Bafang BBSxx - fault finding and fixes

[kfranchoo]

Hi everyone,
I mounted my kit only since last week, and have only taken it for a couple of spins.
The kit is installed on a Specialized Sirrus and the engine makes no noise as seen in the videos posted here. So no complaints there..
It does however make a noise while I pedal. It makes the same noise with the chain off.


I'm attaching the youtube link for your reference:
https://youtu.be/mSubg6xoMRI

Is this normal? Has anyone else encountered this?

Thanks,
Karel

 

[alfantastic]

Hi everyone,
I mounted my kit only since last week, and have only taken it for a couple of spins.
The kit is installed on a Specialized Sirrus and the engine makes noise as seen in the videos posted here. So no complaints there..
It does however make a noise while I pedal. It makes the same noise with the chain off.


I'm attaching the youtube link for your reference:
https://youtu.be/mSubg6xoMRI

Is this normal? Has anyone else encountered this?

Thanks,
Karel

The final drive gears need extra grease. Take the side cover off to expose the gears:


Then pack in as much wheel bearing grease (black stuff) as you can.
I use CV joint Moly-Lithium grease in a syringe, so I can inject the grease into the spaces.
Don't be afraid to really pack it in there.

Refit cover, and unit should be much quieter :wink:

 

[kfranchoo]

Hi everyone,
I mounted my kit only since last week, and have only taken it for a couple of spins.
The kit is installed on a Specialized Sirrus and the engine makes noise as seen in the videos posted here. So no complaints there..
It does however make a noise while I pedal. It makes the same noise with the chain off.


I'm attaching the youtube link for your reference:
https://youtu.be/mSubg6xoMRI

Is this normal? Has anyone else encountered this?

Thanks,
Karel

The final drive gears need extra grease. Take the side cover off to expose the gears:

View attachment 2
Then pack in as much wheel bearing grease (black stuff) as you can.
I use CV joint Moly-Lithium grease in a syringe, so I can inject the grease into the spaces.
Don't be afraid to really pack it in there.

Refit cover, and unit should be much quieter :wink:

Hi,
I left the kit on my frame and took of the cover like you said.
It looks like there was already some grease, but not in abundance. So spinning the pedals and having removed the cover it gave this noise:
https://youtu.be/K9YwFqNTuP0

I took the picture after having removed the lid. On the picture you have the grease as how it was factory applied.




I took off the existing grease as much as possible and added the lithium grease. It wasnt black but more like a yellowy thick pasta. I stuffed as much as I could in there and then put the lid back on. So spinning the pedals gave this noise:
https://youtu.be/bLHPUcbMUxw

At least to my hearing this is more or less the same as before. I will have to stop being paranoid .. I took another picture of me having added the other grease type in abundance.


Thanks for your guidance.. if you see or do hear anything out of the ordinary do let me know

paranoia paranoia..

 

[WoodlandHills]

Does this help your paranoia: http://electric-fatbike.com/2015/11/22/hardy-boys-solve-the-mystery-of-the-nylon-gear-failure-on-the-bbs02/ ? As long as you don't use petroleum based grease you should be just fine.

 

[kfranchoo]

I'll get a good night's sleep! Thanks! I'll post my type of litium grease here in the forum later..

 

[alfantastic]

I'll get a good night's sleep! Thanks! I'll post my type of litium grease here in the forum later..

I'll be honest, I've managed to squeeze much more grease in than that. Try using a syringe. It can get a bit messy, but well worth it.

 

[kfranchoo]

I'll go for 200km this weekend and open it up afterwards.
This is the grease I bought.
In Spanish though... (i'm from Barcelona)

View attachment 1

 

[cwah]

Is grease solving the problem? I have the same noise when i pedal

 

[kfranchoo]

I've come to the conclusion that noise is normal as its moving metal against metal but it can be reduced by greasing it abundantly.I've yet to syringe it in there.

