Rear Wheel Bearing Seizing

31817 Views 42 Replies 25 Participants Last post by jonno, Apr 10, 2014

Geoff McAdam

Discussion Starter · Apr 13, 2010 (Edited)

The problem with the F800S/ST rear wheel axle (BMW call it a drive shaft) is that originally the metal that this was made from was not up to the job (it's too soft!). So what happens over time is that the wheel bearings themselves wear away the axle causing grooves. These grooves then allow movement in the whole assembly which then causes the weather seal to fail allowing in water etc etc. Rust then forms & eventually the rear wheel will seize completely.
BMW acknowledged this problem by changing the spec on the axle (drive shaft) a few years ago (it's now made from a harder metal!). They have called this an "improvement" & therefore have avoided issuing a recall. They say it's not been much of a problem. As bikes out there get older this "problem" will become more apparent. There is a safety issue because it can be quite dodgy if the wheel seizes whilst being ridden. Luckily mine decided to do this while sitting quietly in the garage! It's 3 years old with 17000 miles.
If it happens to you approach BMW who now find themselves dealing with a number of "goodwill" repairs. They'll pick up the tab for the parts & you will only have to pay between 20-50% of the labour.

Good luck

Vines of Caterham completed the repair to my bike last week (May 7th). I had to pay £70 which was 50% of the labour (luckily the read end was already in bits; BMW will charge for taking it all apart to see what the problem is!); I saved roughly £500 by BMW accepting this "goodwill" repair. I now have a 2 year warranty on the back end only ha ha! Vines mentioned that a previous biker with this problem (F800S) had his seizure at 70mph on the M25. Vines said "he was a bit shaken"; I bet!

I'm thinking of writing to Motorcycle News next to see if they want to investigate/report on this big problem which BMW don't seem too interested in! Watch this space.

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21 - 40 of 43 Posts

xsamat

· #21 · May 3, 2011

Finally fixed

After 4 months of discussions and some arguing, I finally got my F800ST fixed.
I ended up writing an email to BMW President in Germany. This seemed to work. Although I never got a response to my email to the President, three days after sending it I got an unexpected call from the dealer:
Their offer was that BMW would pay for the parts and I would pay for the labor (~150€)
I picked the bike a couple of days ago.

My advice: Don't give up! Fight for your rights.

rossaduc

· #22 · Jun 28, 2011

Bearings

This comment is not meant to diminish anyones experience, typically when bearings wear out shafts it is due to a few things, if fit does not provide interference then bearing inner race can move on shaft, problem is thus bearing fit, inner race to shaft should not be relative movement, movement should be balls to races. If shaft to inner race fit is right and bearings lock up, fail due to contaminaton, lack of lubrication, water then now the balls to race movement can not occur, and now the outer race trieds to turn the inner race through the locked up balls. Typical bearing failure scenario, not the only one mind you but one of them. Shaft material in this case axle should be up to the task, in some critical appliction a shaft sleeve might suffice, there are even fixes for that, several companies make what is generically known as a redi sleeve, a thin metal sleeve, but this is usually to deal with seal wear not bearings wear. Shafts that are too soft is a bit of an interesting explanation. Too small allowing for relative motion yes, too soft still suggests that the inner race normally wears the shaft and it never should any more than a crank bearing insert should wear big end of a connecting rod, only when one fails, but not during normal operation. Cause I suspect was really poor fit of bearing to shaft/axle. Bad bearings perhaps without the right fit, allowing motion that would translate to heat and thus failure as lubricant fails. Since this is essentially a wheel bearing of sorts the amount of play in bearing is pretty critical. Rich

Geoff McAdam said:
The problem with the F800S/ST rear wheel axle (BMW call it a drive shaft) is that originally the metal that this was made from was not up to the job (it's too soft!). So what happens over time is that the wheel bearings themselves wear away the axle causing grooves. These grooves then allow movement in the whole assembly which then causes the weather seal to fail allowing in water etc etc. Rust then forms & eventually the rear wheel will seize completely.
BMW acknowledged this problem by changing the spec on the axle (drive shaft) a few years ago (it's now made from a harder metal!). They have called this an "improvement" & therefore have avoided issuing a recall. They say it's not been much of a problem. As bikes out there get older this "problem" will become more apparent. There is a safety issue because it can be quite dodgy if the wheel seizes whilst being ridden. Luckily mine decided to do this while sitting quietly in the garage! It's 3 years old with 17000 miles.
If it happens to you approach BMW who now find themselves dealing with a number of "goodwill" repairs. They'll pick up the tab for the parts & you will only have to pay between 20-50% of the labour.

Good luck

Vines of Caterham completed the repair to my bike last week (May 7th). I had to pay £70 which was 50% of the labour (luckily the read end was already in bits; BMW will charge for taking it all apart to see what the problem is!); I saved roughly £500 by BMW accepting this "goodwill" repair. I now have a 2 year warranty on the back end only ha ha! Vines mentioned that a previous biker with this problem (F800S) had his seizure at 70mph on the M25. Vines said "he was a bit shaken"; I bet!

I'm thinking of writing to Motorcycle News next to see if they want to investigate/report on this big problem which BMW don't seem too interested in! Watch this space.

