Paralever Pivot Bearing replacement

[Soliton]

My mechanic has told me that I will need to soon replace my paralever pivot bearings. The BMW version uses tapered roller bearings. Another fellow in the US asserts that a roller bearing is meant to roll rather than the oscillating motion that is common to a paralever and that as a result the bearings have an unacceptably high failure rate. In response to this problem he has developed an OILITE Brass bushing mated to a Timken race bearing which he claims is superior.

http://rubberchickenracinggarage.com/bushings.html

1 - Is the initial assertion correct?
2 - Has anyone here used a "Rubber Chicken" brass bushing in place of the official part, and if so what where your experiences.

Any experience as always is greatly appreciated.

[slowtorque]

Some have had good success with the bushings from RC; others have not. I researched the issue here and elsewhere and decided to reinstall the OEM bearings and just be vigilant about the preload during rear tire changes. I think once they get loose they wear quickly. I did notice once installed and torqued to factory spec they loosened up a bit in a few hundred miles and had to be reset. I did not use the called for loctite and marked all parts to be able to detect any movement. Movement is unlikely IMO. This retorque is not done during the 600 mile service and is likely IMO the reason so many have problems with the OEM bearings. That's my theory anyway.

[motojoe]

Slowtorque,
What were you reffering to when you said to be vigilant about preload when changing rear tires?
thanks
Joe

[slowtorque]

Well, I did the bearing replacement myself as I tend to like to do all my own work. Have plenty of experience pressing bearings in and out so it was fairly simple. I greased them liberally and set the preload per the manual (don't recall the spec). Checked again after a few hundred miles and detected a very slight movement when the wheel was grasped at 9 and 3. So, while I had the rear wheel off for a tire change, I loosed the locknut and retorqued the left preload nut to remove the very slight slop. It didn't take much to remove the play. I plan to check this every tire change to confirm proper adjustment.