danl

Are you sure that it is paint and not anodizing? Anodizing can have a Candy look, and it can vary in color between batches and alloys. If parts are in the tank longer the color will be darker. It can also fade over time especially when exposed to sunlight, chemicals, and possibly heat. I haven't seen any of these in person, but I would say that if the inside of the valve covers are the same color than it's probably anodized.

Sorry to leave this thread hanging for so long. Don't know if anyone was interested, but I know it's no fun to search a topic only to find a relevant thread that goes nowhere! I've actually been back up and running since december (although that's only been about 1000 miles due to the cold weather here in philly). The problem was that the sealed bearing in the center of the ring gear (visible from the left with the wheel off) was off of it's seat by about .030". Since the spacer inside the box butts up against the race of this bearing, the spacer was .030" to the left of where it should be. This is why the inner spacer did not protrude through the big washer. I re-seated the bearing, and now the wheel turns smoothly and without noise on the stand and the road! I really should have changed the bearing, but I had to assemble it to check it out and then-well you know how things go. It's somewhere on the list. It seems to me that this is what would happen if you tightened the wheel up with the big washer resting on the axle instead of in its recess. At this point I don't care because It's nice out and my bike is running great!

Hey everybody, Just a little update for anyone who is interested. I figured it was worth having a look at my bearing spacing, since so many people have reported problems with their own. My bearing spacer measures 4.435" (112.65mm) and it is .013" (.33mm) LONGER than the bearing registers in my wheel. While this does seem a bit long to me, (and I may lap this spacer down a tiny bit) there is no way it was causing the notchiness I was feeling. Last week I sent my reardrive out (as much as it pains me) to a guy on Long Island who specializes in Guzzi gearboxes and reardrives. He has setup fixtures to properly load the crown gear away from the pinion when setting backlash, and I feel that I am in good hands. I will let you know what the outcome is.

Philadelphia to Atlanta, Mid-April 2007. This was on Syline Drive

This is how things should be, but now think about what happens inside the final drive when 31 is too short. The clamping force from the l/s of the swingarm is applied to 36, and from r/s of the swingarm is applied to 33-30-2. I remember seeing a post a while back where someone else asked about the height of this washer. His washer was like mine, but someone else posted a pick showing the race sticking out farther than the washer (like it's supposed to) I haven't been able to find that post again, but I think the poster may have sold that bike. Phil_P Thanks for the link to VBX bearings. they look like a really good resource. If everyone else hasn't seen this here is a link to the 6204 2-rs bearings http://www.vxb.com/page/bearings/PROD/20mm/6204-2RS-1 I found bearing site while searching for bearings at work a while back http://www.ty-coon.com/categories.asp?cat=152 this is a very strange site- it doesn't even say where they are located. They list bearings in different packages 2 6204-2rs bearings are 5.81. If you are really paranoid you could buy 1000 bearings for $1016.40 I feel like these must be really low quality bearings at those prices, but I sent off an email anyway asking about brands, nationality, clearances (standard, C3 etc.) If I get a response I will post it here. None of this matters of course, because I am impatient and I want to play w/ the back wheel this weekend so it's off to NAPA! Wheel bearing spacer How many people have had problems with this spacer? Does it affect certain years, or is it across the board? Do any suppliers carry an improved spacer for sale, or is it custom for everyone? If my spacer measures 113.2mm or so do you guys consider it to be "OK"

When I bought my bike the previous owner gave me the special tool for this cover. it has a filter wrench on one side, a 27mm hex driver on the otherside and a 1/2 in. ratchet drive in the center part number reads 01.92.91.00

I think you are talking about the spacer between the wheel and the final drive (not pictured on the exploded view) which is in place. I had been thinking that the ring gear was set up using the shim (#25 on expl.view). I dont have the parts book, but if this is true than the part# would probably show different #'s for different thicknesses. Many times, when gears are set up with shims that move the ring gear as (opposed to the pinion) there are shims on both sides. If you use a larger shim on the left you need to then increase the shim on the right to make up for it. (unless you assume the swingarm will just compress enough to take up the slack) I wonder if part #32 comes in different thicknesses? The book makes it look like spacer #5 goes through the center of it but it actually butts right up against it. (it is in my lap as I type this)

