Front wheel bearing failure

[Big Sky]

Did 1,000 miles last weekend in remote Idaho, then was doing 300 on business yesterday. Returning home, I believe the front wheel bearings failed. Have yet to pull the wheel but it was binding and grinding and getting worse fast. Left me stranded 25 miles from home toward dusk. By the time I got to my house, got my truck and trailer and returned (thank God the bike was where I left it at a very remote, rural I-15 interchange), it was dark and pouring rain with big lightning flashing.

Two years ago we hit a rock and bent both rims. Thus, bearings were extracted prior to straightening. The dealer recommended new replacements, stating sometimes during the extraction process, the force applied can damage bearings. I looked at them and they appeared fine to me (and I was a little skeptical, too) so I had him put the factory originals back in. That was about 10,000 miles ago, and now this apparent failure.

I suppose, in hindsight, I should have listened to the dealer (how come we seem to inevitably have a distrustful relationship with dealers? Duh!).

Has anyone else had experience with wheel bearing failures on an FJR?

I abandoned the bike (temporarily, of course) at the Interstate interchange because I feared a total and catastrophic failure could result in a seized (stopped and skidding) front wheel with me and machine on the ground. Is that a very likely outcome? I didn't want to find out.

P.S. There were very subtle early warnings of trouble coming - sort of an almost imperceptible rowwww-rowwww-rowwww with every wheel revolution - but I attributed it to a tire that was getting marginal and cupping. When will I learn to listen to what the bike is telling me, or to at least better interpret and understand what it is saying?

Big Sky

 

[Warchild]

Two years ago we hit a rock and bent both rims. Thus, bearings were extracted prior to straightening. The dealer recommended new replacements, stating sometimes during the extraction process, the force applied can damage bearings. I looked at them and they appeared fine to me (and I was a little skeptical, too) so I had him put the factory originals back in.

That's likely the problem right there....

Wheel bearings should NEVER be re-used, once extracted. Surprised that they lasted another 10K before giving it up....

 

[Lake Powell]

Good call on getting off of the bike before the front wheel gave up, any substantial movement at all and at the very least the rotors would have been bound up in the calipers and locked up!

I agree with WC, in the application on the front wheel, it would be nearly impossible to get out the original bearings without putting pressure on the inner race.

 

[luvtoride]

Last year, I put a new front wheel on my bike. I had brand new set of OEM bearings put into it. I am assuming that my mechanic's helper, who did the assembly work, bent a race when putting the new bearings in the wheel. A couple of thousand miles after having the wheel put on the bike, I had my front brakes give out due to the brand new bearings failing. A really lovely surprise, too. Really glad that I wasn't at highway speed.

I'd assume that your bearings were damaged when removed. Either that or when reinserted.

 

[motorcycle-ed]

Warchild is right on. We are in the motor manufacturing (and sometimes rebuilding) biz and NEVER would we re-use a ball bearing. Even if it was brand new, and say...installed wrong and we had to remove it using professional tools that do not apply force to the outer race, we would never take the risk. Ball bearings have a very small contact area with the race for an individual ball. In applied use, this force is moving positions all the time and distributed over several balls, but when removing a bearing it takes very little force to brinell a bearing race, which means you have put a little dimple in the race caused by the ball pressing into the race due to the very small contact area and an applied force. Once the race has a dimple in it, then bearing failure is a certainty, given some time.

In short...like Dale says, never re-use a ball bearing if it has been removed or struck with something like a drift. In fact, if you hit something hard enough to bend the rim, you likely would have already brinelled the bearing races and should have replaced them even if the dealer had NOT removed them.

Ed

 

[mattster31]

At least you didn't end up with a catastrophic failure resulting in an injury. Life teaches us many lessons on a daily basis. I had a wheel bearing failure on a rear wheel of my FZR1000 smack dab in between Amarillo and Oklahoma City. Talk about the middle of nowhere...........(no offence to those in Texas, I've traveled every interstate down there and it is a beautiful state :clapping: ). Limped it into Oklahoma City at 30mph on the shoulder and managed to get it fixed. Hey lesson learned.

 

[Big Sky]

Thank you for the enlightened and enlightening replies. Many of us who ride have no mechanical knowledge or experience, some of us have a little, others have quite a lot. I have a little. But even after 30 years and 200,000+ miles on a motorcycle, I am open to the fact that there is always a lot more to learn and I do so with gratitude. And thanks to this forum, it is possible to do so easily and quickly.