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Greg.Donald

· #23 · Aug 28, 2011

I have a December 2007 St with 15,000km on the clock. From memory the drive belt usually rides on the rear pulley hard up against the left lip of the pulley. Just recently i have noticed that when I return from a ride the belt has moved to the right about 2mm. If i roll the bike across the garage floor a couple of times the belt returns to its position over to the left against the lip. The only way i can explain this happening is if there is play in the rear bearing.
I will be removing the belt tomorrow and checking for any apparent play in the bearing as i should be going on a 3 day road trip to Nabiac in a few weeks.
I would be interested to hear from any Australian riders who have had this bearing problem and the response they have received from their dealers. I asked my dealer about this problem last year and they claimed to not have heard about it.
BMW seem to have an aversion to recalls and bad publicity. I had the aerial ring problem back in 2008 when I broke down some distance from home. It should never have happened as BMW already knew about the problem and were replacing the part on any bike that came in for service. But it was not a recall.
You expect these bearing problems from a bike from China but not BMW. [email protected]

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Greg.Donald

· #24 · Oct 5, 2011

Can anyone tell me where i can buy the M37 socket that is required to undo the large nut on the rear axle. BMW part number is 33 1 581. Standard socket sizes are M36 and M38. It appear that just to be difficult BMW go to a non standard size in order to force owners to buy the BMW special part with the inflated BMW special price.
I have tried all the online part suppliers as well as all muy local tool suppliers and non can supply a 37mm socket.

de100kb

· #25 · Nov 18, 2011

A fact I'd like to record here for future reference: after years of guessing for the date when BMW started using the modified back wheel axle on the S and ST models we've had an 'official' date from a BMW tech who has joined our Dutch community lately:

On the 11th of March 2009 the first batch with the modified axle were produced.

<edit 17-1-2015> another source claims it's 25/02/2009</edit>

rbaxter336

· #26 · Nov 29, 2011

I have 07 with 28K miles on the clock and installed a hugger about a month ago and now I have notices that the belt is now moving on the rear pulley. Sometimes it's running on the inside of the pulley put now it's mostly running on the outside now.

Pat H

· #27 · Nov 30, 2011

My belt has moved around on the pulley from very early on in the bikes life (15K miles or so) I do run with a looser belt than spec and suspect that's why my old 2006 soft axle lasted till 65K miles and even then the axle was fie just the ball race worn.
Even with a replacement belt. New reare wheel eccentric and re-packed rear cush drive rubbers the belt tend to run just off the inside edge so I don't read anything into the belt position.
The rear socket I have for the rear axle nut is 46mm

DH63

· #28 · Nov 30, 2011

Karim

Thanks for posting that information. MAYBE it deserves reposting under it's own topic, for more general distribution?

Dick

Pat H

· #29 · Nov 30, 2011

DH63 said:
Karim

Thanks for posting that information. MAYBE it deserves reposting under it's own topic, for more general distribution?

Dick

No lack of discussion about rear wheel bearings!

attixx

· #30 · Jul 3, 2012

I have a 2007 version of F800ST and I just got over 20k miles when the rear wheel's got seized.
BMW Motorrad Hertford said that the bearings and brake disc was damaged and quoted a £1300 fee for the repairs.
They said this case does not fall under the waranty or goodwill repairs and the UK headquarters said that they have never heard of the F800 rear bearing problem :|. So currently trying to figure out the way to foot part of the bill...

savs1701

· #31 · Oct 14, 2012

As posted in other place...FYI I just got my goodwill money from my dealer! BMW America paid for all parts related to the rear axle. Now, I have to admit that I start to like my dealer! He did a great job!! Unfortunately, my left handle grip just died . So it seems that no matter what, BMW will see more of my money...

mork

· #32 · Jan 5, 2013

If anyone hasn't seen this, it shows a guy measuring the bearing runout in ten seconds on the center stand.

Reactions: 2

de100kb

· #33 · Sep 26, 2013

A quote from another thread I think deserves repeating here:

leafman60 said:
Burns me up that we have to worry about this.

http://www.maxbmwmotorcycles.com/fiche/PartsSearch.aspx?&searchtype=partnumber&parts=33177724144

The pdf available there is very interesting.

DWS

· #34 · Nov 17, 2013

The said pdf is also now available in the Documentation section of the "Hall Of Wisdom" in this Forum.

Mokkybear

· #35 · Dec 8, 2013

For recall info, see http://f800riders.org/forum/showthread.php/160610-US-NHTSA-Recall-for-Rear-Wheel-Bearing-Failure

redhippo

· #36 · Dec 17, 2013

Progress in Australia
http://www.recalls.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1054654

Reactions: 1

gladiators280

· #37 · Dec 29, 2013

GET YOUR MONEY BACK !! http://f800riders.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=77538&d=1386427748

Reactions: 1

tmoore562

· #38 · Feb 4, 2014

There is a recall as of 2014

There is a recall as of Jan, 2014 or before.

T.

Bransby

· #39 · Feb 18, 2014

Had this failure on my 2006 F800ST just before Christmas. Had the repairs done by Williams Bikes in Salford - complete replacement of the rear drive assembly. Williams were fantastic, put a good will request in with BMW but were told no. I had to cough up £600 for the repair. I'd intended to pursue it with BMW after the work was done, but got a call from Williams a week or so ago saying there was a "campaign" from BMW about this issue. Long story short, I'm getting a full refund.

I bought a BMW specifically to avoid issues like this one, believing that it'd would be a better quality of bike. I was supremely pissed off to find myself with this issue on a bike with 17,000 miles on it that I'd only owned for a couple of months. I'm delighted that BMW have finally taken responsibility it's renewed my faith in them a little and I'm no longer regretting my purchase.

Incidentally I can't recommend Williams Bikes in Salford enough, they've been fantastic.

Reactions: 1

petesbridge

· #40 · Mar 8, 2014

I have a mint 2008 F800ST with 4,400 miles on the clock and have just received a BMW recall for rear wheel bearing tolerances to be checked with a view to replacement. The girl at BeeEmm customer services who does not event know which model this is cannot grasp that I am not happy with just having a dealer inspection because mine may be nowhere near failure mileage - should I just accept a "free" inspection on insist on a bearing replacement? Comments welcomed.

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