as well

 

[pauls1150]

Snapping a quick pic of Helen's face when you told her ... Priceless!

 

[happy wanderer]

Strange to hear about wheel bearing failures on BMW motorcycles. On Airheads it's not unusual for these bearings to last the life of the bike which can be into the hundreds of thousands of miles assuming they are serviced regularly.

 

[pauls1150]

Spoked wheels will absorb some of the impact encountered on the road; mag wheels will transmit more of that force to the hub/etc.
I narfed up my two front wheel bearings when I hit a chunk of wood late one night on PCH north of Malibu. Besides the ding in the wheel, it was easy to feel the rough spot when spinning it. Grrr.

 

[ncpbmw1953]

What would be the replacement cost for front wheel bearing on an RT-LC?

 

[littlebriar]

Thanks for the info henzilla. What is the proper maintenance to preform on the wheel bearings when changing tires? Do you clean/lube the bearings or just inspect? I have '16 RT.

 

[bc1100s]

Excellent post, Steve. Having never, ever replaced a wheel bearing on any motorcycle I've owned I was (sorta) shocked when I detected significant play in the front wheel of my K120S last year. About 40k miles on it. New bearings were $18 including seals. No, they did not come from BMW. Not sure why but the bike handles much better now.

 

[T-foiler]

Back when very young and a bit more ignorant than I am now I bought a Suzuki 550. A couple of weeks of riding I noticed play in the front wheel, standing up and leaning over the handlebars I jiggled the bars and there was plenty of play in the front wheel. Doing this at highway speeds of course. Bought bearing on the way home and when I removed the wheel all the bearing and guts poured out with a slurry of rust. God sometimes protects the ignorant.

 

[easy]

Wheel Bearings

For those interested, there is a good article in the June issue of Motorcycle Consumer News (MCN) titled, Replacing Wheel Bearings. The article says that, “Bearings should be checked every 30,000 miles, but some can last over 60,000 depending on the load.” (In the same issue they published an in-depth road test comparison between the BMW G 310 GS and the Royal Enfield Himalayan.)

 

[Tonyfr]

Thanks for the info henzilla. What is the proper maintenance to preform on the wheel bearings when changing tires? Do you clean/lube the bearings or just inspect? I have '16 RT.

When Steve changes my tires, he spins both bearings to make sure there is no play and no grinding feeling. After that, I clean the axle and give it a light lube with grease before mounting front tire.