Slight Whistling from Right Rear.

Energy One

Steven Proctor

Active Member
Took the K9 out for a ride tonight, for about an hour. I noticed a slight whistling sound coming from the bike on the right side rear. Definitely more predominate on teh right rear. This is the second ride I have noticed this sound. So my question is, could this be the rear wheel bearings? It is not a constant pitch, the pitch of the sound does very some, but it is always there when the bike is in motion. Any thoughts or recommdations would be greatly appreciated. Thanx.
 

knothead

Second Chance Customs
Supporting Member
Could be a bearing ....does ur brake feel like its dragging any...could be bearing or could be brake caliper sticking a little....could be bearing letting the rotor inside the caliper lean a little and cause the noise
 

Steven Proctor

Active Member
Could be a bearing ....does ur brake feel like its dragging any...could be bearing or could be brake caliper sticking a little....could be bearing letting the rotor inside the caliper lean a little and cause the noise
knothead, the bike seems to roll fine when move it in/out of the garage and I cant tell if it is "dragging" while riding. I can't see or feel any movement in the caliper. Maybe I can have my wife roll it back and forth while I try to listen to both sides.
 

Steven Proctor

Active Member
I will get it on the lift in the morning to check the tire and belt. Also, other than the high whistling sound, what are some other ways you can tell if the bearings are going bad? I looked at the left side and that side "looks" fine. I can't see the bearings on the right. Will the bike "ride" and "handle" differently? I realize this may sound idiotic, but this is a new issue for me.
 

Sven

Well-Known Member
Process of elimination right side detection:
1. Belt ~ as mentioned, you can spin the back wheel, soap or chalk the top of the belt as a staring point. Say, from the bottom of the wheel, move it to the 3 o'clock position, mark it, start a the bottom, back to the horizontal 3 o'clock. Why? Pinpoint rub. With a paper towel rapped around the index finger, swab from mark to mark. If it's not obvious that belt thread is sticking out of the side of the belt kind of 'there it is'; you can see where that dirtier point to point was, meaning, a hint of material loss on the finger pass.
Then, the who knows how many times is the 360 of the wheel, it's not like rub-rub every 360 degrees of the wheel. Or will it with wheel off ground? But say it takes more come-around where we have a combo of many wheel spins before the rub makes the noise.

2. Bearing ~ as mentioned by a few, say we retract the rear brake pads away from the disc. Eliminate this for a few reasons. One is the failure to find the squeak at the belt with the retraction. Failure to find a bearing failure. Then, with a test ride after belt/bearing showed no joy. Say the left side might throw a curve ball at the noise, where you eliminated the [possible] brake squeak. All you did was check without a belt adjustment or a wheel removed for a bearing check. Noise still there, then pump the back brake up asap. Can't stab the pedal by accident in test mode. Belt/bearings/pads is the loop, unless I missed something.

So a static bearing check with the pad retracted in play, hands at 12 and 6 o'clock. At the same time, push out 12, pull in 6. Go back and forth is X. Hands at 3 and 9 o'clock, same push and pull is Y. With the belt marks numbered 1-2-3-4, start at 1, go back and forth till you see 2 at your starting point, place 2 at your starting point and watch 3, and so on is Z.

3. The deal on this one is exactly what you don't want to happen is a new belt to tooth pattern. But I do not know the history of tire changes and the tooth to tooth timing of the original matching wear of new belt and new sprocket. No mark where tooth matches with tooth, then here is where it's not side to side, meaning, wheel not square to frame kind of angle, but tooth over tooth pattern setting in. So, last time tire was changed and was the belt to sprocket marked? So it's no joy at finding a static squeak at the belt, no bearing showing itself, no retracted pads on the test to see if it was the pads. The last resort is to pull the wheel, hand feel the bearings, move one tooth off of the timing of teeth, test ride and did the squeak disappear? Could be tooth ride up.
 

Mr. Wright

Knows some things
Hman bet me to it. Do what he said, that will tell you real fast if it is the belt. And just for future reference, most of us replace the rear bearings each time we do the tire. The front bearings will last through a couple of three tires. Eric has them in stock.
 

