| Author | Message | ||
     Barker |
Im am about to get set #3 put in in 29k miles. I remember hearing/reading some where that the wheel can only take the bearing replacement process a few times. Any truth to that? How many times have yall done it? (Message edited by barker on June 19, 2009) | ||
| Etennuly |
I have only done it once so far at about 35,000 miles or so. I have 38,000 on it now. That is exactly why I like to use the heat gun method of removal and installation, it makes for no wear on a tight fit hub. Using that method there should be no limit to the number of times they go in and out. Are you doing a lot of water crossings and such? Someone else has asked me about the grease fitting in my rear hub. I will see if I can get a picture set up in Photo Bucket. | ||
| Glen |
wont putting grease in the hub from the inside push the seals out on the bearings? | ||
| 2_spuds |
I'am on about # 7,I change them with every rear tire. I don't use any heat, just moly lube and freeze the new bearings. No problems yet. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Even if you do begin to lose the tightness required for a press fit after many bearing changes, there are ways of restoring it. There's a version of Locktite specifically for press-fit bearings (although it would make removing them the next time harder). You could always have a machinist slightly overbore the wheel and then press in a new metal sleeve. I think you'll be OK for a lot of bearing changes. | ||
| Etennuly |
When I change them next time the inner seals will come out. If water can get through the seals, the grease will have no problem. When I did this on my ATC's, I would hit it with a few pumps of the grease gun after riding. It always pushed water out then some grease would come out, and they had the inner seals in them. (Message edited by etennuly on June 19, 2009) | ||
| Etennuly |
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| Etennuly |
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| Reepicheep |
Interesting! Any problems with axle clearence? Must have been nerve wracking to drill that hole... | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Hey Vern, Is that the same location for the weep holes you put in another set of wheels? | ||
| Barker |
I have had worse, just a slight catch. Not gravely. I popped open the seals. They looked great. I wiped out out grease. I just repacked with http://www.greengrease.net/ and drilled a treadmarks style hole. No water came out. I swapped out rubbers to a track day take -offs that should last 1000 miles. I will re-check and buy a heat gun. What is the heat gun technique? | ||
| Hughlysses |
What is the heat gun technique? Gently warm the hub of the wheel around the bearing using a heat gun prior to removing old bearings and prior to installing new bearings. Better yet, put the new wheel bearings in the freezer to pre-chill them before you start. Heating the wheel expands the diameter bearing seat area; chilling the bearings reduces their outside diameter. The combination makes it much easier to press the new bearings into place. When everything returns to ambient temperature, you have a nice tight fit. | ||
| Barker |
clever. Maybe I will try Mrs. Barker's hair dryer.  | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Maybe you should try that on Mrs. Barker...... and report back If you don't get slapped or wake up in the "Burning Bed"...... I just might give it a try.. | ||
| Road_kill |
From my experience, a (1200W) hair dryer does not work nearly as well as a heat gun. But who knows; I'm pretty much bald and maybe I don't know how to work one so well  . By the way, I use dry ice packed around the bearings for about 20 min prior to removal/installation. CAREFUL about the CO2 fumes! Can't smell them but they can kill ya. Use a big fan and be in an open area please. The hot hub and cold bearing trick has worked very well for me over the years. Locktite makes a product for bearings/sleeves (forgot number but it is green) but I wouldn't use it unless your bearings were pretty easy to remove without the hot/cold trick. Just my $0.02 worth. | ||
| Methed |
+1 gazillion on the heat gun method, tho I used my 500w halogen shop light to get the wheels hot to the touch. Still had to dump some Seafoam around the races to loosen things up, but the heat sure helped! The frozen bearings method worked great on the install as well. Someone here mentioned using slotted fender washers on a long bolt in lieu of a blind bearing puller. I gave this a shot and popped things right out last night, all three times (forgot to put the spacer in initially). Aside I've gotta say, BadWeb is made up of some amazing folks! Hopefully the new black bearings are equally amazing.  Oh yeah, I believe they were the original bearings, replaced the rear with 27k on 'em after some 'rhythmic vibrations' on the way back from HC. (Message edited by methed on June 19, 2009) | ||
| Jphish |
Had 10K on the red ones - they looked fine, but I greased them @ 5K mi. Did preemptive change to the black ones when I changed my rear tire @ 10K. Did BOTH front & rear. j | ||
| Court |
Has anybody written a BOK type write up on changing the wheel bearings on the Ulysses? My time is going to come and I'd like to do it myself. It would be nice to have a current, up to date with what we now know to be "BEST PRACTICE" required:
It sounds like a Froggy type project frankly.  | ||
| Etennuly |
I would be happy to do a write up, but I keep getting interrupted. Just had to stop everything to sell a truck for a client. Now that that is over, I have to get back to work for a while. I will check back later to see if it still needs doing. | ||
| Etennuly |
