Bafang Ultra Greasing Gears

Roy814

Member
Region
USA
I have a Rize RX (2022) with the Bafang Ultra, or M620 motor. I have read a variety of discussions on whether or not to add grease to the new motor. Any thoughts on this? Also, it appears the the gears may be accessed on the motor by just removing three screws; no need to pull the cranks. Is that so? I don’t have the kinda specialized (isis?) puller for the cranks so, if adding grease is a good idea, I’d like to be able to do it with the least hassle.
Thanks in advance for the advice!
 
Welcome to EBR Roy814. A member here sent me fantastic instructions on how to open the Ultra motor and change out grease. If @JRA doesn't mind I would copy and paste that over here.

I think you will find this community to be both enjoyable and invaluable Roy. I'll give JRA time to notice I "pinged" him and see if he wants to share the info in any other way.
 
Go for it Merle, and you have to remove the drive side crank arm and chain ring which both require special tools.
 
"
Hey Merle,
I am pretty sure it will need grease cause the ones I have taken down sure did. Once again I can't recommend the cornhead grease highly enough over red lithium suggested in some places....
Get your bike upside down which may involving rotating the screen or other tender parts on the bars? Remove the drive side crank. Have a 16pt tool ready to take off the spider lockring, left hand thread remember, and remove it and the spider.
Remove the plastic cover on the non drive side. This is the touchiest part of the operation surprisingly. Mine had little 3 little phillips screws holding it on but Ray's had small torx ones so be prepared for either I guess? After removing the plastic cover the 13mm nyloc nuts are exposed. Remove those bolts completely, you may have to poke them out as they are in there pretty tight.
Now the motor is free and you can sort of flip it up to remove the wire connections which all have little safety tabs on them at the bottome. With the motor completely free take it to the bench and remove the allen bolts that hold the halves together and carefully split the case so that the gasket is preserved and easy enough to do.
All is now exposed and I took any and all grease that was in there out and replaced with a few tablespoons of the CH grease. Really doesn't take a whole lot I feel but enough to coat the gear surfaces. Won't make the motor silent but does quiet it down a lot and a greased gear is a happy gear in general.
Then just work your way backwards. The one thing I suggest is that the plastic cover does go back on better when the bike is back upright. I struggled with this on my tear down leaving it upside down and on Ray's it went much better upright. It's a fussy deal though cause the screws are small and lining up the holes is kind of a pain.
That should help,"

Copied from generous JRA private message to me.
 
Nice to have a video. A lot of people might peg that as way too much grease. 'The gears don't need to be swimming in grease, just lubricated by it.'

I don't know for sure personally, but, worth getting some knowledgeable input on that point.
 
Here is a video of the process.
Do not pack that much grease! smh...
Too much grease is just as bad as not enough.
I'd also recommend removing as much of the original grease as possible to avoid any compatibility issues and having your new grease turn to mud.
@JRA... if you get a chance can you post a link and the benefits of the cornhead grease?
 
Welcome to EBR Roy814. A member here sent me fantastic instructions on how to open the Ultra motor and change out grease. If @JRA doesn't mind I would copy and paste that over here.

I think you will find this community to be both enjoyable and invaluable Roy. I'll give JRA time to notice I "pinged" him and see if he wants to share the info in any other way.
Thanks much for the guidance and link!
 
"
Hey Merle,
I am pretty sure it will need grease cause the ones I have taken down sure did. Once again I can't recommend the cornhead grease highly enough over red lithium suggested in some places....
Get your bike upside down which may involving rotating the screen or other tender parts on the bars? Remove the drive side crank. Have a 16pt tool ready to take off the spider lockring, left hand thread remember, and remove it and the spider.
Remove the plastic cover on the non drive side. This is the touchiest part of the operation surprisingly. Mine had little 3 little phillips screws holding it on but Ray's had small torx ones so be prepared for either I guess? After removing the plastic cover the 13mm nyloc nuts are exposed. Remove those bolts completely, you may have to poke them out as they are in there pretty tight.
Now the motor is free and you can sort of flip it up to remove the wire connections which all have little safety tabs on them at the bottome. With the motor completely free take it to the bench and remove the allen bolts that hold the halves together and carefully split the case so that the gasket is preserved and easy enough to do.
All is now exposed and I took any and all grease that was in there out and replaced with a few tablespoons of the CH grease. Really doesn't take a whole lot I feel but enough to coat the gear surfaces. Won't make the motor silent but does quiet it down a lot and a greased gear is a happy gear in general.
Then just work your way backwards. The one thing I suggest is that the plastic cover does go back on better when the bike is back upright. I struggled with this on my tear down leaving it upside down and on Ray's it went much better upright. It's a fussy deal though cause the screws are small and lining up the holes is kind of a pain.
That should help,"

Copied from generous JRA private message to me.
Thank you!
 
+1 on corn head. Quiets down the motor a ton. Then again doesn't take much to quiet down a motor that only has a few specs of terrible grease on it out of the factory. I don't get it...
 
I'm seriously thinking about entering next year, fat m620 in the open class would possibly win :D
averages 54km a day split between mountains and desert, dirt wizards for the mountains and bud and lou for the desert, innotrace controller, sounds like a winning combo.
 
I checked out the event url and it looks like there were only 23 entrants in 3 classes? Logistics of getting there would be harder than the race itself but I agree on your bike choice assuming you mean an FS model. Some of that rock terrain looked chunky.

Also it was a bit confusing in the results section if they had won the overall? Looked like a Russian dude did doing the next class down?
 
Few do's n don't's would be nice

What I've read so far which I'm currently trying to find out exactly what they mean and how to find out if true and why?.

1,Don't knock the magnet magnet? I've heard it's screwed on to one end of the drive gears

2, keep grease away from the one way bearing.

3, if you have to unplug the controller (to replace gasket say) then do not rotate the gears as this knocks the halls out, again I believe something to do with the magnet??.

4, don't run the motor with the case split as will act strangely as if there's an issue, why I don't know?..

5, apparently if the mainboard is knocked out (halls) it's a paper wait as currently no DIY recalibration fix.

1, and 5 puts me off splitting my m620 atm till more research lol

Take my post with a pinch of salt I'm no expert on this motor and all could be false, just wanted to share what I've read so far which isn't mentioned in any videos or tutorials.
 
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