| Author |
Message |
    
Glenn
| | Posted on Saturday, August 25, 2012 - 06:38 pm: | 
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Hi,
Just about bearings ... sorry 
My bearings in my 2007 wheel went yesterday 200 miles form home and had to get towed back :-((
I bought a 2010 wheel a while ago and tried to install the bearings today. It didn't go as well as I thought. I used the heat gun on high for about 5 minutes but only got the bearing, chilled in the freezer in about half way. I'm now not sure if it is enough and am hoping someone else can tell me how deep to put it. with a pick I can tell its not quite bottomed but I'm having a hell of a time getting it in more.
Anyone?? |
Glenn
| | Posted on Saturday, August 25, 2012 - 06:42 pm: |
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... and the attachments
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Hughlysses
| | Posted on Saturday, August 25, 2012 - 06:55 pm: |
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If that's the second of the two bearings on the sprocket side, I think you're OK. If that's the one bearing on the disk side I think you're OK too.
Not to kick you when you're down, but you do now see the wisdom of buying the wheel from American Sport Bike and having Al install the bearings before shipping, right? |
Uly_man
| | Posted on Saturday, August 25, 2012 - 07:04 pm: |
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Thats the disc side. He must mean the sprocket side.
Wheel bearings????? |
Glenn
| | Posted on Saturday, August 25, 2012 - 07:11 pm: |
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It's the disk side. The thing that has me thinking, besides I should have bought it from American Sport Bike, is when I dropped the spacer in, it doesn't look like it will be in contact with the bearings. It seems that that this first bearing should be in deeper. Your thoughts? |
Hughlysses
| | Posted on Saturday, August 25, 2012 - 07:44 pm: |
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The spacer HAS to be in contact with the inner races of the bearings or your bearings will quickly self-destruct. You need to get it in until it bottoms out.
If you had this much trouble with the single bearing, the double bearings on the other side of the wheel are gonna be a bear. Might be a good time to seek professional assistance. |
Griffmeister
| | Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 01:48 am: |
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Just be sure to finish installing the first bearing by pressing on the "outer" race. You don't want to put any side load on the balls themselves. |
Uly_man
| | Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 09:03 am: |
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"pressing on the "outer" race. You don't want to put any side load on the balls themselves."
It is normal practice to install bearings on anything using the outer ring. Using the inner ring will bend the ball race cage, push the seals out of position (which lets in water, leaks grease and you will not see any problem) and the bearing will fail quickly. If this is what people have been doing then it is no wonder they fail so badly.
A ball race bearing is a precision piece of engineering and the likes of FAG, SKF, etc are all built to a fixed quality level. |
Tootal
| | Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 09:42 am: |
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Did you use any anti-sieze on the wheel bore? Using the heat/chill method is a good way to go but you still should put some anti-sieze on the aluminum for future bearing removal and just in case it doesn't make it all the way in. You need to make up an installer that will press on the outer race only. As mentioned above, you don't want to put pressure on the inner race. If you can't get it to move you may have to beat it back out and buy a new bearing and try again, or take it to a shop and have it done with the right tools. |
Uly_man
| | Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 11:35 am: |
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"Did you use any anti-sieze on the wheel bore? Using the heat/chill method" No not needed?
What you do is cut the wheel off the swing arm with a Plasma cutter and then place it in the Hadron collider until the bearings fall out. You then fit the new bearings in with 20Kn atomic bombs, one each side, and then torque up to spec.
And thats because changing bearings needs ROCKET man stuff. |
Glenn
| | Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 11:45 am: |
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Problem solved! I put a little PB Blaster by the bearing OD to wheel groove and let it set overnight. I was able to tighten it up with my threaded rod pretty easy this morning. On the drive side, first bearing went in with just a few taps of my bearing driver. The 2nd dropped right in. I reheated between the two. Got it up to about 205 to 210.