 

[cwah]

I didn't have this noise when I bought the motor

 

[kfranchoo]

In my case it did.. i bought another bafang that i will mount soon enough and will get back to you with results on first noise, without having gone for a ride.

 

[staldor]

HI folks. Great thread since it has given me some ideas of why my BBS02 makes noise. I get this grinding noise when the motor has a load. I even feel the noise/grinding through the pedals. I'm suspecting that I have the loose rotor problem discussed earlier in this thread (missing o ring?). Could anyone of you judge my problem from the the two videos below?

Clinking noise without any load.
https://goo.gl/photos/yAy8TcU7D4osr22R6

The noise I get when there is load on the motor, notice the low frequency grinding/roaring in the beginning when the motor starts to spin the wheel:
https://goo.gl/photos/gS13PBCvpyHmVAHn8

What do you think? The motor is practically new, only driven a couple of km's.

 

[opperpanter]

HI folks. Great thread since it has given me some ideas of why my BBS02 makes noise. I get this grinding noise when the motor has a load. I even feel the noise/grinding through the pedals. I'm suspecting that I have the loose rotor problem discussed earlier in this thread (missing o ring?). Could anyone of you judge my problem from the the two videos below?

Clinking noise without any load.
https://goo.gl/photos/yAy8TcU7D4osr22R6

The noise I get when there is load on the motor, notice the low frequency grinding/roaring in the beginning when the motor starts to spin the wheel:
https://goo.gl/photos/gS13PBCvpyHmVAHn8

What do you think? The motor is practically new, only driven a couple of km's.

I have the same thing. I tried greasing the metal gears, but that didn't help. Going to send it to em3ev for repair.

 

[tomjasz]

I have the same thing. I tried greasing the metal gears, but that didn't help. Going to send it to em3ev for repair.

Shipping to China or USA? I'm curious how Paul handles repairs these days.

 

[Lurkin]

Bafang in China. Yes, it is likely a bearing failure or motor shaft issue. Even after replacing my motor shaft, it still made odd noises, indicating either internal diameter of the bearing had changed due to shaft movement or another bearing had damaged/worn in the process.

I sent mine back on Paul's instructions. Please take a photo of your serial number at the bottom before you send it. Then you'll know if they actually repair/recondition it or just replace it. Back it up somewhere, I did this but my harddrive failed in between send it and getting it back.

 

[tomjasz]

Bafang in China. Yes, it is likely a bearing failure or motor shaft issue. Even after replacing my motor shaft, it still made odd noises, indicating either internal diameter of the bearing had changed due to shaft movement or another bearing had damaged/worn in the process.

I sent mine back on Paul's instructions. Please take a photo of your serial number at the bottom before you send it. Then you'll know if they actually repair/recondition it or just replace it. Back it up somewhere, I did this but my harddrive failed in between send it and getting it back.

Do you remember the build date?
There was a mid crank kit change. I'd like to figure out the date of that change. I wonder if that's the failure?
Thanks!

 

[Twofin]

LET THIS BE A LESSON TO YOU ALL, DONT IGNORE NOISES!
You have to see this video!
Little help??
[youtube]Dw2wNuyzOgI[/youtube]

A bearing can deform very easily on assembly if it is inserted in a hole too tight or with debris from manufacture,as soon as motor starts to run the bearing will eat through its hardened track and ball coating with alarming speed as seen on this video.

 

[Twofin]

Very tempted to tear my bbsHD motor down before fitting as assembly looks to be root cause of most motor problems,not all down to design, what u reckon guys, A bit of preventative maintenance?

 

[speedmd]

These small caged Ball bearings may not be strong enough to handle the torque loads long term. We will see. If this is becoming a common fail point, we may need to upgrade to roller- needle bearing type replacements. The one in the video suffered from ball cage separation and looks to be a very poor quality unit. Good catch.

 

[tomjasz]

IT SURE WOULD BE HELPFUL TO INCLUDE SERIAL NUMBERS TO DETERMINE BUILD DATES.

