Rear swing arm bearings... stuck

beaver

Well-known member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
Oct 8, 2017
Messages
1,841
Reaction score
1
Location
Bradford
Hi All

Got a bit carried away tonight.. went to change the oil in the bevel box but ended up taking the rear paralever off, or at least trying to...
The bearings had a bit of play, so I tried to adjust them.. but it just didn't feel right so guess the bearings are goosed so I need to replace them.. they are tapper rollers I'm thinking... got the LHS pivot out but using the big nut as a puller against the frame boss using a big washer, obviously with foam protection ;)
But, the RHS one is stuck I guess in the inner race?... and probably rusted in....
I put 3 long bolts in the clamp holes and using the centre bolt with a nut and a big washer onto their heads, tried to jack the thing out... nothing... so its soaking in release oil now.... TBH if that wont shift it, i doubt if a sliding hammer will do anything?... dont have one anyway, but easy to make....
If it aint going to come, I can always drill the Steel pivot away and get another...
Any other thought on pulling it?...

cheers :)
 
Hi.. no.. It's the Paralever pivots, the ones on the frame... RHS bearing inner must be rusted onto the pivot stub shaft (item 7 into 3 on your picture).... Lots of plus gas on it overnight.. will get the heat gun on it tonight and cycle it a few times.. then try pull off the bolt heads again....

BTW.. anyone know the bearings used in the arm?.. don't fancy BMW prices :) ... does say 17X40X13,25 on the attachment above :thumb2
 
That pivot pin normally comes out with a slide hammer with an M6 to the center hole.
I have heard of cases of severe corrosion where the pin has had to be cut between the frame and swing arm.
I think I wound be tempted to drill and tap it to a larger size and make a suitable puller + heat before that.
Bearing size looks like an SKF 30203J2 about £11.00 + vat. Cheaper budget option about.
 
Hi Mistacat.. My thought exactly... dont want the cutting beetween the frame bit... will try with a slide hammer.. after heating etc.. if not as you say, tap M8 and get a bigger hammer.. if nothing, its saw or try drill out time ... great.. the bearings in there a totaly dry and oval... Full BMW service history FFS!!!
 
Beaver what year is your bike?
Ive heard alot of reports about the bearings being dry on taking the thing apart. I reckon mine need doing but darent look!
Good luck with repair.
 
its a 2010.. first of the twin cams.. the drive shaft is dry also... TBH, other than a slight bit of play, it did feel very nice and smooth both in use and when free!!.. it was only when I turned the LHS adjuster to take out the play, it felt like it clicked as if it was some kind of indexing device!.. but obviously all you are doing is turning the tapper rollers to take up the gap.. So very dry maybe flatted rollers I assume...

Have a look.. quite straight forward to do if the bloody things are not rust welded in!!

I have seen things on line with grease nipples in.. May be worth doing to avoide in future...

My drive shaft is okay.. but again, no grease points on this!!..
 
The RHS has an M6 thread through the middle. I got mine out with a fork ended lever and a block of wood. It has to move straight out so ideally use a slide hammer but a lever also works if you are careful. Mine was not especially tight.

Pack the bearings with grease. I used driveshaft CV joint grease. The rocking motion scrapes the races dry so a normal grease volume gets scraped away. Packing it risks some oozing grease though mine have been ok.

Rolling bearings are normally filled one side only (50%) to allow space for the grease to move about as the bearing turns. Too much grease will overheat the bearing or blow the seals. Rocking bearings don't have that issue so pack them full.

When you are done, clean and grease the paralever bearing under the final drive gearbox. It will need heat to >100C soften the threadlock.
 
Hi Bendy.. it's not going to lever out thats for sure.. as I say above.. I made a small puller using the threads already there and even that didnt move it.. looks like I have a fight on LOL...

Will do the full pack and may be look at small cross drillings and a grease nipple so I can lube in future without having to take the lot in bits....

