Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

I took apart the R 50/2 motor I recently purchased, I am making an ISDT replica motorcycle out of it, and this is what I found! It is a PERFECT advertisement for cleaning/changing your slingers.

In this picture you will see the slinger is 100% full! Interestingly enough, the front is 50%-60% full and the rear is overflowing.
These pictures show where the debris made it out of the slinger and into the transfer hole.
This last picture is the most scary of them all, this shows where the debris made it out of the transfer hole and into the crank! The "debris trail" did not make it to the oil feed hole yet but you can picture where some of the debris would have made it into the connecting rod bearing! The bearings feel good, but the crank will be coming apart for inspection!
I have one pet peeve, I always hear of people saying they are "cleaning" the slingers and I tried once but quickly tossed it in the garbage and purchased a new one. After looking at this full slinger, I am not sure if I would actually undertake the job of trying to clean it and get everything out of it! For the $15 I think its worth having peace of mind, but if someone has a method to reliably clean them I would love to try it with this horrible one I have and report back!

This another reason to ensure the slingers are good. If you look close you can see where the slinger overheated to the point it melted, expanded and caused the motor to lock up. This motor was a disaster when I got the bike, I did eventually get it refreshed and like new.

Well, I guess you didn’t clean those slingers!!!

NOPE! It was beyond me as far as cleaning them. The R 69S was partially dismantled in 1975, moved a few times and then most of it sat in a barn close by until I found it. Dumped the crank, got new stuff and carried on. I think my discovery of clogged slingers would be an extreme case, "friends don't let friends slingers get clogged".

Beauty of a moto! What color is that?

Turf Green the paint was supplied by Kent Holt. I used really good rollers and brushes so there are no roller or brush marks to be seen.

I agree. This is a slinger out of a 67 R69S with 52K on it. There is no history on the engine so I can't say the slingers have ever been cleaned but they were over 50% full. I am a believer of cleaning slingers.

James, how many miles were on the R50/2 in the original post?

The Gray R 50/2 that I recently went through has 13.700 miles on it and the slingers were packed at the point of compromised oil flow. Fortunately the crank and wrist pin bushings were in acceptable condition and a crank shaft refresh wasn't needed. All back together and runs like a new bike.

FL54 wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 05, 2022 9:15 am

James, how many miles were on the R50/2 in the original post?

I do not know, I just got it and I am going through it. It looks well used and never opened.