E8000 "bottom bracket" bearing play after 1400km

[urastus]

I emailed Shimano, and he responded basically saying after watching the video, the lateral move is still within the spec, it is safe to ride.
I'll just keep riding it.

Somebody has already said, earlier, that if it gets to 3mm they will (hopefully) replace it. Apparently 1 - 2mm is OK.

 

[urastus]

Others have already said this; I'm riding my emtb exclusively during the two year warranty. The theory is I'll get a motor replaced in that period. I do miss my other bikes

 

[twistgripper]

I just today picked up a Devinci AC with a bit of a creak on the cranks - will try all points suggested one by one and report back what fixed it (if i can fix it). Bike has about 1900 kms. will report back once I know...

 

[twistgripper]

Pulled the motor today. wow compared to a cheapie chinee rear direct drive bike, removing & accessing the motor innards on these is a breeze!

Found 2 or 3 of the motor mount bolts loose - 1 or 2 were only at 50 inch lbs (5.6 Nm), 1 was finger loose, and the other 3 were around 170 inch lbs (19.2 Nm) - factory spec is 10-12.5Nm....maybe they got tight due to the little bit of corrrosion of the aluminum frame I found?

I also saw some evidence of rubbing on some of the mating surfaces at the mounting bolt locations. I haven't re-assembled yet but pretty sure that is what was causing the creak noise (it was real bad). Pulled the motor casing and since I didnt have the right type of grease i just found blobs of clean grease that were displaced and not doing anything and re-applied to the gears, it'll do for the rest of the season before i do a tear-down over the winter maybe. with ~2000 kms on it, thinking it might be due.

Also, noticed on the right side motor mounts, the motor has threaded inserts going through the mounting holes - maybe steel for higher torque on the bolts than aluminum could take? but these inserts present another potential source of the creaking. I checked all 3 inserts by grabbing their flanges with some pliers - they are tight, but who knows with the amount of torque on the cranks there might be movement there...if the noise is still present i'll consider pulling the inserts to check for evidence of rubbing, but they'll be damn hard to remove i bet if they're press fit. I'd reassemble them with some loctite bearing mount maybe....

Should I use something stronger than blue loctite to secure the motor mounting bolts this time?

 

[twistgripper]

surprised at the lack of response, not a lot of people wrenching on their own motors i guess...
- factory recommended motor mount bolt torque is 10-12.5Nm (89-111 inch lbs). since they came loose at what I assume is this factory recommendation, i will apply liberal amounts of loctite 243 and tighten to 17 Nm or 150 inch lbs and pray i dont damage anything. (again previously i found the secure bolts would not tighten further than 170 inch lbs so hopefully it is save to do this. I'm pretty sure if i just use the factory torque it will still be loose and creak.

 

[electricbogaloo]

I wouldn't put much emphasis as how the "factory" did things. The factory ofthen is a warehouse were people without much knowledge about bikes assemble them and only if something goes wrong an actual professional takes a look at it.

 

[twistgripper]

well, the noise was not the motor mounts. really though I had found it. will keep trying...

 

[ebnash]

I just unboxed and assembled my YT Decoy 29 Pro today and the BB, specifically on the drive side, has play on a brand new bike. I discovered it because I could feel it while riding the bike around my neighborhood with no assist on As I hadn’t charged it up yet. Sounds like Shimano isn’t going to do anything about it so Im going to ride the shit out of this thing and have it replaced if it gets worse.

 

[electricbogaloo]

It's the same with the freehub clunking. Every bike has it from the factory. People only tend to notice it after a while and think something is wrong.

 

[Heathogo]

Hi All,
Just doing some investigation with my bottom bracket movement on e8000 motor no. 2 on the e160, do your motors / spindles have spacers installed between the crank and the motor? I'm wondering if the LBS left them off when they replaced the last motor.

Part looks like this: Shimano STEPS DU-E8000 Brake Caliper Spacer Spindle - Y72F00018 | BikeSale.com

 

[twistgripper]

Hi All,
Just doing some investigation with my bottom bracket movement on e8000 motor no. 2 on the e160, do your motors / spindles have spacers installed between the crank and the motor? I'm wondering if the LBS left them off when they replaced the last motor.

Part looks like this: Shimano STEPS DU-E8000 Brake Caliper Spacer Spindle - Y72F00018 | BikeSale.com

yes, mine has them...

 

[ebnash]

My bike has them, as well

 

[pollywaffle]

OK, I have had this problem for ages. First, the RHS crank clicked at 12 o'clock position, now it creaks all over the place mainly whenputting the power on.

Has anyone successfully replaced the drive side bearing?

 

[Heathogo]

Mine did the same, checked pedals and cranks etc and we're all ok. I have it in the shop for a replacement under warranty. Second time this has happened for me..

 

[Simonepower]

I have my own bike shop and deal a lot with shimano tech guys & reps... (Not to blow my own trumpet). I’ve talked to the head tech guy at shimano uk (madison) about this play issue. I have a focus jam2 with shimano e8000. Play in the cranks is called free play, this is normal up to 2.5/3mm of movement, mine has had around 1mm from new and still has. The bb bearings life is as long as the life of the motor that shimano quote as 1000 full charges. So please dont worry if your shimano motor has play in the bb this is all normal. The bb has play there for to not put un needed pressure on bearings and motor internals.. much like when a bb30 bb has a spring washer fitted, its not designed to be fully compressed and allow some movement. Hope this helps

 

[Gary]

Read the thread simon.
We're not talking about the minimal amount of float designed into the motor axle.
ANY MORE PLAY developing is entirely down to wear and is NOT ACCEPTIBLE. Nevermind NORMAL.
The floating (sprung) axle actually causes the bearings to prematurely wear/fail. Clue: Repeated side shock loads are not really what sealed BB bearings were designed to deal with and Shimano still don't seem to realise mtb cranks take lots and lots of them

I also often deal with Madison and despite a multitude of my own motors being replaced under warranty after developing unacceptible amounts of play and creaking like a rusty gate hinge when ridden every single Madison employee I've ever spoken to denies any problem existing.


Please say you're not also guilty of telling punters 10mm of sag is normal on a reverb because SRAM changed their warranty terms to include a clause saying so after realising every single reverb in production develops a seal fault causing sag

 

[Gary]

Eh?

Shimano's dropper is more reliable than a Reverb, a third of the price and servicable bro.

If SRAM made Emtb motors I'd put money on them being even LESS reliable than an E8000.

 

[Swingset]

Should have some axial 'lateral' play when cold. As the motor heats up, the parts expand, and the play largely goes away. Good engineering.

I thought I had a bad motor this summer and it turned out that the splines on the crank arm were shot due to pedal strikes. New crank arms solved the issues of constant creaking.

2300 (3700k) miles and going strong.

 

[gtaadicto]

My E8000 BB bearings are starting to die at 1100 km, 3.5 months of riding.
When moving the cranks side to side with my hands i feel a slight play. Still not noticeable when riding the bike, no creaking noises either.
Very disappointed. The BB bearings on my normal bike were still perfect at 7500 km, when i sold it.

My E8000 BB bearings are starting to die at 1100 km, 3.5 months of riding.
When moving the cranks side to side with my hands i feel a slight play. Still not noticeable when riding the bike, no creaking noises either.
Very disappointed. The BB bearings on my normal bike were still perfect at 7500 km, when i sold it.

Update after 3.5 years and 13.000 km: the bearing play is exactly the same, has not gotten worse at all. It does not bother me.