Rear wheel flange cracks (update: Recall issued)

My "guess" is that it is not related to usage, but rather to temperature variations. The rotor and/or the hub will not expand/contract at the same rate as the flange. Something has to give.

After reading this link I went out to my 2005 purchased in April 2004 GS1200 with 55,000 miles and noticed that all five lugs were cracked and some of the rotor point were cracked too.

I didn't notice them during the last tuneup (48,000)? I'll take it to the dealer in the morning and hope to work something out?

I have just joined the elite group with this problem. Mine let go when I stomped on the brake hard (doing a brake test) and the whole disk detached from the flange.

Photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/raineman1/R1200GS?feat=directlink

2005 1200GS with 70k km

Not happy
Ken

Me too, 2005 and 60,000k's

Hey Touser
South coast? In WA?

Any ideas of where to get a replacement part? or at what cost?
I am trolling US websites and have found them at $265 plus postage.

Ken

That looks like a pretty scary event:eek1

Yep
I've been having rear brake sponginess problems and had bled the brakes twice and installed new pads. I went for a ride, and when close to home tried pressing the brakes hard. An almighty bang, crunch, etc and an over whelming desire to stop the bike fast as I could hear all the grinding and clanking of metal on metal.
It could have been much worse if I had been going faster than 40 kph.

I am starting to doubt the reliability of R1200's, after being in love with BM's for so many years, what with this being not unusual, brake problems, final drives failures, fuel pump failures, etc.

These pictures and a description of what is happening should be filed with NHTSB. Complete and sudden brake failure should be completely intolerable. Has anyone in the US seen/experienced this sort of thing?

Lots of folks see cracks. Most (all?) of us find a crack during a tire change or a service and replace the flange at that time. This is only the second time I can recall reading of someone where the brake rotor broke free.

When you find the problem at this stage



It's no big deal to fix. I found that when I was replacing my brake rotor. It is possible that it cracked when I removed the rotor.

The flange is cheaper than an OEM rotor, but then most things are. Here is an after market rotor mounted on the new flange.



I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the old flange and rotor. Wall art? It's too pretty to throw away.

First step:
To get the old flange off.
Safety gear: thick welders gloves, safety specs, fire extinguisher, swear jar.

I went to Bunnings Hardware and bought a propane torch and circlip pliers ($40 and $16)

Although the pliers were the largest ones in the shop, they were too small, as in they could barely open the clip far enough (it is already quite a wide gap at the ends). The pliers wouldn't stay clipped into the holes, so I had to file them down to a thicker part of the pins. I opened the circlip, then slid a flat blade screw driver behind it and gently wiggled it off, holding a thick rag over it to prevent it possibly springing off.

I tried to buy a harmonic balancer puller, but did not see one with the right hole spacing, so went to plan B.

I know some may say that this is sacrilege and others may say "Aussie Ingenuity" but, I used a piece of angle iron, drilled two holes 118mm apart, and used the wheel bolts to attach it to the old flange.

I then got a piece of timber and put it through the axle hole from the brake side and tapped with a heavy hammer as I heated the flange.

After about five minutes of heating and tapping, it came off OK. Damn tight fit.

Note that I feel uncomfortable hitting with any real force, as I imagine the load is being taken on the rear drive bearings somewhere. My young son helped me with the tapping.

See photos

http://picasaweb.google.com/raineman1/R1200GS#




Now I have to wait for the parts to arrive from the states

Ken

I have reported this issue to the WA BMW distributor and am awaiting advice as to the procedure to consider a recall or advisory.
Their first response was 'it's probably a fault on USA models only (I live in Western Australia). Then 'we haven't ever replaced one before"

I would appreciate those of you who have had this issue please supply the following details which I will pass to BMW to show that this is not a one-off problem, and appears to be manifesting itself with 60 to 70,000km:

Bike year
Milage
Location (country/state)
Fault (cracks, disintegration, etc.)
Contact detail (email should do)

thanks
Ken

Last FD service, I had one crack. I just services the FD for an upcoming trip and discovered two more lobes had cracks. Time for a new one. Rotor is about shot too at 60K. Is there a source for these parts without letting the local dealer get in my pants too deep?

You can get rotors ate www.beemerboneyard.com but the dealer is the only source for the flange. You can get discounts at a few dealers like Max and Chicago BMW.

Jim

Thanks Jim. Looks like the rotor is about 165, I'll look into the Max and Chicago.

The rotor of my 2007 GSA with 50,000 miles

a few dealers in the vendors section also sell rotors, galfer etc and give an adv inmate discount
renazco for example

I finally got my extension for removing the rear rotor, I got it from wiha and then dremel'd it a bit to make it a tad smoother so it doesn't hit the rear casing.