Hi guys, Thanks for your comments. I've been waiting for my shop stand to arrive so I could dig in to this thing again before replying again. I'm including some pictures this time to help describe things. Final Drive The first three show the washer I was asking about. I agree that it only goes on one way, and I can't imagine how one could install it overlapping the race-but it sure seems like that happened at some point. There is even a slight gouge where the washer was installed incorrectly (screwdriver is catching it) My feeling is that the inner race should stick out farther than the washer so that it is compressed along with the other inner races and spacers, and does not rotate. If the washer was wider than the race than it would be clamped tightly between the swingarm and the housing (which must rotate slightly in relation to the swingarm) My worry is that if the spacing on the right side of the ring gear is too short than this would allow the compression of the axle nut to change the preload of the ring and pinion. If I spin the input shaft while trying to push the ring gear to the right (pushing on its L/S bearing race-see photo) I can feel the notchiness I was feeling before. If I then spin the input shaft while pushing the needle bearing race to the left side everything feels good. Wheel Bearings The test I described before (using an axle, spacers and nut to compress the wheel bearing inner races and spacer) Is somewhat standard practice when seting up BMW wheel bearings, and will usually allow you to feel any bearing strangeness. I believe my mechanic was using a front axle which is a bit shorter, but I don't quite remember I also cant feel anything abnormal when rotating the bearing races by hand now that the wheel is off. I think if the wheel bearings were causing this notchiness I should be able to feel something by hand. The spacer inside the wheel feels pretty snug against the inner faces of the bearings. I can slide it up and down a bit if I try, but it is certainly not rattling around in there. Is it possible to remove one of these bearings to measure this spacer against your guidelines without damaging the bearing?

Hi everybody, Sorry if this posts twice, I tried to post last night on an old thread but I must have goofed something up because it hasn't shown up. This is my first post, although I've been lurking around here for a while since I bought my '00 sport about a year ago. My question is about final drive/needle bearing spacers. I think that I have a problem with the bearing spacing in the final drive, but not in the wheel. I have been reading all of the posts I can find on the topic, and I think i'm pretty up to date with all of your comments but I need some clarification. I recently had a rear tire installed by my local shop (who was a BMW dealer when my '73 /5 was new, and a Guzzi dealer when the v11 was new but is now an independent shop) whom I believe to be very competent. He pulled off the wheel and had another shop (with a tire machine) mount the tire. When he reinstalled the wheel and torqued the axle (with a torque wrench) he noticed that the wheel felt slightly notchy when spun by hand. This is about the point when I walked in the door planning to pick up the bike. I spun the wheel myself and agreed that it didn't feel right. I think a lot of lesser shops would not have even noticed the problem and sent me on my way. I don't think the problem is in the wheel bearings, because he torqued them up with my axle and a spacer while off of the bike and they felt smooth. There has been a lot of talk on the forum about a bearing spacer that may have been substandard from the factory. I think this refers to a spacer that is internal to the wheel, and defines the spacing between the wheel bearing inner races. I don't believe that this is my problem because of the test in the previous paragraph. I think my problem is in the final drive. With the drive off of the bike I can see that the inner race of the needle bearing on the right does not protrude beyond the washer that surrounds it. When the wheel torqued up with the washer, axle tension compresses the washer before the race and the wheel feels notchy. If the wheel is torqued up without the washer (so the inner race is tensioned against the other inner races and spacers) the wheel feels fine. he had another final drive on the bench, and it's needle bearing race stuck out farther than the washer. My question is Has there been any concensus on the spacing of the final drive bearings (not the wheel bearings) and this particular issue? Can this be caused by improper wheel installation or other general knuckleheadery? Was there a problem from the factory? It is possible that this problem has existed as long as I have had the bike since I had never had the wheel off the ground and felt it spin. Bike has 9k miles, 6k of which are mine. Gear oil looked perfect, and we even took the final drive apart to look at the gears- also perfect. Rear tire had been changed once before I got it, and Ferracci had all of this apart to perform a gearbox recall as soon as I got the bike. There is evidence that the axle was once tightened up with the washer overlapping the needle bearing inner race (could have driven this race into housing a bit) but this doesn't seem to be recent because the marks dont look very new. I carefully rode home the 3 miles or so to my house and am awaiting a Pit Bull rearstand so that I can get these parts off and in my hands again.