Great fun, swingarm bearings

[Justin B.]

The swingarm bearing races were completely hammered in the '82 LS so I yanked them out today.  I used the "weld a bead" method and I now get to do some touch-up painting.    Anyone found an on-line source for reasonable replacement bearings?  Moto-Bins wants £22 each which seems a bit steep...

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Anyone found an on-line source for reasonable replacement bearings?  Moto-Bins wants £22 each which seems a bit steep...

Local house?

From Snowbum: "FYI, this wheel and swing arm bearing is a FAG 30203A.U.P."

[Justin B.]

I think that's for the pre-'81 bearing, the '81 - '85 is, I believe, a 32230.  Chicago BMW shows about a $60 list price on 'em!

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I never realized until now that there was a change to the swing-arm with the '81 model.
I guess that is when they introduced the newer final drive housing, as well.

RealOEM doesn't even show the bearing number for the post '80s!!

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=0365&mospid=47853&btnr=33_0624&hg=33&fg=20

[steve hawkins]

When I pulled the swing arm bearings out of my 82 R100, they were of the earlier type (the type I have fitted to the R65).  However I did fit the later type when I put it back together.  They have seals, which the earlier type did not seem to have.

I stumped up.  However my local bearing supplier could supply the earlier type cheaper that morobins or motorworks etc.  Its just that they did not have them in stock and I was impatient.

If you have the numbers - pop into a bearing supplier and a saving will probably be made.

cheers

Steve H

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I went out to the garage.  I bought a couple of swingarm bearing at a local bearing supply house a couple of years ago.

They were $12.57 each.    NSK 30203J   40x17x12ish  (I don't have my calipers in the house).

Since I haven't installed them yet, I don't know if they will fit or not.

[Justin B.]

Rob, those are the olds ones.  According to the ETK they are 10x17x14 while the "new" one is 40x17x17...  I'm going to call the local guys today but really wanted to mail-order one as all of the bearing houses are 20 miles away...

[Justin B.]

The bearings were a little over $20/ea locally but I finally found some on-line for around $15/ea so they are on order.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

The bearings were a little over $20/ea locally but I finally found some on-line for around $15/ea so they are on order.

Part #?

[Justin B.]

32203R

[Altritter]

Justin, I gotta say that you have a great sense of humor with your topic title. With my level of mechanical skill, I'd as soon say "Great fun, root canal."   JT

[not-so-fast-ed]

JT,  1300 CC engine in the "Wolfsburg Wildcat"?

[Justin B.]

Well, I was being a tad sarcastic...  

[Justin B.]

I have ordered some of these bearings for evaluation and may buy a bunch of them for resale as the price is definitely a lot cheaper than alternate suppliers.  If anybody needs any let me know and I'll adjust my re-order accordingly...

[Ed Miller]

The swingarm bearing races were completely hammered in the '82 LS so I yanked them out today. snip.

Justin, how do you think that happened?  Rust?  Because those seem like pretty unstressed bearings, as far as I can tell.