Happy I don't need to take it to the dealer! |
Glenn
| | Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 11:47 am: |
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Yes, I did the bearings in the freezer along with heat gun on the wheel. I used anit-seize in the bore too. |
Uly_man
| | Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 11:51 am: |
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Sounds good. |
Hughlysses
| | Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 11:57 am: |
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Sometimes nothing helps more than stepping away for a few hours and then coming back the next day.
Glad you got it straightened out.  |
Tootal
| | Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 01:34 pm: |
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When you can't figure it out, step back and have a beer. 
My philosophy is to drink till you think! |
Xbimmer
| | Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 05:17 pm: |
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My philosophy is to drink till you think!
Yeah well that's what led to this yesterday... http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/691295.html?1346014549
 |
Hughlysses
| | Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 05:49 pm: |
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You probably should have swished grain alcohol around in the headlights instead of soapy water!  |
Glenn
| | Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 06:46 pm: |
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Yeah, several beers last night brought things into perspective! Got it all back together now and even replaced the front tire today. Time for beer therapy! |
Glenn
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - 09:29 am: |
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Just wanted to pass along my bearing failure experience.
I had noticed a click just before stopping the last couple of short rides before going on my last trip where the rear bearings failed. I wrote it off to my Touratech kickstand foot which was rattling around. I took it off before the trip. I then noticed a slight weaving but I was on a back road with wheel grooves from a gravel tar repave job. When I got in the twisties though I really noticed a shift as I turned.
I stopped to check things out and noticed the rotor side seal was broken and that I could move the wheel a little laterally pushing on top of the wheel while holding the grab bar.
When I got home and took it apart, some of the bearings were broken in half. Part of the bearing cage was broken and there was no grease left.
On the pulley side the seal was fine. I found water in the wheel and that both inner bearing seals had rust discoloration on them as did the spacer tube. The Pulley side bearing was notchy though so I pulled it apart. The ball bearings were okay and there was still plenty of grease but I found on the inner race a place that was brinneled probably from pounding of the balls into the race and maybe a little salt water helped things along from road salt. This rough portion of the bearing race is what was causing the notchy feel when rotating the bearing with my finger.
(Message edited by glenn on August 28, 2012)
(Message edited by glenn on August 28, 2012) |
Hughlysses
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - 03:35 pm: |
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Thanks for posting the photos; man, you shaved that pretty close. I'll bet in another mile or two you'd have been spinning the race in the wheel or on the axle. I'm guessing surface corrosion must start in those areas (as evidenced by rusty grease found in many failed bearings). That progresses into severe pitting caused from the balls running over the rough place in the race. That then damages the balls and you eventually get complete failure.
On a related note, I changed my original front bearings out last Saturday at ~36k miles. I'd noticed some roughness in the right bearing when I had the front wheel off to replace the fork seals a couple of weekends ago. I popped the seal out and found the bearing full of nasty, rusty grease. I meant to save the bearing to cut it apart for visual inspection, but I forgot and dumped it out in today's trash.  |
Uly_man
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - 04:46 pm: |
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"I had noticed a click just before stopping the last couple of short rides before going on my last trip" If you notice you have a problem then you NEED to check it out.
This bearing has not been fitted right. The seal is damaged.
And caused this.
Which is water in the bearing and rust. Thats why it failed. |
Glenn
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - 05:38 pm: |
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Thanks Hugh!
Yes, lucky I caught it without damaged the wheel, axle or me!
Uly_man, the seal got damaged at the end of its life. the side play was increasing and there was virtually no bearing left. The seal had looked just as good and undamaged as the pulley side before this "event"
The whole key here is, and the reason I took the pics and posted here:
- If you hear a click when coming to a stop, your bearings are gone. Someone else has mentioned this here
- check for side play in the rear wheel often
- If you notice a wobble, i.e. not tracking straight as normal, your bearings are seeing their last miles.
- If your bearings are notchy, the race is toast! |