あそびの修理がとりあえずうまくいったようなので、テストにでかける。まあいいんでないかって感じ。すこししっかり感じるのは気のせいだと思う。 The play is gone for now. Test ride time. Felt like more solid than before, but that's probably so-called the placebo effect.
パラレバーの止まってる時。第二のジョイントが曲がっている。
The paralever's joint is not straight as the bike is stationary.
走ってる時。ジョイントがまっすぐに伸びてる。 As the bike runs, the joint is straight.
I noticed that the rear wheel of my GS has slight play. Very small, and I don't notice anything strange when I ride, but it shouldn't have any play that you can feel by wiggling the wheel. I thought I have read about this before, so I looked it up (what a covinient time nowadays--no need to go talk to a nice, old, and knowledgeable BMW mechanic). It could be either the bearing in the final drive or the pivot bearing of the paralever (swinging arm). Some suggested that put the rear brake on and if it still has play, that would mean the pivot bearing (seems easier and cheaper). Otherwise, you need to open up the final drive and replace the big bearing in there (expensive and not easy). It's hard to test this alone, so I asked my assistant (a.k.a. my wife) to apply the rear brake while I wiggle the wheel. No play! That must mean the pivot bearing. I like that better.
The bearings are expensive. About $90 each and I need two there. But I also heard that you can simply adjust the preload of the bearings and that would prolong the life. That's more like it. So I decided to take a look before I go ahead and order the new ones.
必要な工具ない。BMWっていつも変なサイズ。よく使うのが13mmとか。16mmとか。っていうか日本車からすると変なバイク。でもアメリカでもそう思うっている人がいるらしく、BMWはBikes Made Weird(変に作られたバイク)の略だ!って誰かがいってた。まずは30mmのソケットが必要。これはパラレバーのピボットのねじのロックナット用。近所の車用品やであった。ほんで12mmの六角レンチ。これはなかなかない。ネットなら勿論あるけど、すぐやりたいから、待てない。無茶苦茶高いのが一つあったけど、T60のトルクスがぴったりだとどこかで読んだ気がする。こっちは超安い(いけない考え方)。12mmのソケットに入れてみるとぴったりフィット。これでいいでしょう(よくないかもしれない)。
Of course, I need some tools. BMW bikes often use stange (to me) size for their bolts and nuts like 13mm or 16mm (still better than inches, US or UK). As someone who grew up with Japanese motorcycles, that's unusal. I've also heard folks here in American complaining about it too though--BMW stands for Bikes Made Weird. First, I need a 30mm sokect for the locknut for the paralever pivot bolt. It was easy to find it locally. Then, I need a 12mm hex socket. Hard to find. Why not use the Internet? Because I must work on it now. I can't wait (then, I usually end up waiting longer just because of my impatience) . After seaching around in several local automotive parts stores (they are horrible, to be sure-- cheap crap under stocked), I found this. this cheap T60 that fits nicely to 12mm socket. It should work, right?
Remove the wheel first. Remove the brake as well. Remove the ABS sensor. And remove the cable tie holding the rubber boot. Two short ones are used to hold it. That means someone has been here before. That could be a good thing but that could also mean a very bad thing.
Many sources say not to remove the locknut holding the pivot by just using force. So I heat it up to melt the Locktite that was used here. A heat shield for my plumbing job became handy to keep the heat away from the rubber boot. By the way, Idon't get this strange swinging arm. It's like having two swing arm pivot in one siwng arm. My other BMWs (R75/6 and R69US) have a straight arm with one universal joint at the pivot. I don't understand why this paralever wouldn't break at the bottom joint. The wheel and the final drive appear to be held only by this joint. No suspension for the bottom joint. Strange Germans.
But I haven't ordered the new ones, and I need to ride this bike everyday, so I should just put it back togather. Hopefully, adjusting preload would help.
This is the inside of the swinging arm. You see the drive shaft from the root of the arm and two holes on the side for the pivot pins to hold the "second" swinging arm connected to the final drive and the rear wheel. Weired.
I decided to readjust the preload of the inside pivot pin and put them all back together. But I feel like I can't trust my cheap torque wrench (bad shopping). The outside pivot and the locknut call for 160Nm (that's tight). And the preload for 7 Nm (some say 10 is better). My wrench is too cheap to do such an intricate job. I need to buy a nice one some day. I should order new bearings. That means I will come back to this and do this all over again. Well, think of this as a practice run, I guess. I will now need a bearing puller to replace the bearings. Oh, I saw a very cheap one today. I should have picked it up (really?). The play is gone for now.