Just had my final drive rebuilt by Mikeyboy.. Utterly nice bloke and a super quick service. Can't recommend him highly enough.
FD Rebuild Mikeyboy
- Thread starter D9lek
- Start date
Rocketman
Registered user
What sort of mileage did you get out of your original fd
Bendy toy
Registered user
Mine did 50k.
What was probably the original wheel bearing showed signs of increased side play in early 40Ks and started leaking oil at 50K. Rather than do a cheap fix I I sent the whole FD to MikeyBoy.
He said all bearings were "ready" so IMO a reasonable mileage FD is best fully rebuilt when the wheel bearing fails.
BTW I also needed a new U/J in the drive shaft and the paralever needle rollers were bolloxed so it wasn't a cheap job.
What was probably the original wheel bearing showed signs of increased side play in early 40Ks and started leaking oil at 50K. Rather than do a cheap fix I I sent the whole FD to MikeyBoy.
He said all bearings were "ready" so IMO a reasonable mileage FD is best fully rebuilt when the wheel bearing fails.
BTW I also needed a new U/J in the drive shaft and the paralever needle rollers were bolloxed so it wasn't a cheap job.
Rocketman
Registered user
That's handy to know and what to keep my eye out for in the future,
Bendy toy
Registered user
The paralever bearings move very few degrees each way so run the geese away. Draining FD oil the old way requires the FD to be rotated best part of 180 degrees so oil can drain out. This conveniently recirculates grease in the needle rollers.
Later bikes with an FD drain plug never get tipped back so paralever bearings run dry for most of their (shorter) lives.
Industrial and agricultural equipment working in very tough environments have for some years used polymer bearing bushes (eg Igus). They went from plain bushes straight to polymer. Needle rollers are great for high loads rotating but rubbish for oscillating actions with grease lube.
Later bikes with an FD drain plug never get tipped back so paralever bearings run dry for most of their (shorter) lives.
Industrial and agricultural equipment working in very tough environments have for some years used polymer bearing bushes (eg Igus). They went from plain bushes straight to polymer. Needle rollers are great for high loads rotating but rubbish for oscillating actions with grease lube.
