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swingarm bearing lube


JamesW

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A good morning to you. I am looking into lubricating just the swingarm bearings on my R1100RS. I have, in the past, removed the drive train as a complete unit and lubricated just the transmission input shaft splines. My question is could I simply disconnect the rear shock/spring from the swingarm then just remove the swingarm pivot bolts after applying heat with a torch to soften the loctite and apply a blob of wheel bearing grease to the surface of the tapered roller swingarm bearings? I would support the swingarm with a block of wood or a car jack.

 

Too bad the oilhead swingarm bearings aren't as easy to lube as the bearings on an airhead but oh well.

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A good morning to you. I am looking into lubricating just the swingarm bearings on my R1100RS. I have, in the past, removed the drive train as a complete unit and lubricated just the transmission input shaft splines. My question is could I simply disconnect the rear shock/spring from the swingarm then just remove the swingarm pivot bolts after applying heat with a torch to soften the loctite and apply a blob of wheel bearing grease to the surface of the tapered roller swingarm bearings? I would support the swingarm with a block of wood or a car jack.

 

Too bad the oilhead swingarm bearings aren't as easy to lube as the bearings on an airhead but oh well.

 

Afternoon James

 

You can but you really won't lubricate much as the grease won't get into the actual bearing.

 

GUW7KiP.jpg

 

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Hmmm, looks to me like about the only thing one can do where this bearing is concerned is replace it if it's worn. Looks like a sealed bearing.

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What I've done in the past is fill that hole with fresh grease and use the pivot pin to press the grease in, several times. Not perfect, but it will get some fresh grease in there- providing the blocking plate is still there behind the bearing. After that, check that the bearing moves smoothly.

 

Frank

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If that bearing is worth its weigh, what you are describing is a waste of time. no grease is going past those seal in the manner you describe. they are sealed bearings and that is why you cant get grease into them. Swing Arm Bearing failure is (almost) unheard of.

Edited by AndyS
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I've been doing some preventive maintenance chores on my MCs lately mostly on the FJR and on that bike one should pay attention to little things like front fork oil changes and swingarm bearing cleaning and lubrication. Doing the FJR swingarm lube isn't that difficult but it does cause one to appreciate some of the many attributes of the BMW for sure. We're mainly talking needle bearings versus roller bearings in this case. Anyway, this is what got me thinking about the R1100RS swingarm and then my 75 year old brain went back in time to the airhead days and I never owned a paralever airhead.

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It seems all that can be done short of replacing it if the seal has failed and rollers and races are damaged is to rotate it for several revolutions to check that it doesn't feel grungy, reassemble and set the pins to the correct torque. Since the swig arm only moves a several degrees up and down, maybe the rollers and races will end up in a place where they haven't been loaded to much...and maybe not, but it likely doesn't matter since the bearing is evenly loaded when torqued by the pins.

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One of the small-scale specialist BMW spares suppliers has radically redesigned this pair of failure-prone bearings by making a proper job of them, greaseable externally. Why didn't the Greedy Berlin Pig think of that ? ?

 

Cheaper than an a pair of OEM replacements, too.

 

https://www.beemershop.com/Merchant5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=TRA11094

 

One rider recommendation and endorsement reads as follows : -

 

"After the rear drive unit on my 2004 Rockster started squeaking and I had free play in the rear end, I did some research and purchased this kit from Emerald. Quality parts, replaces everything (bearings and pins). Very straight forward install for a weekend mechanic. Took me 3 hours start to finish and I worked slowly. Most of the time/effort was getting the old stuff off and lining up the driveshaft during re-installation. I used a large C clamp to press the races in place. The bushings work beautifully and removable fitting gives you the capability to grease them at oil changes without the hassle of removing the rear drive unit. Thanks for getting me back on the road. Thanks guys. Mike Giannetti"

Edited by Alan Sykes
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Hi Alan, Good info! Seems I remember reading somewhere about replacing the swingarm roller bearings with bushings since roller bearings like to rotate 360 degrees. Was a while ago and I completely forgot about it. I'll probably be done with my riding career before my swingarm bearings need replacement but you never know.

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Hi Alan, Good info! Seems I remember reading somewhere about replacing the swingarm roller bearings with bushings since roller bearings like to rotate 360 degrees. Was a while ago and I completely forgot about it. I'll probably be done with my riding career before my swingarm bearings need replacement but you never know.

