Wheel Bearings

[Koinz]

Just wondering who replaced their wheel bearings. I'm beginning to hear some roughness out of the front wheel bearings while I'm riding. I'm at 30k miles.

 

[~TABASCO~]

I felt a customers rear bearings and they feel a little rough. He's at about 36K

 

[Philistine]

Mine completely went at 20,000 Km, and took out the rear diff seal as well, the bike had spent a bit of time in the air the week before, so I figured that might have been the cause

 

[Don in Lodi]

Jeff has replaced both front and rear at this last tire change, something close to 50,000 miles. I mounted his tires...

 

[Koinz]

Looks like it depends on how much abuse the S10 was put through. I guess I'll pull the front calipers off and spin the wheel off the ground and see what it feels like. Could be just a noisy tire. I am running the pilot road 4's at the moment. In any case, it might be something I do in the off season as a maintenance thing. Thanks for your replies.

 

[eemsreno]

At over 90,000 miles here, Only smooth roads and easy riding. Front are stock and at 75,000 I had the little bearing on the rear start getting some play in it.
Steve

 

[greg the pole]

i will be inspecting mine this winter. I'm at 51km of hard use, no weird noises though.

I have a bearing driver kit and everything
I feel a blog post coming on... If not for my tenere, than for sure on the DR725

 

[Koinz]

At over 90,000 miles here, Only smooth roads and easy riding. Front are stock and at 75,000 I had the little bearing on the rear start getting some play in it.
Steve

My riding has also been mostly street based. A Few times on some bumpy trails and I don't drench the bike in water when I wash it the 2 or 3 times a year so I would consider it normal use. They're probably ok, but I'll check them anyway for next years riding season.

 

[eemsreno]

Koinz I was just kidding about the easy roads.

 

[greg the pole]

Koinz I was just kidding about the easy roads.

well at least you're washing it.

 

[BravoBravo]

Koinz I was just kidding about the easy roads.

So Steve, what is the story about the water crossing? How did you extricate the bike?

-Bruce

 

[eemsreno]

From here

http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=11143.0

 

[BravoBravo]

From here

http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=11143.0

Great trip report. Thanks!

-Bruce

 

[Philistine]

Word of warning checking wheel bearing, I could only feel slop in the bearing at one point of the rotation , I checked it 4 times and found no movement in the rear wheel, but still had a noise coming from the rear of the bike ::010::, on the 5th time I checked it I rotated the rear wheel and checked for movement at each segment until I found it, ??? so the movement in the wheel was only in a small part of the wheels rotation and their was quite a lot of movement , I've never seen that before so I was very concerned that it was a diff problem :'( but much to my relief was just a wheel bearing ::012::

 

[Koinz]

Koinz I was just kidding about the easy roads.

LOL. Nice ::012::

 

[rmunch44]

Just had a front wheel bearing go out at 20,000. Only posting this for those who are searching for wheel bearing issues. A lot of creek crossings and mud on the 2012 with not very many cleanings. I was out on the Kentucky ADV trail when mine went out. I'm gonna start keeping an extra one in my kit from now on.

 

[snakebitten]

My front wheel bearings fiasco is documented somewhere around here.
But no need to go read it since all we need to know is that if these bikes get used like a dirtbike, they are prone to requiring some dirtbike maintenance.

In short, I didn't immediately pinpoint my problem as wheel bearing failure. (Only one of the front bearings had disintegrated)
Instead, I thought the occasional dry-bearing sound was a brake-pad sound and was a real head scratcher since I couldn't find anything wrong with the brakes. I finally discovered the sound was easily generated when the front wheel was rolled backwards.

A "duh" moment for me indeed.

 

[BaldKnob]

Good time to pull up an old thread, my 2012 (93K miles) rear wheel bearings finally went. I thought the throttle bodies needed a synch but found a loose hub when looking at the pressure. For the DIYers, I bought the AllBalls kit (3 bearings and seal) for less than the cost of the left (cush-hub) bearing but they come very lightly lubed. Carefully remove the seals and pack both sides with good grease, seal up then throw 'em in the freezer while you're extracting the worn bearings. A long, brass drift and mallet will make easy work of it. Front-end still feels solid but the steering head has loosened a couple times over the miles.

 

[taskmaster86]

Most Japanese bikes have wheel bearings with a rubber dust cover. They are called "sealed" bearings but they really aren't. Just take your wheels off, clean the area around the seals and then lightly pry the tip of a razor blade in between the seal and the race of the bearing. The rubber seal will pop right off and allow you to wipe the old grease out. Now thoroughly pack a layer of new grease all around the race and balls. Make sure to roll the bearings and completely cover everything in grease. Now pop your rubber seal in place and press it in around the entire bearing to make sure it is seated. Put the rest of the bike back together and ride!

Do this every 10,000 miles or so and your bearings should last almost forever. Some people do it more like every 5,000 miles but I find that as long as the bearings were greased well from the factory, 10K miles is more than often enough.

 

[Don in Lodi]

Been doing this riding stuff for a while now. Coming up on a quarter million miles in the next few months... I've never had a bearing 'go out'. ::010:: knock on wood. What is the biggest indicator? Noise? Gawd awful shake? Change 'em out every 100k whether needed or not? I abused my heavy hauler Royal Star for 110k and never lost a bearing. The Tenere was my first fork seal failure... ever. Just curious.