Front Bevel Gear Case Shaft Bearing

[Casiper]

Is there any video tutorials to get this bearing change? My bike just turned 89K miles and the darn bearing is gone.

TY

[MAS Tequila]

I haven't come across any yet.

It's not a difficult process just time consuming.

Give me a call @ 5612103399 and I'll try to help guide you through it.

I just did another one about a month ago.

I'll get the number off the bearing, it's at my warehouse, this evening.

You can save a few $ by getting it at a local bearing distributor instead of ordering from MaKaw.

You will need to order the gasket.

Other than the bearing and gasket all you'll need is some RTV and your choice of oil and you may as well change the filter.

MT

[Eppic2]

Hi MAS Tequilla. I know this is an old thread but I am hoping to get an
opinion on a related problem. I’m pretty sure I have a bevel year issue
as discussed here. Last summer when the Kawi dealer inspected my
(82,000 km) 04 Nomad, he said there was probably an even bigger problem
to boot! He took a picture of a the gold/copper flakes all over the bottom
of my oil pan and sent it to me. Yikes-that looked really bad!! Could this possibly
be a connecting rod problem? Any idea what this might mean?

[recumbentbob]

What are you calling an oil pan??

[Eppic2]

Originally Posted by recumbentbob

What are you calling an oil pan??

The main pan at bottom of the bike which houses the bolt that we unscrew for our oil changes. If I can find the pic the dealer sent, I will try and post it tomorrow. Btw, thx for responding.

[Dane1966]

I purchased a 2007 Kawasaki Vulcan Mean Streak 1600 on Feb 1st, 2019. It is in pristine condition with 14,000 miles on it. I trailered it home and put it in my shed. A week ago we had a warm day. So I decided to take it out for a quick ride. ( I bought this bike from a dealer and never rode it ) It took it for a short ride down some side streets maybe 3 miles or so. Returning home, I was taking a left hand turn , downshifted to first gear. The bike stalled and the rear tire locked up.Clutch didn't work. Tranny was frozen, and rear wheel locked.I called the dealership up it took 3 of us to drag it into the van. I found out that the Front bevel bearing was the culprit. My question is Kawasaki knows this problem exists. Why did they not have a Re Call. Obviously many, many, owners have had this problem. It is a very expensive fix for a $25 bearing. Mine is still at the dealership torn down. I'm curious to see if they are going to charge me for the repair. When it obviously had the problem when I purchased it. And only rode it 3 miles ! I'll keep you folks posted on the outcome.

[Dane1966]

There are some on You Tube. It is a big job though. Seems to be a common problem. I don't understand why they did not have a recall. Don

[Dane1966]

Originally Posted by Casiper

Is there any video tutorials to get this bearing change? My bike just turned 89K miles and the darn bearing is gone.

TY

There are some on You Tube. It is a big job though. Seems to be a common problem. I don't understand why they did not have a recall. Don

[mick56]

Originally Posted by Dane1966

I purchased a 2007 Kawasaki Vulcan Mean Streak 1600 on Feb 1st, 2019. It is in pristine condition with 14,000 miles on it. I trailered it home and put it in my shed. A week ago we had a warm day. So I decided to take it out for a quick ride. ( I bought this bike from a dealer and never rode it ) It took it for a short ride down some side streets maybe 3 miles or so. Returning home, I was taking a left hand turn , downshifted to first gear. The bike stalled and the rear tire locked up.Clutch didn't work. Tranny was frozen, and rear wheel locked.I called the dealership up it took 3 of us to drag it into the van. I found out that the Front bevel bearing was the culprit. My question is Kawasaki knows this problem exists. Why did they not have a Re Call. Obviously many, many, owners have had this problem. It is a very expensive fix for a $25 bearing. Mine is still at the dealership torn down. I'm curious to see if they are going to charge me for the repair. When it obviously had the problem when I purchased it. And only rode it 3 miles ! I'll keep you folks posted on the outcome.

I cant help thinking, that any kind of transmission problem,is down to heavy use of the toe & heel lever. Some people end up with a bent gear selector fork,and have to strip the motor.I reckon it's down to stamping on the heel part when changing down.That would'nt happen during normal use.Do away the heel part,and just change gear with your toe,like a normal bike.

[recumbentbob]

I don't see how shifting can cause a bevel gear bearing to go out.

[mick56]

Originally Posted by recumbentbob

I don't see how shifting can cause a bevel gear bearing to go out.

I agree.But changing down to 1st gear at anymore than 5mph,is going to cause the clutch,and gearbox problems.With an original clutch set up,it should just slip.If the bike has a Barnetts,and Judges washers,it may have had enough resistance to rip the teeth off the bevel gear cog ?

