New style FD bearing

[RiverRat280]

I have a 01 1150GS w/30k on it and I'm doing some maintenance and a tear down before my trip to Alaska this summer with the wife. I've read about enough final drive failures that I'm thinking about replacing the bearing and seal and keeping the old one for a spare(mine is ok). Is this new 17 ball bearing any better then the 19 ball one it replaced or did they just switch distributors? Have there been many failures with the new 17 ball style?

[jdiaz]

If it was me, I'd go out and put the 17-ball unit in the FD before I left. Two-up thru the middle of nowhere.....trying to fix it on the road would be no fun.

[Hodag]

I thought I just read an article about this?

[soffiler]

I have a 01 1150GS w/30k on it and I'm doing some maintenance and a tear down before my trip to Alaska this summer with the wife. I've read about enough final drive failures that I'm thinking about replacing the bearing and seal and keeping the old one for a spare(mine is ok). Is this new 17 ball bearing any better then the 19 ball one it replaced or did they just switch distributors? Have there been many failures with the new 17 ball style?

Check Paul Glaves' "Benchwrenching" article in the current issue of ON.

[RiverRat280]

I've read post on AdvRider and then the article in ON about it but no one seems to know if its really any better then the one it replaced. I'd hope they went with this new one because its better and fixes the problem but it may be just because its cheaper. I heard the new one has a stronger bearing cage but don't know if its true or if the outer races were hardend any better.
It most likely hasn't been around long enough to really know if there will be issues with it but I'd guess it has more to do with the design then a faulty bearing.

[soffiler]

I've read post on AdvRider and then the article in ON about it but no one seems to know if its really any better then the one it replaced. I'd hope they went with this new one because its better and fixes the problem but it may be just because its cheaper. I heard the new one has a stronger bearing cage but don't know if its true or if the outer races were hardend any better.
It most likely hasn't been around long enough to really know if there will be issues with it but I'd guess it has more to do with the design then a faulty bearing.

I not aware of anyone in the BMW community here in the USA that has a direct pipeline to BMW Engineering back in Germany. Therefore we'll never know, except via empirical evidence, exactly why they changed. I trust Paul Glaves, and reading his article carefully, he comes across as pretty convinced that the new 17-ball bearing is a more robust alternative. That's plenty good enough for me. YCMV (your cynicism may vary).

[BubbaZanetti]

well, even if the new bearing is not "better" at the very least if you swap it, the 17 ball bearing will be a lot "newer" and would tend to be more solid in that respect...............