 

Afternoon James

 

If you ever decide to install bushings instead of bearings be sure to research the heck out of the bushing kit first. (especially long term durability).

 

I am not familiar with the kit mentioned above but I have YET to see a bushing setup work out long term without issues. Most I have seen keep wearing so need adjustment every so often & once they get fore/aft slop in the bushing to pivot there is no adjusting that out. Must be a good reason that BMW chose the more expensive bearings over cheaper bushings.

 

Everyone seems happy to begin with but long-term not so much.

 

 

 

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I wonder if needle bearings are better for swingarm applications than rollers or the other way around? Far as I know BMW has always used roller bearings in swingarms and I think steering heads as well with neither locations ever seeing full rotation.

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I wonder if needle bearings are better for swingarm applications than rollers or the other way around? Far as I know BMW has always used roller bearings in swingarms and I think steering heads as well with neither locations ever seeing full rotation.

 

Evening James

 

I'm not sure that needle bearings would work correctly as they are small diameter. I believe the rollers in the swing arm bearings have a slight taper to them.

 

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The OEM bearings are fine. They are taper roller bearings, and I am with DR on this. Changing to a plain bushing is more of a risk than sticking with the OEM choice.

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Bushings might tolerate contamination better, but on a street bike where this isn't an issue taper rollers is the way to go as you can maintain virtually zero slop in that pivot point over the life of the bearing by checking and maintaining the correct torque...and it likely would only need re-torquing only a few times over the life of the bike, if at all.

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I think I'll leave well enough alone. Actually I've never heard of anyone having a swing arm issue at all with a BMW other than the previous (Alan) poster come to think of it. I'm sure there are others but I think the issue isn't common.

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True, JamesW, but a notable number of Paralever assemblies that I've come across in the last few years here in Spain exhibit excess slop after extensive use and need attention to take up the slack, because of the inadequate OEM specification and furnishing of their bearings, instead of bushings.

 

And before you seek out the new price of replacement bearings from the Greedy Berlin Pig, make sure you're sitting down calmly with a nice cup of coffee and a biscuit.

Edited by Alan Sykes
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I think I'll leave well enough alone. Actually I've never heard of anyone having a swing arm issue at all with a BMW other than the previous (Alan) poster come to think of it. I'm sure there are others but I think the issue isn't common.

 

 

Morning James

 

Those swing arm bearings are a decent sized bearing that have plenty of capacity to handle the expected load so nothing inherently wrong with the bearing design.

 

The bearing damage usually comes from running them too loose allowing shock loads to cause bearing race brinelling.

 

On higher mile bikes those bearings should probably be adjusted at least once in their life cycle. Or checked occasionally for looseness & if tight then nothing required, but if found loose then a slight adjustment is probably a good idea.

 

It's the adjustment that most riders get wrong as most don't adjust them quite tight enough. There is a BMW service manual torque (quite low) on the bearing pins but in most cases that leaves them a bit too loose. The service manual torque is based on free spinning parts (clean unmolested threads) & no load on the pins (with trans/swing arm out of bike). It's that no-load thing that is difficult to achieve with the swing arm hanging in the bike.

 

Personally I usually just adjust the pin torque by hand to a decent feel as I can feel past the basic pin thread bind. Lacking the feel then adding a couple of newton meters to the basic book torque usually covers the additional drag when working on the swing arm when hanging in the bike.

 

You can work some grease into those bearings but it does require complete disassembly. If the bearings feel smooth & notch free now then might as well wait until it actually needs new bearings as the work is about the same.

 

If you intend to adjust or unscrew a pivot pin then make darn sure to use enough heat as it is ever so easy to strip the alloy threads out if enough heat isn't used before movement.

 

 

 

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.....And before you seek out the new price of replacement bearings from the Greedy Berlin Pig, make sure you're sitting down calmly with a nice cup of coffee and a biscuit.

 

BMW isn't alone in charging a significant premium for replacement parts VS aftermarket. I can think of no instance where OEM parts are the low cost option. However, in the case of bearings you can with some research find a bearing that will be the exact match to OEM or even exceed the specification of the OEM bearing. So, if you find you have a worn or damaged bearing and can't bring yourself to pay the premium to get the OEM bearing, then a little research may get you the part at a reasonable price. Start by getting the part number off the edge of outer race and see if you can source the part from a bearing house, I highly doubt BMW had a unique bearing made up for that application. That said, if it takes too much time to figure out how to source from a third party then maybe the high OEM price wasn't so outrageous after all.