[DragonLady58]

Its not the heel toe shifter, get rough with that and you'll bend a shifter fork.
Riding style is what hammers that front angel drive. Rough clutch letout while down shifting, dumping the clutch on take off, but the #1 cause is letting off the throttle fast at lower speeds then suddenly snapping the throttle open....like merging into slower traffic thats backed up.
That huge hi torque engine yanking on that 800+ lbs. bikes weight....thats the reason slipper function on the clutch and the huge spring/ratchet mech. on the front of the angle drive.
Now, I've been into many a trans. in my 25+ years being a dealership certified mechanic....these safety features are addressing the damage issue, not the cause.
If kawa had put heavy duty bearings in the angle drive with a heavy duty case, both those features would not be needed.
Chain bikes have a cushion in the rear hub to protect from this. The belted bikes don't have this problem. Now the shaft driven Vulcans have the slipper clutch, the takeup spring on the front of the angle drive, PLUS, a cushion in the rear wheel to keep all the yanking and jerking from destroying the trans. And drive train. Its a design flaw, just like the thru hole on the clutch pushrod seal,and a couple of othet short comings....
How many GoldWings, BMWs, MotoGuzzis yank out the bearings outta their angle drives? Very fraking few....because their stuff is made to prevent it in the first place. The 1500s/1600s have so much torque it'll shred bearings with these features....
I don't have a slipper clutch on both my 1500&1600 hotrod engines, I clutch my bike to keep from yanking the bearings outta my angle drive....
There were some guys at Sturgis talking schit about the Nomads.....I held my front brake on, eased out on the clutch, while applying throttle, smoked the rear tire on up thru4th gear, then drove away while smoking the tire, then clutched it before my rear tire hooked up. Needless to say, thry shut the hell up and were impressed....
That stunt killed my angle drive bearing, so I had to change it when I got home....
Both my 1500/1600 hotrod engines have the Thunder 6 spring clutch, just like the Harley Davidsons....so I have to pamper them some to keep the angle drive bearings happy and safe....
In my honest opinion, the belts offer great safety for both the rider and the engine/drivetrain.....

[MAS Tequila]

I believe that it's a lack of oil issue.

It's at the end of the line, and bathed in engine oil for lubrication.

The output shaft is connected to the FBGD with a spring loaded cam.

It can absorb a lot of shock.

[ponch]

Originally Posted by DragonLady58

How many GoldWings, BMWs, MotoGuzzis yank out the bearings outta their angle drives? Very fraking few....because their stuff is made to prevent it in the first place. The 1500s/1600s have so much torque it'll shred bearings with these features...

BMWs, Gold wings and Moto Guzzi's don't have bevel drives or gears because the engines have longitudinal crankshafts. The output of the engines are in line with the driveshaft. BMW has had it's share of final drive issues.

[DragonLady58]

Originally Posted by ponch

BMWs, Gold wings and Moto Guzzi's don't have bevel drives or gears because the engines have longitudinal crankshafts. The output of the engines are in line with the driveshaft. BMW has had it's share of final drive issues.

You are correct, but their angle drive is rear based. Yes, there are alot of rear ends connected to driveshafts, but the rears are designed to absorb alot of punishment and shock. The weak link in the vulcan line is that angle drive. Even on their race bikes, few to never a 90 degree drive problem (BMW has had a few, but the % is nowhere as many as the Vulcans in thier rear drives)....Moto Guzzi, even Laverda had a big VTwin like the Guzzis waaay back in the day).
Though the GoldWings never were raced outright, they are about to go 500K, with pratically -0- fails on their rears.
Yes, the rears are alot heavier built. What I am saying is there are a lot of Vulcan/Harley style VTwins out there....(Honda VTX & the 750s-1100s, the Suzuki C50s/C90s, etc. that have drive shafts, and they don't have the problem with their angle drives)
Wanna talk punishment?
YAMA VMAX......130+ horses, capable of blowing away most production superbikes, 10 second 1/4 mile times, straight off the showroon floor, a little tuning and some light mods, 150+ horses, can blow a driveshaft before their AngleDrive.....
What I'm getting at, the big vulcans, had the huge engines, they should have redesigned the angle drives with heavier bearings, extra oil flow, and better reliability.
Honda, yamaha, suzuki had problems, the engineers are updating it in the next years models.
Look at the plastic oil gear. Replaced after 2 years.....MaKawa knew of the angle drive problems by 2004....it was marginal....they wanted to sell replacement parts. They saved updates for the newer models....