How rare is bevel gear failure?

jtascone · 08-02-2020, 09:01 PM

Hello all. After 36,000 miles of riding my Nomad (bike now has 45,000 miles total) it's starting to sound like there is a small amount of whining on decel at times. It's not loud, or terrible, but its something that I know hasn't been there since day 1. After doing some searching, I'm a bit concerned that it may be the bearings starting to go in the bevel gear. There are no other symptoms besides the slight whining noise. No loss of clutch or clunking. Maintenance has been done religiously on this bike since day 1. Oil changes every 2500 miles, sometimes sooner, all fluids replaced every 2 years, etc. As far as riding style, I ride a good amount, and most of my rides are on the longer side. But I never ride the bike "hard". So my questions are, would it be worth the money to have a shop pull the gear box and replace the bearings now even as a preventive maintenance? And also, are these bikes all destined to have an issue with this at some point? After a lot of reading, it sounds like the bearings in the bevel gear on these bikes are a weakness and it's a matter of when, not if they will be an issue. Thanks for any advice you can give me.

BrokeAss · 08-02-2020, 09:29 PM

It's not a Harley, it doesn't have a separate cassette type transmission, you're looking at yanking the engine and splitting the cases to get into the transmission.

jtascone · 08-02-2020, 09:39 PM

Yes I understand that, but from what I've read, waiting for complete failure is waaaay worse than just replacing the bearings before they fail completely. I honestly didn't realize this problem was so common. I knew it happened on rare occasions, but after reading a lot, it almost sounds like it's inevitable and just a matter of when. I knew the POG and the bent shift fork were pretty common problems, but honestly thought that other than those 2 issues, these machines were pretty much bulletproof given proper maintenance. This issue sounds like no matter how good the maintenance, or how easy you ride, it's just a matter of time before these issues arise.

DragonLady58 · 08-02-2020, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtascone

Hello all. After 36,000 miles of riding my Nomad (bike now has 45,000 miles total) it's starting to sound like there is a small amount of whining on decel at times. It's not loud, or terrible, but its something that I know hasn't been there since day 1. After doing some searching, I'm a bit concerned that it may be the bearings starting to go in the bevel gear. There are no other symptoms besides the slight whining noise. No loss of clutch or clunking. Maintenance has been done religiously on this bike since day 1. Oil changes every 2500 miles, sometimes sooner, all fluids replaced every 2 years, etc. As far as riding style, I ride a good amount, and most of my rides are on the longer side. But I never ride the bike "hard". So my questions are, would it be worth the money to have a shop pull the gear box and replace the bearings now even as a preventive maintenance? And also, are these bikes all destined to have an issue with this at some point? After a lot of reading, it sounds like the bearings in the bevel gear on these bikes are a weakness and it's a matter of when, not if they will be an issue. Thanks for any advice you can give me.

The bevel gear case we're referring to is a little 90 degree unit that comes outta the gearbox, then the driveshaft attaches to that. If its the bevel gear, you can unbolt that case (it seperates from the bikes transmission), the bearings need to be replaced, shimmed with a certain amount of preload.
You can actually remove the small bevel gearcase, take it to the kawa shop and they can rebuild it.
Go to Ron Ayers.com or bike bandit and look up the bevel case.....you'll see the unit (See below).
https://www.ronayers.com/oemparts/a/...bevel-gear-1-3

Its fairly rare that one goes out, but its at the last in line to recieve oil.... in the gearbox....see attached oil line....also, low oil pressure from idling the engine down too much to get her to sound like a HD....I burn then out from doing burn outs....like this guy....

jtascone · 08-05-2020, 07:50 AM

Thanks for the info. I'm actually having the driveshaft/swingarm maintenance done in a week. I guess I should probably have the mechanic check to see if there is any play at all where the shaft attaches to the bevel gear. If there's zero play there, can I assume I have nothing to worry about yet?

**MAS Tequila** · 08-06-2020, 06:23 AM

Call me @5612103399

08-02-2020, 09:01 PM	#1
jtascone Member Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 282	How rare is bevel gear failure? Hello all. After 36,000 miles of riding my Nomad (bike now has 45,000 miles total) it's starting to sound like there is a small amount of whining on decel at times. It's not loud, or terrible, but its something that I know hasn't been there since day 1. After doing some searching, I'm a bit concerned that it may be the bearings starting to go in the bevel gear. There are no other symptoms besides the slight whining noise. No loss of clutch or clunking. Maintenance has been done religiously on this bike since day 1. Oil changes every 2500 miles, sometimes sooner, all fluids replaced every 2 years, etc. As far as riding style, I ride a good amount, and most of my rides are on the longer side. But I never ride the bike "hard". So my questions are, would it be worth the money to have a shop pull the gear box and replace the bearings now even as a preventive maintenance? And also, are these bikes all destined to have an issue with this at some point? After a lot of reading, it sounds like the bearings in the bevel gear on these bikes are a weakness and it's a matter of when, not if they will be an issue. Thanks for any advice you can give me. Login or Register to Remove Ads
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08-02-2020, 09:29 PM	#2
BrokeAss Member Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: Ohio Posts: 297	It's not a Harley, it doesn't have a separate cassette type transmission, you're looking at yanking the engine and splitting the cases to get into the transmission. __________________ '09 Nomad 1700 - Ivan's flash - Kuryakyn Alley Cat - V&H slip-ons - Triple hi/low beam H4 headlights - Desert Dawgs - Half the F&S Catalog
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08-05-2020, 07:50 AM	#5
jtascone Member Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 282	Thanks for the info. I'm actually having the driveshaft/swingarm maintenance done in a week. I guess I should probably have the mechanic check to see if there is any play at all where the shaft attaches to the bevel gear. If there's zero play there, can I assume I have nothing to worry about yet? Login or Register to Remove Ads
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08-06-2020, 06:23 AM	#6
MAS Tequila Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Psychiatric Ward FL Posts: 3,429	Call me @5612103399 __________________ MT 2016 FLHP Psychiatric Ward FL VBA 936
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08-02-2020, 09:39 PM	#3
jtascone Member Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 282	Yes I understand that, but from what I've read, waiting for complete failure is waaaay worse than just replacing the bearings before they fail completely. I honestly didn't realize this problem was so common. I knew it happened on rare occasions, but after reading a lot, it almost sounds like it's inevitable and just a matter of when. I knew the POG and the bent shift fork were pretty common problems, but honestly thought that other than those 2 issues, these machines were pretty much bulletproof given proper maintenance. This issue sounds like no matter how good the maintenance, or how easy you ride, it's just a matter of time before these issues arise.
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