The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: ambrose78 on June 13, 2009, 03:14:45 AM
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Just thought I'd share the experience.
I went for a ride the other day and the steering was loading up and getting heavy. At first I thought I was riding really poorly, over balacing and being a bit uncoordinated. Feeling spooked I parked the bike for a week.
Later when on the centre stand I noticed the steering was really stiff when the front wheel is in the air. So this narrowed it down to steering bearings
Anyway on closer inspection there is a litle plastic cap halfway in the steering tube behind the headlight. This pulls out easily to reveal a small hole. So I put a quick squirt of a light oil (lead replacement additive) in there and moved the steering from side to side - problem solved.
The steering has never felts so smooth or light. In hindsight I think it had been getting stiff gradually over a couple of months.
Happy riding from a sunny south.
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Just thought I'd share the experience.
I went for a ride the other day and the steering was loading up and getting heavy. At first I thought I was riding really poorly, over balacing and being a bit uncoordinated. Feeling spooked I parked the bike for a week.
Later when on the centre stand I noticed the steering was really stiff when the front wheel is in the air. So this narrowed it down to steering bearings
Anyway on closer inspection there is a litle plastic cap halfway in the steering tube behind the headlight. This pulls out easily to reveal a small hole. So I put a quick squirt of a light oil (lead replacement additive) in there and moved the steering from side to side - problem solved.
The steering has never felts so smooth or light. In hindsight I think it had been getting stiff gradually over a couple of months.
Happy riding from a sunny south.
That's a great tip,ive never noticed the plug before,but will look for it next time i'm in the area,mine went the same way about a month or so ago,but i dropped the head and lubed the bearings,i wonder if it's possible to pump some grease in there?.
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Yes it is possible, I made a posting about this on 04/30/09, under the heading of steering head bearing lubrication, I used a length of threaded rod, two large area rubber grommets, two large area steel washers and two nuts .
I put a rubber grommet and large area washer and a nut on one end, inserted the rod through the bottom end of the steering tube, it comes out on top at the 10mm hex in the adjustment nut for the steering bearings .
I put the other rubber grommet, large area washer and nut on the threaded rod, tightened the nuts to get a good seal .
I screwed in a 90 degree grease fitting in one of the threaded holes, and plugged the other hole, and pumped grease into the cavity until grease came out around the bearing areas .
Only concern I would have about doing this, is that in cold weather, the grease may stiffen up, and cause 'heavy' steering .
I use Aeroshell 33 grease, it doesn't change 'viscosity', (probably not a correct term for grease), it doesn't get thicker, or stiffen up at temperatures as low as -10 F.
As long as you know your bearings are in good condition, this may be an option available to you .
If you have never have had a look at the bearings, I think it would be wise to do it once, before doing this procedure .
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The "caps" plug the attaching holes for the upper fairing mount when an RT or RS fairing is installed. This might be a good quick "emergency" fix but it reveals the need to service your head bearings...
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Guess it is time to service the head bearings. I've read the post in the how to guides section which looks excellent. Looks like quite a bit of work though.
How long does this job usually take?
Is it better to just put new bearings in than to clean up the old ones?
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If properly maintained the bearings will last the life of the bike. There's no need to replace "just 'cause they're old" unless you want your money winding up in somebody elses pocket!
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I had a similar problem. My steering got stiff due to 30 year old dried out grease. I also found a squirt of lubricant provided a temporary cure and I got away with a good clean and regrease without changing the bearings.
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Cool I'll give that a go then with existing bearings.
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I would line up a local bearing house as a source for replacements "just in case" and then tear it down. If the bearings AND races are OK just clean, grease, and reassemble. If you have a suspect bearing after cleaning then replace it AND the outer race.
If you don't feel any pronounced "notciyness" when you rotate the bars through their full range then it's a good chance the bearings are OK.
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While talking greases, back in the push bike days pretty much any clean grease was better than no grease/dirty gease. But If you wanted the ducks guts of greases one would use White Lithium based grease which was supposed to have better lubrication qualities/resistance to water etc.
Is there any Grease that's regarded as the dogs bollocks of motorbike bearings?
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I guess it depends on how much you are willing to pay .
From what I've heard, Mobil 1 grease is a top quality grease, at a reasonable price .
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Well I'm up to step two in the instructions where it is time to undo the 10mm allen nut.
Is this a normal right hand thread? Currently trying to remove it, even using a long allen key and an axtender bar and it wont budge....
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Don't worry the nut finnaly cracked... after 2 extender bars and quite a lot of force. Looks pretty corroded around the thread which might explain the lack of bearing grease inside....
It is a right hand thread for the record
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All back together now. It was easier than it looked.
Talk about some pretty old and hard grease in them there bearings... My guess is it was the original west german grease from the factory.
It is operating smoothly and well greased without having to change the bearings :)
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So, Pete... What grease did you end up using? Old ducks guts?
Monte
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They were out of stock of ducks guts.
In the end I just used what was readily available. Some red Nulon grease rated for -35 to- 100+ degrees with supossedly excellent water repelling qualities....
Given that steering head bearins are never going to be operating in high heat the main thing I looked for was water repelling quallities as I reckon water can get in behind the plastic in the holes without too much effort. Was actually thinking of using some tape to seal these holes.
Either way it is nice to know that yet another part of the bike is now up to speed. Does the rear swing arm have bearings and would they also be likely to need some greasy action whilst in the greasing type of mood?
Is it a relatively easy job like the steering bearings or major PIA?
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Either way it is nice to know that yet another part of the bike is now up to speed. Does the rear swing arm have bearings and would they also be likely to need some greasy action whilst in the greasing type of mood?
Is it a relatively easy job like the steering bearings or major PIA?
Yes it needs greased, and it is a much easier job than doing the steering head bearings. Remove the plastic covers on each side of the swing arm, put a cone shaped tip on your grease gun (mine is rubber so it seals very well), and push grease into the hole in the middle. Just a bit on each side, and clean up the excess that comes out. I do it about every 500 miles but I think the book lets you do it much less frequently.