Pivot Bearings???

[jonnyfish]

I cannot for the life of me find the write up with pics to change the pivot bearings!! Can someone please help!!!

[iowabeakster]

I don't recall seeing that anybody wrote one up here on the board. This is the best tutorial I have run across for the job. Obviously, the person who made this was using the replacement bushings instead of the OEM bearings.

http://rvbprecision.com/motorcycles/bmw ... ement.html

[jonnyfish]

Great thanks ever so much this is the one i recall seeing!! Thanks again!!

[grwrockster]

I changed the rear bevel drive pivot bearings about 12000 miles ago after they started creaking like a rusty hinge (think the original owner was a bit too liberal with a pressure washer maybe?) The taper rollers had got sticky and so the bevel drive was pivoting on the centres rather than the bearings - as the pivots are aluminium they wore quickly and produced the odd creaking noise. Chances are that if you need to do the bearings then you'll need to replace the pivot centres too.

The Haynes Manual was quite helpful BTW - one thing they mentioned straight away was.....
One important tool will be a butane/propane blowtorch. If it's the OE bearings then they are fitted with a locking compound that is very VERY, VERY tough. I was warned that to try to force the main nut on the inside of the swingarm undone without using lots of heat might strip the threads on the arm! (BTW - I was alos informed that not ALL locking compounds behave this way - so if you're eyes are popping out of your head and you still can't shift the thing with lots of heat applied then it may be the opposite! All I can say is my OE ones needed the blowtorch!).

You need to apply lots of heat with the blowtorch to the area around the pivot points so that the locking compound softens - even then be prepared to have to use quite a lot of muscle to ease it loose. The good news is that the paint was unaffected by using the blowtorch.

The job itself is otherwise pretty simple. BTW I didn't bother draining the final drive oil or anything like that - I just removed the speedo drive (mine is non-ABS model) and plugged it. Pull back the gaiter & remove the pivots (I marked the drive shaft and the Universal (Cardan) Joint before popping the UJ off the driveshaft just in case there was a balance issue so I could ensure it went back together exactly as it was before). There's no need to remove the driveshaft or the swingarm etc - it can all be done on the bike. The UJ pops off quite easily from the driveshaft with a bit of pressure to overcome the spring-clip with a large flat-blade screwdriver.

BTW - The torque figure for the pivot bearing setting is very low - lower than a typical wrench will read - not much tighter than finger tight really (sorry can't recall the numbers here in my lunch break) - mine wouldn't go quite low enough so in the end I used the wrench at lowest setting and then 'guesstimated' and it worked fine (with a bit of common sense - no free play etc.).

Note that I re-torqued the lock nut to the recommended setting and didn't use any locking compound - I checked it since and it's never budged. If it worries you then put some locking gloop on the threads on reassembly - I chose not to so it was easier to get them off again to grease them.