Rear wheel bearings

[bluesdog]

I'm a big fan of moly grease and lube for non-bearing areas, such as the shaft and friends, as well as incidental pivot points such as the rear brake pedal, shift linkage and so forth, where there is at least potential for metal to metal contact and danger of galling.

For the wheel axles, prior to assembly, I thoroughly clean both the axle shafts as well as the orifices into which they are inserted, and give each a very light coating of a corrosion inhibiting machine oil. I think moly would work just as well, but is rather messy, and may be overkill for lubing the wheel axles

Since the sealed bearings do the heavy lifting, and there should be very little friction on the axle shaft, and the only potential for damage during assembly would be due to debris causing undue lateral friction on the bearing and seal, and/or abrasive particles entering the bearings because of a damaged seal.

Of course, an inferior or defective bearing can fail, but I believe bad or damaged seals are the initial cause of bearing failure.

Clean 'em well, use some kind of lube, sparingly, during assembly. And be careful with that pressure washer!

 

[08FJR4ME]

Never evah use a pressure washer on motorcycles. If you do have fun replacing parts. One of the reasons I never wash my bike.

Dave

 

[bbdig]

Thanks Dave, I knew there was a good reason I only wash my bike once a year.

 

[brewj99]

Thanks for all the advice. Yamaha parts seem to be the way to go.

It's going to take me awhile to take it apart, i like riding it more than working on it.

The 2 outside bearings seem standard enough, but the book doesn't do the best job describing how to get that 3rd bearing out.

 

[Donal]

Thanks for all the advice. Yamaha parts seem to be the way to go. It's going to take me awhile to take it apart, i like riding it more than working on it.

The 2 outside bearings seem standard enough, but the book doesn't do the best job describing how to get that 3rd bearing out.

This is covered reasonably well in the Haynes manual............

 

[RaYzerman19]

Whenever you have the wheels off, put your finger on the I.D. and rotate it, if it rotates smoothly with no notchy feel at all, I'd call it good. No need for moly grease on the axle as it is not meant for the bearings to turn on the axle.... any kind of GP grease is fine. Tripper Mike's third bearing (spacer type) was dry and when the rollers wore out, they ground down his axle......... lube that baby when you have it apart.

 

[dmsantam]

for bearings, i have always had good service from Nachi, or SKF. All balls is no good anymore.

 

[08FJR4ME]

I have never been able to turn my front bearings by hand. I check them every time I change tires and its always the same. 74K miles later and they haven't failed yet. I am not sure what the deal is but I am going with it. Tire spins fine when I put it back on the bike.

Dave

 

[Denver_FJR]

Lots of MC wheels have a spacer between the bearings that can't be moved far enough to get a punch in place to remove the bearing. Once you get the first one the second one is easy. I usually machine a tool for each application and save it for the next one but not everybody has a lathe and mill. It not recommended to reuse a bearing after beating on it with a hammer

Can you not just press everything through? Or will the spacer not properly engage the next bearing properly?

 

[user 86528]

I would imagine with that type of setup, each outer bearing will be pushed in from the outside to a pre-determined lip/stop in the housing with the spacer being fitted before the last bearing is fitted. If you could push the whole lot one way or the other then the wheel assembly would be able to move in service.

 

[yamafitter]

The problems we had getting TripperMike's bearings changed came mostly from the fact that the one bearing had disintegrated and we were left trying to remove the outer race without being able to get a punch on it from the back side to drive it out. We had to use a dremel tool to cut the race enough to then pry it out without damaging the surrounding casing. It was touch and go.

As I remember the spacer was pretty dinked up and we had to do some polishing to make it usable with the recommendation that Mike change it as soon as he got home.

It was a cautionary tale to the rest of us not to let the bearings wear this far and to add it to our checklist when the wheels are off. As Mike said there were symptoms but I would have thought it would have been more obvious that the bearings were toast judging by the condition of things that we saw.