Will have a look at the other one when this is back in :)
 
Can you not take out the left side and stick a long rod/bar through and use your biggest hammer to drift it out? ������
 
Thats a good call... I don't know is the answer.. will get my small inspection lamp out tonight and have a look !!
 
Hi Bendy.. it's not going to lever out thats for sure.. as I say above.. I made a small puller using the threads already there and even that didnt move it.. looks like I have a fight on LOL...

Will do the full pack and may be look at small cross drillings and a grease nipple so I can lube in future without having to take the lot in bits....

Will have a look at the other one when this is back in :)

That's a biatch. :(

I actually used 17 x 40 x 12 sealed angular contact bearings and shims with the intention of doing grease nipples. Unlike the BMW bearings they were cheap enough to scrap if the idea went titsup. However, the inner end is open to the hollow swing arm and the outer end has a gap to the frame. Also, how would I drill the bearing race and then align the hole(s) with the swing arm body. It has to be possible but beyond anything I can achieve.
 
Was thinking about sealing?.. not sure how the OE is configured... I guess just sealed from the outside?
 
Can you not take out the left side and stick a long rod/bar through and use your biggest hammer to drift it out? ������

Thats exactly how I removed mine, with a length of M10 stud bar and a lump hammer. Two smacks and it was out.

Old bearings were very rusty.
 
This is my local bearing supplier having sent him a picture of the bearing.. wonder what's special about it??

Please can you advise the reference on the bearing Z-??? we can’t quite make it out on the picture
Z signifies it is a FAG special – they are not listed in catalogues so would be unable to offer an alternative without knowing this ref as we can’t tell from pic whether roller ball, angular contact etc – what angle etc
 
This is my local bearing supplier having sent him a picture of the bearing.. wonder what's special about it??

Please can you advise the reference on the bearing Z-??? we can’t quite make it out on the picture
Z signifies it is a FAG special – they are not listed in catalogues so would be unable to offer an alternative without knowing this ref as we can’t tell from pic whether roller ball, angular contact etc – what angle etc

From my experience a single z indicates one steel dust cover in the bearing covering the balls/ rollers.
ZZ would be a steel cover both sides.
2rs would be two rubber seals.

Hope this is of some help


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Pretty sure if you download an SKF bearing catalouge, it details what all the code numbers are


http://www.skf.com/uk/knowledge-centre/media-library/index.html


Most bearings come in different flavours so to speak -

Sealed, open, 2 x dust seals, 1 x dust seal,

you can also make dust sealed bearings open bearings by removing the

dust seals if needs be

When i was racing, we used to buy double sealed bearings and pop off the inner seal, fitted them in tandem to a milled block and filled the inner void with oil,

They used to weep from the outer seals, but by running them in a loss lube system we could run them up to 8kRPM
 
Can you not take out the left side and stick a long rod/bar through and use your biggest hammer to drift it out? ������
If the thing is stuck tight use a long drift,BUT
Be careful as if the drift is badly positioned you could damage the bearing seat and may well wreck the trunnion.
Use plenty of releasing oil on the threaded trunnion as the threads can pick up filling the frame threads with aluminium.
 
Thats exactly how I removed mine, with a length of M10 stud bar and a lump hammer. Two smacks and it was out.

Old bearings were very rusty.

Thats the way to do it!.... smack the bugger.. just ensure you are on the pin or I guess you could knock a hole in the casting.. but 4 or 5 small ones just to see i was on.. then wacked it twice and it gave up!.. great info.. thanks guys....

Got to say that despite it working fine, there was not much left of the bearings ?... all the rollers were there but the LHS cage has gone hence the clicking...

it will be so much better when back together as it must of had some impact on where the rear wheel pointed etc... now to get the half bearings out... heat gun and 33mm bar to drift them out I guess.. there is a pip on the inside I'll have to miss... but thats it for today...
Just glad It's off

:thumb2
 


Back
Top Bottom