Flex 3401 failing/failed?

LeMarque

LeMarque

New member
Cross posted to another forum 'cause I'm panicked:



So I have a few of the LC Hydro Cyan/Tangerine pads and thought I'd try them out on the '03 M3 (man, it seems this paint is HARD).



I have the LC adapter 'system' and when I attached the 5+ inch backing plate, I noticed there was some wobble. That is,the plate wasn't snug and I could lift lift/rock it off the cast iron housing approx. 1/16 -3/32".



I then tried the factory plate and it's the same; i.e, not snug. I don't feel any play in the spindle.



I then noticed what looks like grease oozing out from where the spindle fits into the housing:





P1010179.jpg




Is there a Doctor in the house that can prescribe a solution?
 
How old is your Flex? I'm not familiar with the Flex, but backing plates usually come with plastic washers to go between the plate and the mounting surface to snug it up. The backing plate threads are probably bottoming out and not tightening all the way up against the mounting surface. I'm sure a regular metal washer would be fine to snug it up. The grease coming out is most likely just excess. Wipe it off and see if more continues to come out. If alot more comes out then there may be a seal or something going bad. But if there's no play in the spindle and no odd noises coming out of it, I would think it's ok.
 
Rich, I go with the the shaft bearing going away. When a bearing decides it has had enough, the seal going is the first indicator that the bearing it's self is toast.

However, you make a good point about the washer being the simple and easy fix.

If that don't work, bearing.

Grumpy
 
To follow up:



A buddy of mine who was recognized as one of the top 30 BMW mechanics in the country stopped by and had a look. He thinks it's in tolerance but I'm going to give Flex a call tomorrow.



There's minimal play in what Flex refers to as the output shaft. 32.105 in the below parts diagram.



http://www.ereplacementparts.com/ima.../XC3401VRG.pdf



So the larger the backing plate the more pronounced the 'wobble'. I checked it against my Megs DA and the DA has a similar amount of play.



I'm just feeling that my Dewalt 849x has no play nor would I want any in a tool that spins that fast with any amount of torque. I may be wrong, but ... I'll post what Flex tells me.
 
Sooo...



I talked to Jim at Flex's US repair center and he went to talk to the repair guys and checked with them both new and repaired machines and the long and short of it is ...



'cause it's a DA it's going to have a bit of wobble and the grease is good.



Guess that's the only way a n00b's gonna learn :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top