Sorry for the bold, but this is frustratingly silly for us to not include the build dates. I'd sure like to see if we can pin problems to design changes or early builds. OR are newest builds still showing this problem.

POST YOUR SERIALS! PLEASE!

This is the only way we can begin to develop a pattern of failures.

 

[opperpanter]

HI folks. Great thread since it has given me some ideas of why my BBS02 makes noise. I get this grinding noise when the motor has a load. I even feel the noise/grinding through the pedals. I'm suspecting that I have the loose rotor problem discussed earlier in this thread (missing o ring?). Could anyone of you judge my problem from the the two videos below?

Clinking noise without any load.
https://goo.gl/photos/yAy8TcU7D4osr22R6

The noise I get when there is load on the motor, notice the low frequency grinding/roaring in the beginning when the motor starts to spin the wheel:
https://goo.gl/photos/gS13PBCvpyHmVAHn8

What do you think? The motor is practically new, only driven a couple of km's.

I have the same thing. I tried greasing the metal gears, but that didn't help. Going to send it to em3ev for repair.

Paul asked me to send it to someone in London.

Serial: 1412260523

 

[cwah]

Who can fix in london? Got a pb and I'm london based

 

[tomjasz]

Serial: 1412260523

THANKS!
I believe that would make it the first design "Bafang mid crank kit bbs01 and bbs02 kit iron gear for replacement. There are old and new version for the Bafang bbs kit iron gear: for old version, there is no number in the bottom, for the new version, there is a "2" in the bottom of the iron gear." I'm not clear on exactly what the changes were. The case also changed at some pint from 5 to 7 bolt. Confusing and no clear data. I'm hoping LunaCycle, Eric, can come up with some dates.

Quote and photos from Greenbikekit. They seem to have more repair parts available than anyone else, other than a EU site, which I can't seem to find my link to.

http://www.greenbikekit.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?limit=30&q=bbs02

 

[opperpanter]

Serial: 1412260523

THANKS!
I believe that would make it the first design "Bafang mid crank kit bbs01 and bbs02 kit iron gear for replacement. There are old and new version for the Bafang bbs kit iron gear: for old version, there is no number in the bottom, for the new version, there is a "2" in the bottom of the iron gear." I'm not clear on exactly what the changes were. The case also changed at some pint from 5 to 7 bolt. Confusing and no clear data. I'm hoping LunaCycle, Eric, can come up with some dates.

Quote and photos from Greenbikekit. They seem to have more repair parts available than anyone else, other than a EU site, which I can't seem to find my link to.

http://www.greenbikekit.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?limit=30&q=bbs02

Indeed no '2' on my small gear.

 

[staldor]

HI folks. Great thread since it has given me some ideas of why my BBS02 makes noise. I get this grinding noise when the motor has a load. I even feel the noise/grinding through the pedals. I'm suspecting that I have the loose rotor problem discussed earlier in this thread (missing o ring?). Could anyone of you judge my problem from the the two videos below?

Clinking noise without any load.
https://goo.gl/photos/yAy8TcU7D4osr22R6

The noise I get when there is load on the motor, notice the low frequency grinding/roaring in the beginning when the motor starts to spin the wheel:
https://goo.gl/photos/gS13PBCvpyHmVAHn8

What do you think? The motor is practically new, only driven a couple of km's.

I have the same thing. I tried greasing the metal gears, but that didn't help. Going to send it to em3ev for repair.

Paul asked me to send it to someone in London.

Serial: 1412260523

If you experience the same symptoms, did Paul mention the problem that causes it?

I would also be interested to hear if someone in London can fix this. I'm based in Norway. My reseller (greenbikekit.com) has not mentioned something about this. Just that i can get the spare parts I need..

Not sure yet if it is the magnet rotor, or if I have bearing problems with the iron gears.

And how difficult is to fix this myself? Do I need to take the whole motor apart?

My serial is 1509083899.