RichMaund Posted September 11, 2002 Share Posted September 11, 2002 I tore into my bike today to get some preventive maintenance done. A customer canceled a seat job so I actually had a day free to do my own work! That doesn't happen often. I purged and changed all the hydraulic fluids. They were turning a bit dark after 2 years in the system. No problems there although bleeding the clutch slave cylinder is a bit tight. I'm glad I have small hands. I then pulled the rear wheel to pull the swing arm to better get to the zerk fitting on the forward universal joint. With teh swing arm off thebike, it is simple to flex it upward and get a grease gun on that zerk. But I had a problem pulling the rear axle out. I finally beat it out with a mallet and it took a wheel bearing out with it! Pressed it right out of the wheel. Funny thing is, the bearing remaining in the wheel on the left side of the hub felt very notchy when I tested it. Bad bearing. The bearing that was knocked free feels fine. But I always replace them in sets. Has anyone here had a wheel bearing go bad in only 8000 miles? I have to make a trip to the local bearing shop for a new set tomorrow morning. Another joy. My rear brake pads are down below 1/16" thickness. I called Joe Eish. He had a set in stock and they'll be on their way here tomorrow! God Bless Joe. He is terrific! I did check that the pistons move freely in the rear caliper. No problems. But they wore out in just 8K miles. That is a new low record for me with a Guzzi's brakes. Tonight I plan to tear into the cush drive to make sure the factory lubed it properly. I have seen these assembled dry by the factory before and then lock up with rust. And I will measure the wheel hubs ID and compare to the OD of the bearings to see what sort of press fit they had. Hope I don't find anything else. My tires will be worn out w/i another 2K miles. I'll check the front wheel then. Hopefully no surprises before then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HI-TECH-CHECK Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 I currently awaiting a front wheel bearing to be replaced under warranty. It is slinging grease out on the disc from the seal (in the sealed bearing) It is starting to give me "deja vu". Seems I had to put real American bearings in the Ducati 350 engine to keep it running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichMaund Posted September 12, 2002 Author Share Posted September 12, 2002 Those seals on the bearings aren't perfect. They don't seal tight. They just hold grease in. Often you can even remove those seals, repack the bearing and then reinstall the seals if your are careful with them. But they are so inexpensive, I don't spend time on them. I picked up new FAG Bearings (From South Korea. Stock bearings came from France.) today at a local shop. Less than $17 for a pair. Good light press fit into the wheel hub. (.005") They feel smooth as silk. I disassembled the cush drive just to inspect it. I have seen these assembled dry at the factory and then they lock up with rust as they age. One problem, the cheesy shallow headed grade 2 fasteners holding the plate in it were stuck with red Loctite. That was stupid. Red is appropriate for the grade 5 fasteners on the brake disks. But not on this application. Ruined all six heads removing them. :-( I bought new grade 5 (metric 8.8) hex headed fasteners to replace them at $.25 a pop at the corner Ace Hardware. Blue Loctite was used for re-installation. At least the cush drive hub had been oiled when built. But I prefer to use lithium grease there. Sticks around longer. I burnish a light coating of silicone dielectric grease all over the rubber wedges too. Allows them to move more freely against the steel plates and preserves the rubber. It all went back together very well. I just got home from the test ride. It felt great! One other thing I did, which I haven't done in ten years, was to use a Bondo file to take the edge off the flat spot on my rear tire. I put the bike up on the work stand, started it, then ran it in third gear at a fast idle of 2000 rpm to get the rear wheel moving well. You hold the Bondo file firmly against the tire and save off tiny bits to take the edge off the flat area and give the tire a rounder profile again. Took about 3 minutes and worked like a dream. I haven't done this since I wore a flat spot into a Dunlop Sport Elite on the rear of old Mille' GT back in '92 from three back to back freeway tours to Rallies! I had forgotten how well it worked! This is something I saw written up in Motorcyclist back in the 80's. Now at least the bike handles well again while I use up the rest of the tire! No other surprises in the job. The new rear brake pads are on the way from Eish. That'll be an easy fix when they get here. The V11S is back on the road running like a champ again, the weather's beautiful and all is right with the world. Not a bad day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rocket3 Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 Last week-end, a terrible noise at the rear of my Lemans 06/2002, 6000 kms, and after dismantling by the dealer: left rear bearing broken. He said it is very rare. (They every time say that !) From buy: Two broken spring transmission One bearing rear wheel one oil leak at the gear box. Hervé PHILIPPE FRANCE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaing Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 Do check those bearings at every tire change. I replaced a rear bearing at 15,000 miles. It still had plenty of grease, but was as smooth burlap. Atleast they are pretty cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callison Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 Rich, what were the bearing numbers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janusz Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 Rich; Stop using this rear brake so much. It's not a Harley! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichMaund Posted January 11, 2003 Author Share Posted January 11, 2003 Sorry. I didn't save the number on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jeremy Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 I know of two v11s that have had the rear wheel bearins go out a low milage, same year as yours, must have been a factory flook, also spine frames do tend to wear out back brakes fast if you use them alot, I rarely use mine and still have alot of pad left at 15000 miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtucker Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 I had a wheel bearing go bad also. You can see it on the Shrapnel Italia page: Guzzitech.com - Shrapnel Italia It fractured pretty bad. The folks at The Spare Parts Co said that they've never seen a wheel bearing fracture like that before! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jaap Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 Guzzitech.com - Shrapnel Italia Pure horror, I'm switching to Japanese...NOT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest k.tx Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 The front wheel bearing on my V11 was slinging grease at around 1700 miles. MPH Cycles fixed it and they said it is not a common failure. I'll keep an eye on it from now on. Konrad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichMaund Posted March 10, 2003 Author Share Posted March 10, 2003 I pulled the wheels off yesterday to get new tires and powdercoating done. The wheel bearings I replaced in the rear were fine as were the oem ones up front. The "hidden" bearing inside the axle area of the rear drive is good too. 10.3k miles on the bike. Broke my 18 year old K-Mart impact driver last night trying to get the disk bolts out. Bought a new impact tool this morning. Hope I can get these things disassembled for the shop by tomorrow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callison Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 Weird. My brake pads have outlasted the rear master cylinder. I always do seem to get everything bass ackwards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docc Posted March 11, 2003 Share Posted March 11, 2003 I fried the rear brake side bearing on my 2000 sport at low miles (around 12000). It was replaced by warranty (OK, I replaced it but MGNA provided the part). This was during a time I was trail braking heavily with the rear brake to keep the driveline from unlocking while cornering. BAD IDEA! This technique ate the rear brake and cooked out the rear bearing grease. Now I 'trail brake' with the front(per Pridmore) with better results and (hopefully) no more bearing failures. Look well ahead! docc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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