Wheel Bearings

snakebitten

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Throw her up on the centerstand.
Roll the wheels backwards and forwards. Listen for that "dry noise".
If they're really shot, you'll hear it.

And they are sloppy, you can feel some play if you grab the wheel and look for lateral play.

Finally, if you're in the mood, remove the wheel and spin the bearing with your finger. You WILL feel a rough bearing.
 

Checkswrecks

Ungenear to broked stuff
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Bad like this?
LOL
This set is out of the little HF cargo trailer I just rebuilt. The wheel would rock more than an inch to either side.



I hereby title this - When the Dust Seal Went Bad
;)
 

samstoterau

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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.
I just did mine, 36k miles. Just throwing some info out there, feel free to add. The Pit Posse bearing removal tool was the WRONG SIZE. My front bearings were in between the 20mm and 25mm collets that come with the kit, even though Amazon said it would fit...I used an AutoZone pilot bearing removal kit with an adjustable collet. I didn't realize until I got the first bearing out that the spacer could move up and down, that would have been helpful to know. I probably could have worked the spacer up or down and used a punch instead, oh well. I used a propane torch for a little heat, next time I would use a hotter gas tbh. The Motion Pro driver set was also not exactly the right size, but it worked, without hitting the inner race. It was a little tricky centering the spacer as I drove the second bearing into place, I used the axle to realign it before pressing it the rest of the way. It was a little out of alignment when I was done, I used the fatter head of a punch and placed it in the center of the spacer, then tapped gently with a hammer on the side of the punch to fully center it
 

gunslinger_006

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Its not bad. You need a blind hole bearing puller. I prefer the kind with three jaws over a slide hammer, but you can sometimes make a slide hammer work in a pinch.

Put the bearings in the freezer for a while can help for installation.

I usually use All Balls Racing bearings, been using those over stock for years on many bikes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

samstoterau

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Its not bad. You need a blind hole bearing puller. I prefer the kind with three jaws over a slide hammer, but you can sometimes make a slide hammer work in a pinch.

Put the bearings in the freezer for a while can help for installation.

I usually use All Balls Racing bearings, been using those over stock for years on many bikes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I couldn't find any three jaw pullers that would fit inside the inner race.
 

jpward

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Oct 31, 2017
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Boise, ID
My front wheel bearing failed at 25k miles. My rear bearing exploded at 45k miles destroying the entire hub.
I've never pressure washed it, never submerged the hubs, but I do ride in the rain.
The other factor is I ride 2-up a great deal with camping gear.
I will replace mine every 25k miles from now on in addition to frequent inspections.
 

pilleway

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Mexico
Hi to all!
I recently replaced front and rear bearings at 55,000km, reason why I did is because I had unusual play in the rear wheel, so I verified and found LH rr bearing had a lot of play so replace the rr and frf too. No problem doing the job and I was fully satisfied with the end result, play was gone in the rr, and had fresh bearings in rr and frt.
Have great Hollidays!!
Be safe!
 

SmokinRZ

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Has anyone confirmed the bearing sizes? I've used all balls for off road bikes and was happy with them for the price. But on a long haul bike, I need quality. I know I can just go OEM but there are equal or better bearings out there for less money. I rode a Concours for 15 years and there was a vendor (Murph's) that supplied quality bearings at half the OEM price. I was hoping someone has blazed this trail.
 

SmokinRZ

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Awesome, thank you! Doesn't the rear wheel have three bearings? I'm assuming left side where the drive is, just double up on that side? I will try to find a good bearing house to source all of them.
 

SmokinRZ

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Got it, thanks. I'm going to try and source them before my trip in May and take them with me.
 

Cycledude

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I believe the rumors about All Balls being poor quality are just that bad rumors, about like the rumors about bad Fram filters simply not true. Over the years I have used a lot of All Balls and Fram stuff and it has never failed to work just fine.
 

SmokinRZ

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I replaced some steering bearings on a XR250 Honda with All Balls and they were definitely lower quality. They worked just fine and I was completely satisfied for the price and for that application. For multistate traveling I want quality.
 

RCinNC

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What brand of quality bearings was your bearing guy getting at half the price of OEM? A couple years ago I did a bunch of searching around to see if I could get bearings at a better price than OEM, and found that I couldn't. The upper tier brands like KBC, Koyo, Timken, NTN, etc were all in the same price range as the OEM ones. There were other brands available at various on-line bearing supply houses, but they weren't brands I was familiar with so I had no idea what their quality was like. What brand names were you buying back then?
 

SmokinRZ

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After finding all three bearings from three different sources, I've come to the conclusion that I would save a whopping $25. I will just order the OEM bearings and know they fit. Or get the All Balls kit and stuff it in my tank bag for emergencies.
 

SmokinRZ

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What brand of quality bearings was your bearing guy getting at half the price of OEM? A couple years ago I did a bunch of searching around to see if I could get bearings at a better price than OEM, and found that I couldn't. The upper tier brands like KBC, Koyo, Timken, NTN, etc were all in the same price range as the OEM ones. There were other brands available at various on-line bearing supply houses, but they weren't brands I was familiar with so I had no idea what their quality was like. What brand names were you buying back then?
It has been several years, it was one of the top brands like SKF or Koyo. The old Concours had undersized front bearing notorious for failing after 50K or so but the rear bearings rarely failed. Being small they were cheap. After looking around I've come to the same conclusion you did. At least I've convinced myself :)
 

RCinNC

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The bearing search wasn't a total waste of time for me. Since I ended up buying an OEM set, I was able to measure all the bearings and get the manufacturers' numbers off them. I keep that info as part of my Super Tenere Quick Reference Guide that is always on my phone. If I was on a trip and toasted a bearing, I guess I'd be able to call up a bearing supply house and have enough info to give them so they could overnight a bearing to me. It wouldn't be cheap, but it probably would be faster than a Yamaha dealer could get them. If other Yamaha shops are similar to the one I occasionally go to, it could take a week or two to get a bearing from them (or even longer, with Covid delays).

I had my rear non-drive side bearing replaced at 61,000 miles (it had gotten a notchy feeling to it), so I've used the OEM set I bought. I might just cheap out and buy an All Balls replacement set for the rear to toss in with my gear on a long trip.
 

Tenman

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I’ve used AllBalls wheel bearings for years with no problems. Can’t say much for their chain rollers though.
 
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