RE: R1100S Paralever /swingarm play

["Minor, Bob" <Bminor@xxxxxxxx>]

I too have had issues with rear wheel/paralever play on my '96 RS.  Originally I guessed it was coming from the from the front paralever pivot bearings as the bike had it's clutch replaced 6 months before.  After I adjusted the preload on those bearings there was no improvement so I took it to the dealer.  They first replaced the large roller bearing (4" diameter or so) in the final drive but that didn't fix it either.  Then they replaced the rear pivot bearing which did correct the problem.  They gave me a song and dance about the bearing that didn't need replacing being ready to go or something, but that was just to get me to pay the entire $400 bill.

On a trip last summer I found the play had returned.  I stopped at Sierra BMW while on the road and had them adjust it.  The mechanic said he didn't want to put too much preload on it and left it a touch loose.  A year later it is still a touch loose.

While at Spokane I spent some time watching and talking to the traveling mechanic while he was replacing someone's clutch.  Quite a show actually.  Anyway, I mentioned my pivot bearing issue to him as I'm still a bit concerned that it has play when the manuals say no play allowed.  When I told him it had been replaced once he said "Only once?  Your bike must never get out of your garage."  He said the rear pivot bearing was "cheesy" and needs to be replaced frequently.

If this bearing is as cheesy as he says I think a lot of you will find some play if you look.  Just grab the wheel at 12 and 6 o'clock and then 3 and 9. If you push and pull in both directions and there's no play, lucky you.  

Bob Minor
'96 R11RS
'97 F650ST


      

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-oilheads@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-oilheads@xxxxxxxxx]On
Behalf Of Jack Bunce
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 6:14 AM
To: oilheads@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: R1100S Paralever /swingarm play


On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 01:20:00 +0000, "conrad long" 
<conradlong@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> ...
>      Bob is correct; they are tapered roller bearings, both at the 
> swing-arm
> and at the final drive, at least on my '94 RS. Any side to side 
> movement is
> bad; sometimes the bike moving on the center-stand can mask real 
> results of a
> check. IIRC, they are preloaded to 7Nm with the large allen bolts. I've
> found a couple that were "notchy" at 40k miles , but never loose. Did 
> the
> bike feel "loose" when you rode it? You also hinted at a noise: ?
>
>      I've never taken the pre-load adjustment to be routine 
> maintenance,
> simply the procedure to use when re-installing the swing-arm/final 
> drive.
> ...

Thanks, Conrad.

I don't think there is any side to side play at all.  It appears to be 
more rotational in a horizontal plane.  It would be the kind of motion 
one would expect if a bearing race had worn or the pre-load (if I 
understand pre-load properly) was out of specification due to bearing 
wear.

This is not something I noticed while riding.  I only checked it 
because of all the rear drive problem posts on the mailing lists and 
web sites I frequent.

I have recently gone to a much "harder" setting on the rear suspension: 
it used to be 1/2 turn out on the rebound and a few turns away from 
full soft on the pre-load (the book recommended settings).  Well it 
finally dawned on me that the bike was wallowing occasionally so after 
changing the front rebound damping to -5 clicks instead of -6 I then 
went to 1/4 turn out on the rear rebound and 3 turns from full hard on 
the rear pre-load (my rear pre-load has 13 turns of adjustment 
available in total).  It now seems to track like it is on rails with 
really smooth side to side transitions even on my bumpy New England 
back roads.  Almost like getting a new bike!

The noise is that of something metallic hitting a stop and only occurs 
when I force the rear wheel back and forth in a horizontal plane.  It 
is not loud but is clearly audible.

..... [time passes]....

Just went out and tried some more wiggling only this time I did it from 
the right side of the bike and attempted to hold the swing arm in place 
just forward of the rear drive pivots.  The swing arm did not appear to 
move at all but the other symptoms remained.

I think the service manager got it exactly right when he suggested that 
it was probably the rear needle bearings that either failed or were out 
of spec on the pre-load.

Thanks again for the help.

cheers.... jack, '04 R1100SA, Waterford, Connecticut, U.S.A.

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