Like a good soldier, I took my Tenere for its 6k service. Arriving to collect it, to be told that the suspension bearings had collapsed and I would be walking home.

It's a warranty job and the engineer will be putting in a technical report.

The bearing collapse can be diagnosed by putting the bike on its centre stand and lifting the back wheel. If there is significant vertical movement, then the bearings are probably f**ked.

On the whole, not a good day. But it is better to find out now rather than somewhere out in the boonies with limited cell coverage.

Si

Oh dear!
Did they give you any idea as to what could have caused it? Or is it just 'one of those things'?

Barry.

Edit: is it the swinging-arm bearings or some other?

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Sorry if I am stupid (as usual ... ) but don't you mean horizontal (free movement from the left to right)?

I had this happen on my old ZZR250 when i was first starting biking. Didnt think it would have happened on a newess bike. Do you use a power washer to wash your bike. As using high pressure water or the seals of any bearing is not good and it pushs past them and blasts out the grease meaning over time they rust/cease up and then bang let go and leave you in the middle of no where.

If you put your bike on the centre stand or riase your rear wheel off the ground with out putting any pressure on the rear suspension. You then try and move your rear wheel vertically up or down, there should be no free play (ie easy up and down movement) as it should be compressing the rear suspension. When the bearing goes it means the first for centimeters of movement is the play within the broken bearing before your rear supension kicks in.


If youve sideways movement in your wheel it sounds like its a wheel bearing had broken, had a few of these go on me too .

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Plough on

Up and down play is almost always due to the bottom shock bearing. Side to side play in the swinging arm will mean swinging arm pivot bearings.

To reply,

<borus>
It is up and down movement in the bottom shock bearing.

<maxwell>
I don't pressure wash anything, at most it gets a couple of buckets of water from time to time to take the worst of the grime off.

<badgestar>
I haven't gone off road with the Tenere. However, the roads around me are littered with speed platforms / humps / mini roundabouts, not all of which are taken at the regulation 20mph, and the roads in the SE are particularly bad at the moment, with some deep and unavoidable potholes.

The engineer was also surprised, I guess it could be just a duff set.

Currently looking at the weather and thinking that I had planned to be out all day today (Sun).

Si

When I fitted the MM lowering link I noticed the bearings are fairly dry and greased them but that should not cause this.

Can you find out what bearing , is it the bearing in the linkage or at the top or bottom of the shock

Looks like it was the link at the bottom of the shock.

BTW. All of the odd clunks that I had written off as normal for the bike appear to have gone away. So I think that the bearing may have been iffy for some considerable time.

Feels like a new bike again.

Si

I had the same experience. See my post http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?...excessive+play
I have not solved it yet, because I have broken hand, so I am not able to go to my dealer There are 3 bearing with excessive play: bottom bearing of the dumper, one bearing in the linkage and small play is in upper bearing of the dumper too. I am curious, how my dealer will react... The bike is quite new - 5km on the clock!

Well as mine is almost on 6000miles I thought I'd take the linkage apart this afternoon.

All looks okay with the dogbone linkage and the lower shock mount bearings although there wasn't much grease in there. The bolt head (LHS) for the frame to knuckle pivot point was difficult to get a spanner on so that will have to wait till another day. Sod's law this will be the one that goes first, especially now the others are nicely greased.