I get it: Never re-use a bearing (and install very carefully).

Big Sky

 

[Randy]

When was the last time the front wheel was off for any reason and who did the removal/install?

 

[Big Sky]

The last time the front wheel was off was at Penco, a certified (five-star or some such) Yamaha dealer in Kalispell, MT for a front tire mount and balance last September. That was about five thousand miles ago.

 

[Randy]

Someone tell me if this is a stupid idea....

Get some type of marker or borrow the wifes finger nail polish while she isn't looking and draw a line (as fine as possible) from the front axle bolt to the fork leg. Loosen the front axle and, using a torque wrench, see how many ft/lbs it takes to get the lines to line up (shouldn't be more than 52 ft/lbs IIRC). If the Axle was too tight, it could also have detrimental effects on the bearing.

 

[Aasland]

Last month I had a bearing go out on a trailer. It siezed and wore a hole in the tire.

Good thing you got off the bike - a siezed front tire on a bike is much worse.

 

[Big Sky]

Someone tell me if this is a stupid idea....Get some type of marker or borrow the wifes finger nail polish while she isn't looking and draw a line (as fine as possible) from the front axle bolt to the fork leg. Loosen the front axle and, using a torque wrench, see how many ft/lbs it takes to get the lines to line up (shouldn't be more than 52 ft/lbs IIRC). If the Axle was too tight, it could also have detrimental effects on the bearing.

I think this is an interesting idea. I figured your question was leading this direction (glad it wasn't me who had the wheel off last). I will keep this in mind for future installations.

As a result of these informative posts, I instructed the dealer to now pull and replace the rear wheel bearings, too, which had also been extracted and reinserted after the wheels were straightened. We travel a lot of very remote country (Yaak in Montana, St. Joe River in Idaho, Elk City in Idaho and so on where there is no cell signal, no parts, no dealers, no traffic [which is why we are there, of course]). Reliability becomes a paramount concern.

Thanks to all for your help and information. Very good stuff.

Big Sky

 

[HaulinAshe]

Don't forget the seals. While you are replacing bearings, replace the seals too. The life of one depends on the integrity of the other!

If a seal fails, the bearing is soon to follow. If the bearing becomes sloppy, the seal is soon to follow and possible catastrophic bearing failure is close behind.

When it comes to wheel bearings and seals, I always consider them one unit.

 

[FJRBluesman]

Someone tell me if this is a stupid idea....Get some type of marker or borrow the wifes finger nail polish while she isn't looking and draw a line (as fine as possible) from the front axle bolt to the fork leg. Loosen the front axle and, using a torque wrench, see how many ft/lbs it takes to get the lines to line up (shouldn't be more than 52 ft/lbs IIRC). If the Axle was too tight, it could also have detrimental effects on the bearing.

Help me understand here. The bearing has races, an inner and outer. The inner race takes the load of the axle, or at least the spacers that contact the inner race. The bearing should have no load on the balls or outer race, except where the wheel ID contacts the outer race. The only thing that could happen is if the axle was too tight, it "might" damage the inner race some how. Those are usually quite beefy.

 

[Bustanut joker]

Ah fer shitsake! First it was head, shaft and rapists. :blink: Now Bluesy adds Load, Balls, Tight, an Beefy....Fricken pervs.

Try www. odotpornhosting.com..

Creeps.

B)

:jester:

 

[FJRBluesman]

Bust - It's a left coast thing..... I'm sure you call it something different.

Does Mz Bust know your hanging around those **** sites?

 

[RebelRider]

I had the front wheel bearing go out on my 2003 fjr at 5000 miles.

 

[markjenn]

Help me understand here. The bearing has races, an inner and outer. The inner race takes the load of the axle, or at least the spacers that contact the inner race. The bearing should have no load on the balls or outer race, except where the wheel ID contacts the outer race. The only thing that could happen is if the axle was too tight, it "might" damage the inner race some how. Those are usually quite beefy.

I agree with this. You'll strip the threads on the axle or axle nut before you do anything terrible to your wheel bearings. Axle torque is a red herring.

The bearing were likely damaged during removal. I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did. With the right pullers and if you were extremely careful, you might be able to remove wheel bearings intact and reuse them, but nobody does this - when they're driven out, they're replaced.

- Mark

 

[Big Sky]

RebelRider,

I'm curious regarding how your failed bearing sequence began and progressed, what was the diagnosis (cause) and what was the fix and cost?

Big Sky