Steven Proctor

Active Member
Thank you all. Sven, that is good write up on how to start eliminating and narrowing down the problem. I think I will put it on the lift and rotate the tire and use my stethoscope on the bearings, belt and caliper. The soap idea is great and really simple, I will try that next and go from there. I will keep y'all posted. Thanx.
 

Steven Proctor

Active Member
Ok. So I put the bike on the lift and rotated the tire fwd and back both slow and as fast as I could while trying to listen with my stethoscope. I was unable to replicate the problem sound. I then put chalk on the inside and outside of the belt, rotated the tire fwd and back several rotations and could not see any chalk getting on the tire wall. So that is good. I also could not tell if any of the chalk has rubbed off. So, I put soap on both sides of the belt. I will take it out later and see what happens.
 

Sven

Well-Known Member
Add one to the list. Butch brings up a heat induced squeal. Won't appear in that hand spin situation. So now it's have that rear pad retracted away from the disc. Do not use the rear brake, or the heat goes down the disc to where you want to touch.
Touch points:
1. As Butch pointed to, as far to the bearing housing on the hub, then the other side for a heat buildup.
2. Temp gun would be nice, but with finger at the outside of the hub is where the axle goes thru. Same goes for the other side.
3. Back to the rack. Strap the bike down; fan on engine;,garage door up; rear wheel off the rack;. trans in top gear; start it; sustain rpm so it does not buck off the rack; and wait.

Only pulling the wheel off knows for sure:
a. Wheel alone on floor, axle just an inch past the labia majora, move the axle up to the ceiling, then down to the floor.
b. Pull the axle out, that's what she said, and do both have the same up and down movement? X is not it.
c. Hand turn the inner race and does it crunch by rolling it up the one side and down> same as the belt, move the race 360, so the crunch comes around is Y.
d. With finger still in the inner race, pull the race in and out. Do they match?
e. Slide axle all the way thru. Lift the one end of the axle with one hand, the other hand on the other end of the axle. One has more slop than the other? Where [a.] might throw you off on the ever so slight lift is the gap between ball and race.
 

Sven

Well-Known Member
So are we assuming cool bearings after the rack running? Say they remain cool. No need to pull the wheel, kill two birds rather.
Let's assume belt squeak. Kill one is to realign wheel centering. Two, jump a tooth with the belt. This way, the ride either brings it back up or it is gone = Belt/sprockets.

Again, assume the wheel was centered to begin with; all that was changed was the tooth jump. It rides up on the tooth is the squeak? Lift/load, the belt tooth slides to the bottom on lift, the worn belt squeaks up the worn tooth on load = Gap.

Chirp in the constant = Like a bird on the 360 spin of the wheel, a chirp-chirp-chirp every 360. Yes or no?
Chirp every so often = Load and lift is when it occurs. Yes or no?
Chirp is how = ______________ Fill in the blank.
 

Steven Proctor

Active Member
Ok. I am read up. Still trying to fully understand what everyone is saying. To start what is "tooth jump," how does that happen and how do i correct it and keep it from happening again? I haven't had a chance to take the bike out yet. Trying to wait for the rain to stop.
 

Sven

Well-Known Member
No, no..."it didn't jump a tooth" The try is... loosen the axle, adjust nuts, and bolts. Run the adjusters in so the belt loosens enough to remove the wheel, but all you are doing is to hop the belt over one or however many teeth it jumped over the sprocket. You want to change the wear pattern position; so as to see if the squeak is eliminated via 'it was the belt' not the bearing, not the alignment.

That's when I mentioned, it can't be alignment, you adjusted it back to the same place and is square to the frame. Has to be one of the 3:
1. Alignment is a squeak = It's perfect so no joy. You went thru the motion of the jumping tooth and aligned wheel again.
2. Bearing came up without a squeak as was the alignment = Not found here either.
3. Rack spin would have the rear tire grown taller and squeak under the fender = Nope, didn't happen on growth as if riding fast.
4. Belt tooth jump is the only variable left for a squeak.
5. Or _________ fill in the blank, (Butch?).

So, you did everything under the sun butt move the belt tooth. Same ass saying, reach around the trousers, grab the center seam, pull that and the 100% cotton briefs up your crack and move it out of there... just like pulling a belt tooth out of its original position.
 
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