rear clicking noise

camccardell said:

I need to get some grease for the drive shaft splines and the hub splines before I re-install the wheel. Any recommendations?

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Any good Moly grease, about 60% Moly or so is what you want. I use Honda Moly but it isn't available any more. I know there have been threads on grease in the past I just can't find them right now. I think LocTite Moly 65 has gotten some good reviews.

bob

I have had the clicking sound several times on my 2012 Roadster.

With all the trial and error tinkering I have undertaken, this is what I've found. I wouldn't tighten the axle nut to the prescribed 81 ft/lbs. At that torque I have had the dreaded clicking sound a couple of times within 2 to 3 thousand kilometers of removing the rear wheel. Even after replacing the bearings twice.... the noise would initially disappear then come back. I have since reduced the torque to between 25 and 30 ft/lbs and the problem has gone away. A number of fellows have done this.

The last time it happened late last year after the shop in Edmonton changed my rear tire, I loosened off the axle to 25 ft/lbs and the clicking noise went away. Drove the bike for a couple of thousand kms with no issues. I then replaced the bearings this summer on general principle and they were smooth with no issues. Put in the new ones and things have been good at 30 ft/lbs.

The problem I see is that there is a certain amount of compression that needs to take place to bottom out all the spacers between the final drive and brake side swing arm. The sliding spacer in the cush drive hub has around .015 movement with the cush rubber in place before it bottoms out. In other words, the cush drive rubber needs to be compressed this much before all the brg spacers become one unit. This puts all that load on the outer bearing (disc brake side). What causes the clicking.... I don't know since I have never noticed the bearings being rough.

Summary
1. Original rim cracked in cir-clip area where the outer brake side wheel brg sits some time after tire was replaced. Triumph wouldn't warrant the rim. Said it was overtorqued. Put on a new replacement rim at my expense. Torqued to 81 ft/lbs. Everything appeared fine.
2. Started to click after several thousand kilometers. Replaced the bearings and everything was fine for a while. 81 ft/lbs of torque.
3. Started to click again after some time. Reduced the torque to 25 ft/lbs. The noise went away. Drove it like this for several months. Replaced the bearings again as previously stated (precautionary measure) and set torque to 30 ft/lbs where things are at present. No issues now.

Important Update
Please take note of post #19. After several years, I noticed that the clicking noise does go away in my case with reduced axle torque, but it creates another problem. The inner bearing in the rim started to spin ruining the bearing bore. I lost the interference fit and started getting a whining sound when cornering. Replaced the bearing with a quality unit and set with Loctite 638 to lock in the rim. I do not recommend reducing the torque on the rear rim any more. If anyone has done this at my suggestion... please follow the recommended torque value.

camccardell said:

well, after a lot of work, and some money, the bearings are replaced. They all felt fine though. I kept them and they all seem to spin freely. I need to get some grease for the drive shaft splines and the hub splines before I re-install the wheel. Any recommendations?

Click to expand...

I just replaced the double roller in oneof my rims. Had some seal damage and leakage. Pulled it found out it was a cheap chinese bearing. Replaced with a germsn made one. Anyway since I was setting the bike up in advance with a new set of shoes. I cut the max off one of my extra rear rims to take to Virginia with me. I notice the bearings seam tight like the previous rim prior to removal. Now I've been running this rim for quite some time and never felt anything wrong. But will take a closer look. Anyway after assembling the ither one bearings were loose. Curious to see what they are like after the proper torque is applied. I always torque mine if for nothing else but consistancy.

Just went out for a test drive. No clicking noise!
Now I just need to get the tps fixed and the ecu tuned.

Thanks guys

Getting ready to replace my rear wheel bearings. What are the Bearing Numbers ( Not Triumph part number). I want to buy quality bearings from a bearing dealer. Any recommendations on a good brand and bearing line in that brand ?

Well, after a few years it is once again time for bearings. The All Balls ones didn't do too well. I checked my book and they lasted about 6000 miles. (haven't been riding for the last 3 years due to bad car accident)

Going with better bearings this time. Same as last time, I took it apart and they all seem to spin freely, but holy crap was it loud this time before I took it apart. I made a video
.

Anyway I was able to find some Timkens.
6204-2rs
6305-2rs

I cannot find a Timken for the 5204. Any suggestions?
I also need a part number for the seal if anyone has one. No triumph dealers near me anymore.

Thanks

camccardell said:

Well, after a few years it is once again time for bearings. The All Balls ones didn't do too well. I checked my book and they lasted about 6000 miles. (haven't been riding for the last 3 years due to bad car accident)

Going with better bearings this time. Same as last time, I took it apart and they all seem to spin freely, but holy crap was it loud this time before I took it apart. I made a video
.

Anyway I was able to find some Timkens.
6204-2rs
6305-2rs

I cannot find a Timken for the 5204. Any suggestions?
I also need a part number for the seal if anyone has one. No triumph dealers near me anymore.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Ooo yeah.......It sounds more than worn in.

U joint?

It's been a number of years since I had the noise in my rear wheel. When you get things torn apart (assuming you are doing it yourself), note the condition of the cush drive rubber. Also take note to see if the inner bearing still has a interference fit in the rim. I previously posted that reducing the 81 ft lbs torque helped elliminate the clicking noise I had, but I also noticed that the inner bearing (outer race) started to spin in the rim after I did this, ruining the bearing bore. I finally replaced the cheap All Balls bearings with Nachi ones from vxb.com. I installed the Nachi bearings fitting the problematic inner bearing with Loctite 638 wicking compound for loose fitting bearings to lock in place. This was a couple of years ago. Still running. No noise.

These prices are not current and have tripled!!! Go figure??? You only need 1 of each. The problematic bearing I had was replaced by Kit 10108. This was the one that spun in the rim bore probably because of being under torqued, but that's just my best guess. Others have had success with reducing the torque on the rear axle. I now take back what I recommended in my previous post #12 stating that reducing the rear axle torque can be good.