Bearing Replacement-‘83 R65 Front Snowflake Wheel

[Charlie]

Investigating a loose axle nut then roughness in the front wheel bearings on a new to me '83 R65, I discovered the Previous DA had left out the bearing set-up spacer (wedding band). Not that surprising on this 'Pig in a Poke' that I bought.
This bearing assembly seems to not use an outer race spacing sleeve, as per parts diagram for that model.
I can set up the bearings freeplay with the outer races seated inside the wheel by feeling for ‘free play. At the proper axle nut torque. A little old school but has been used several times in my many years of setting bearing free play with tapered roller bearings.

but

Am I missing something.
Is there another way to adjust bearing free play without an outer race sleeve or can I use an outer race sleeve if it fits (OD and length) ?

Charlie

[Justin B.]

Usually a new bearing will come with the race that presses into the wheel.  The "wedding bands" come in various sizes/lengths and if my memory is correct and that is how the "freeplay" is set.

[Barry]

Investigating a loose axle nut then roughness in the front wheel bearings on a new to me '83 R65, I discovered the Previous DA had left out the bearing set-up spacer (wedding band). Not that surprising on this 'Pig in a Poke' that I bought.
This bearing assembly seems to not use an outer race spacing sleeve, as per parts diagram for that model.
I can set up the bearings freeplay with the outer races seated inside the wheel by feeling for ‘free play. At the proper axle nut torque. A little old school but has been used several times in my many years of setting bearing free play with tapered roller bearings.

but

Am I missing something.
Is there another way to adjust bearing free play without an outer race sleeve or can I use an outer race sleeve if it fits (OD and length) ?

Charlie

It's not you that's missing something, it's the parts fiche.  When I looked at it the wedding band isn't listed by part number on the snowflake diagram. What they call the outer bearing spacer is the top hat that fits outside the bearing and tucks under the seal. It is a spacer but it's nothing to do with adjusting the pre-load.  The bearing pre-load is set by the internal spacer and the wedding band next to it. If you look at the diagram for the spoked wheel hub it's #10 "wheel bearing spacer" and available in different lengths. That's the part you are missing.

[Charlie]

I was not clear on “what am I missing”. I thought I should ask if there was another method of setting bearing preload other than with the bearings inside of the wheel. Too bad that BMW did not use an ‘Outer Race Spacer’ to enable setting bearing preload out side of the wheel. I think is easier and more accurate to do outside of the wheel rather  than pushing and pulling the axle 90° to the wheel. But that seems to have worked ok in the past for me.

Since this website was down, I got an answer from another forum. I also could not figure out how to post a photo here on this forum. And boy, this forum/site needs a save feature. If there is a save feature, then I couldn’t figure that one out either. Where does one go for software questions ?

Charlie

[Barry]

Since this website was down, I got an answer from another forum.
I also could not figure out how to post a photo here on this forum.

clik

Posting a picture is easy enough  just click on "Attachments and other options"   There may be a minimum no of posts before you are able to post a picture.

Which other forum ?  so I can check if they gave you the right answer.

[Charlie]

Tried numerous times to post a photo. Could put the photo in the little attachment box but a dead end after that.

Kept loosing my reply while trying to post reply several times while trying to figure out photo installation.  Couldn’t find the save feature on my reply. Got frustrated and gave up. We have been having trouble w/ our internet supplier,so that may have played a part in this site being down or the sole reason

I Posted in Airhead section of the BMWMOA Forum. Same topic title subject or very similar. I was satisfied with the responses but mainly w/ the response that answered my query.
Let me know if you can’t access the forum. I’ll be glad to copy the whole topic post.

Charlie

Now I see a Preview function that I don’t think was there before. 🤷 but maybe it was. 🤷

[Barry]

GTrider gave the best reply.

What I was worried about is any suggestion that the whole bearing stack has to be removed to set the pre-load but that's not applicable to a snowflake.

As your wedding band is missing you have job deciding which size to buy as a replacement.  One idea would be to try the one from the rear wheel just on the off chance it's the right size or close enough to determine if you need a bigger or smaller one.
If a wedding band is too small there were shims available as an aftermarket option but I don't know where they can be bought these days. I made my own. If a wedding band is too big it can be lapped down but it's a tricky job to keep it dead square.

[Charlie]

Barry,
I have or had (before I used some) all of the spacers that were made. And also someone sold a spacer kit made in the States, that had washers/shims from maybe 0.1 mm ? on to ?. Very handy. Eliminated the need to go to a longer shim and possibly sand or turn down a ’wedding band’.

Since I’m not able to post a photo. Can you copy the photo of the ‘Outer bearing Race Spacer’ in the other Forum and paste to this Topic. It may make the Topic a little bit more clear.

Charlie

[Bob_Roller]

Here's a site that has the kit for wheel bearing setup .
Along with a lot of other tooling for BMW bikes .


www.cycleworks.net

[Charlie]

Nice bearing kit !
Very useful information.
Will save vendor.

Thanks Rob

[Barry]

Since I’m not able to post a photo. Can you copy the photo of the ‘Outer bearing Race Spacer’ in the other Forum and paste to this Topic. It may make the Topic a little bit more clear.

Charlie,

The outer bearing spacer is not applicable to a snowflake. It's only used on the earlier spoked wheels where the whole bearing stack is removed from the wheel for adjustment.

On a Snowflake the outer bearings are pressed into the wheel and that fixes the spacing. The spacing of the inner bearing is adjusted by the inner spacer and wedding band and this is done with the bearings insitu.
 

[Charlie]

Thanks BOB (not Rob) for the bearing kit site.
Handy site to save.

Thanks to Barry for posting photo for me

Charlie