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The left rear bearing spun in my bike's hub a couple of years ago. There was sufficient clearance that I was able to fit a fairly stiff strip of paper from a manilla envelope around the shell. So I mixed up some West System epoxy, thickened it with the West strengthening compound and soaked the paper, then pressed the bearing in. I also scored the hub ID with a screwdriver and the bearing shell OD with an angle grinder.



I adjusted the preload properly before doing the epoxy thing, and trimmed off the excess paper before reinstalling the wheel on the bike. All good, and still fine after about 15k kms. I'll get a sleeve installed eventually - there is a retired engineer in a nearby town with a lathe big enough to fit the whole wheel (without tyre). I understand that he has done a couple of BMW wheels before, so knows the required tolerances.

Airbear,I saw that fix earlier while looking through the archives and I must say that is some great engineering ! If it lasted 15k km who could argue with that?

Do the Locktite thing with yours, woodpile.
His was a lot looser than you reported yours as being.

While cleaning up my hub this morning in preparation to locktite my outer race in I made a disturbing discovery- the inner bearing is locked solid.Solid in a way that I tried to spin it until my finger hurt and it still didn't turn. Has anyone ever seen this before?So now its looks as though new bearings/races will be ordered and the whole stack is coming out,not something that I want to do with my limited facilities.On the plus side this is the perfect time to correctly space the rear stack. Can anyone tell me what the BMW tool is that I need for the removal? I've read up on heating the hub,I hope a propane or MAP gas torch will do the job since that's all that I have. It looks my new /5 is going from a simple servicing to ride while I work on the /2 into a project bike.

I found similar bearings in the rear wheel of my new to me R65 that had sat for a few years in a rain forest. On the aluminum /5 hubs, I used the axle inserted from the opposite side as a drift for removing them. Heat the hub to spit sizzling hot for removal and insertion! Once out, you can then build the stack on the axle, but you will need a short section of pipe to take up the gap where the final drive would be. Mount the axle pointing up in a vice, that way you can tell when the play is going away as you tighten the axle nut. There should be no play when torqued to spec, but you will still be able to move the center spacer to the side without much effort. Here's a picture from Duanes website: and his write up on the subject: http://w6rec.com/duane/bmw/wheel_bearing/index.htm

Tim, thanks for the help, I'll have to read over that article once again. I guess getting a bike with only 40k miles on the clock has its downsides like a bearing seizing from sitting so long. I didn't find any water or evidence of any such as corrosion when I took it apart which seems odd. I made the call today that its going from a just get it running bike to a full tear down starting this weekend and then be ready to ride in the Spring. I haven't even touched the engine yet so who knows what's lurking in there.

Woodpile, It's not a good sign when you get a really OLD bike with very low milage. It may mean something broke and got half fixed so the bike got parked, or the owner didn't know how to take care of it in the first place.
When I got my R75/5, it had 140K miles on the clock. Still running fine and only the "usual" maintenance needed.

I'm learning that now, it's not something I had considered before buying it. I'm pretty sure it's the original clutch in it still and that whole assembly is on the replacement list. Whoever had it before me did care enough to put ME 77 tires on it although they are showing they're age. She does sound good and shifts well with no odd noises which did attract me to it. Overall the whole bike is in decent shape except for the small things I've found. I'll take them over a sick engine or growling transmission. It never occurred to me that a high milage could be a good deal since it would have needed servicing to get that far.

I think that some need to read my article on the wheel bearing stack. From the comments here, almost nobody posted correct comments. Please don't ruin your hub.

You never drive the stack out. It comes out with heat.

I could go on a lot, but it is all in my article. Time to go to sleep.

Me77 are old school, michelins are better