 

 

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Morning__

 

Here are the bearings (I can't read the entire number on my small laptop here). Hopefully someone with a high resolution screen can read it.

 

In any case the "Z" prefix means the bearing is a single side partially shielded bearing so it is sealed on one side & partially shielded on the other. (if I remember correctly the shielded end is the end ring of the plastic roller separator)

 

VFHZfsG.jpg

 

hi8Af4a.jpg

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This was a quick google search I did at lunch today. So if you are going to go for it, double check to be sure I haven't missed identified this bearing. Check ID, OD, bearing width and such. that said at ~ $25 US each seams about at the high normal range for a bearing. But I would have been a little surprised in it was $10 each.

 

Roller bearing 539816-A-FAG - 17x40x13.25 mm The pictures look like the markings are right. (I have no affiliation with this vendor)

 

https://www.123bearing.com/bearing-539816-A-FAG.php?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0JTcqaGE3wIVDz0MCh0Qew1FEAkYASABEgLAcfD_BwE

 

If you simply type in 539816-A-FAG in the google machine it looks like you can shop and get the best deal on delivered to your neck of the woods!

 

 

Alan.

Guessing $60 for two with shipping here in the US. I would think a similar converted price in the EU....Hope that doesn't strike you as Greedy Pig pricing :grin:

Edited by Paul De
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On both my 1100 I packed those bearing by working grease into the backside with my fingers then squeeze and pack until fresh grease came through. It took a little time and I have narrow digits, but I'd rather have the original FAG bearings than some cheap offshore bearings. With 80K miles, mine were still smooth. I used my favorite Bel Rey waterproof grease.

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On both my 1100 I packed those bearing by working grease into the backside with my fingers then squeeze and pack until fresh grease came through. It took a little time and I have narrow digits, but I'd rather have the original FAG bearings than some cheap offshore bearings. With 80K miles, mine were still smooth. I used my favorite Bel Rey waterproof grease.

 

So, you removed the bearings from the swing arm just to lubricate them or were you doing other drive train maintenance like trans input shaft lube as well? Just curious.

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No, I was replacing a clutch on one bike and the transmission on the other. Bearings were not removed, I believe I used my pinky finger to reach in through the center of the bearing and pack from behind. Tedious but I was eventually able to get fresh grease to come out past the seal. There was a significant amount of grease grease in the bearing so maybe it wasn't necessary but I had no way on knowing that. They should now last forever.

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I have seen grease in the spray can format. Never have used it but wonder if it would be a solution for folks with fat stubby digits. You'd want to let the bearing sit for a while to be sure the solvent all flashed off and the grease thickerned enough to stay put.

 

An example of what I am talking about

https://www.grainger.com/product/1HBK8?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIx6rknviN3wIVQbjACh1r5g_FEAQYAiABEgLAffD_BwE&cm_mmc=PPC:+Google+PLA&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMIx6rknviN3wIVQbjACh1r5g_FEAQYAiABEgLAffD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!2966!3!281698275537!!!g!472123448796!

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The Fabricator
No, I was replacing a clutch on one bike and the transmission on the other. Bearings were not removed, I believe I used my pinky finger to reach in through the center of the bearing and pack from behind. Tedious but I was eventually able to get fresh grease to come out past the seal. There was a significant amount of grease grease in the bearing so maybe it wasn't necessary but I had no way on knowing that. They should now last forever.

Easier way to pack a blind bearing is use a grease gun. Use a section of hose that slips over the gun nipple and is also a tight fit in the inner race. Sometimes in such a situation, I build up the diameter of the gun nipple with masking tape until it is a tight fit in the inner race.

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Easier way to pack a blind bearing is use a grease gun. Use a section of hose that slips over the gun nipple and is also a tight fit in the inner race. Sometimes in such a situation, I build up the diameter of the gun nipple with masking tape until it is a tight fit in the inner race.

 

Afternoon Fabricator

 

Unfortunately the OP's R1100RS swing arm bearings are not blind hole bearings so the grease would just squirt through into the swing arm interior cavity.

 

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