Reep, no problem with clearance, it is a huge empty cavern in the hub. Wolf, yes. I drilled a 1/8" hole in the cavity of every other spoke, staggering them slightly so they would not be on the same plane. The hub is fairly thick I would estimate on the order of 5/32" thick aluminum. More than weep holes, I would call them vent holes, I believe condensation is a problem too. Barker, the heat gun is the way to go, mine is a Craftsman unit that will do 1050F. Heating the hub until it is too hot to touch will do, no need to burn the powdercoating. I did mine in the winter so I left the bearings outside overnite when the temps were about 30F. Could leave them in the freezer for the same results. Tap them in with a clean smooth hard wood block. Don't forget to put the spacer back in. | ||
| Court |
That'd be great . . . besides it's neigh on 5:00PM on Friday afternoon . . . Froggy will be slipping into the double knit bell bottoms about this time and heading to the chick-a-dee lounge! | ||
| Hughlysses |
One other trick about correctly installing the bearings: the shop manual specifies that the bearing on one side should be installed before the other. IIRC, the brake disk side goes in first and is pressed in all the way. The pulley side bearing then goes in until it comes up against the center spacer. | ||
| Court |
I know, from Al at American Sport Bike posting, that the torque is CRITICAL. I hope we can consolidate and develop a "best practice". | ||
| Froggy |
Not this, it is over my head, I am lucky I can change an oil filter and operate a camera at the same time. You mean knock the bike over while its on the rear stand, pick it back off and nearly break your arm trying to get the axle loose, drop the wheel on your foot, trip over something while rolling wheel to the bench, use some screwdrivers and crow bars to manhandle the bearings out, slip and cut your hand with the screwdriver, take the new bearings, drop them in the hole and find out you are a retard and ordered the wrong ones, hitch a ride to the dealer to get right ones, then somehow get them in (still not sure how), remount wheel, overtorque the axle and crush the new bearings, get pissed and pay the dealer to pick it up and clean up your mess? (Wouldn't surprise me if it did happen like that) Oh, I have no idea what you are even talking about with the chick-a-dee lounge comment, but I think I got the drift. | ||
| Crusty |
Tonight, I took my XT to the car wash, since this is the first chance I've had to wash it in over a month. As I was wiping the bike down, I noticed rusty water oozing from the left rear wheel bearing. There's also play in the rear wheel. I know what I'm doing tomorrow; instead of riding to the Hitchin Post for a burger. This was after I heard "bad clutch hub bearing" sounds when I shifted into gear. I refuse to put it in a shop where it will sit for a month waiting for a two hour repair job. I have a good friend who has his own repair shop (He's been in business since 1972). I'll borrow a clutch spring compressor and do the job myself. Screw the warranty. | ||
| Etennuly |
Froggy, you need a job? You sound more qualified than most of my employees.  (at least you would be fun to watch! I won't let them work on my bike though! | ||
| Etennuly |
I will get back to this.....the wife just called. We have company coming for a week or so, a lot of them, her side family reunion program. Honey-do's await.  I will probably need to come back to this! | ||
| Court |
No problem. Important, but not urgent. | ||
| Etennuly |
I am going to assume that the wheel has been removed from the bike, there are several threads on this basic procedure. First it is good to have a clean, stable, level area to work. You need about as much room as twice the area of the tire. I did not have the bearing puller that was recommended in the book, or the cheap one recommended by many here from Harbor Freight. It was a cold damp night and I couldn't get up the energy to make a 60 mile round trip to get one. Aside from that I had it done in less time it would have taken to make the trip. So this first part relates to removing the bearings using rudimentary tools found around my shop. I have several different kinds of pullers, but none that fit these bearings that wouldn't scratch the wheel. I started with some short pieces of two-by-four, a clean hardwood tapping block, a hammer(two pounder is nice), I used a 1" x 1 1/2 feet square rod with good square corners, a good heat gun, and some ice, and paper towels. First I cleaned the rim so that I would not bake any dirt and grime into the surface. There is no need to remove the tire, valve stem, wheel weights, pulley, or rotor. I set three short two-by-fours in a triangle shape on the bench to flip the rotor or pulley side down on to. Apply heat to the hub area evenly all around the outside of the outer bearing race. I didn't have a temperature gage for this so I applied heat and held my most useless finger near to touch it. When it is too hot to touch that is enough heat. Keep moving the heat gun around the area so you don't scorch the powder coat. As soon as I put the heat gun down I put some ice to the bearing for several seconds. Then immediately flip the wheel supporting the rotor or pulley on the lumber with the bearing in the center of the triangle. Put the bar stock through the center of the wheel, using its 90 degree square corner to catch the edge of the cooled bearing's inner race at the point where the spacer touches the inner race, on the down side. This was the only difficult thing, to get the first bearing's movement started. While the hub is hot and the bearing cooled, tap the race crossing back and forth evenly across its inner edge driving it out. If the heat differential is right it will come out fairly easy. There is little edge to catch with the bar to start. As the bearing moves out the spacer will get out of the way more for better access. The bearing assembly will drop out and the spacer will follow. Now heat the side that that is still up, cool the bearing, flip the wheel, using the bar and hammer tap around the circumference of the bearing until it falls out. My hub had about three ounces of water in it. I was amazed at how much empty space is in there. | ||
| Etennuly |
 Plenty of water left that didn't run out upon bearing removal. Note curly machining residue. |
