Front Wheel Bearings

[wildbill]

Originally posted by wildbill
I know about the tube and have wondered the same thing.A couple of years ago I had to replace the wheel bearings in the rear wheel on a Suzuki RM250.The thing had one bearing on the brakeside a tube and then two bearing stacked on the chain side.I replaced all with sealed bearings.Personally I don`t think the tube does anything except maybe keep things lined up but that is a weak reason.I think the tube is there to ease wheel bearing removal by useing it as a drift{well that`s what I used it for}.Somebodys a laughing but its not me.

The trick was after I replaced the bearings on one side I put the tube back in,just in case.In there for a reason.

[Dennyz]

The center spacer is very critical to the pre-load of the bearings when the axle bolt is torqued.

[Geezer]

Originally posted by randy
In the manuals, clymers or haynes, the operation describes the maintenance and re-greasing of the bearings. The procedure tells you to 'pound on the outer race only', which we all know is IMPOSSIBLE because there is no way to move the spacer aside enough to even SEE the outer race of the bearings, much less get a drift on it. Leaving you no choice but to pound on the inner race, guaranteeing that the bearing will need replacement, not re-greasing.

Working through this problem and finally solving it gave me an opportunity to think it through completely and led me to another question, namely:

What good does the spacer and flange do, anyway?

Ball bearings are designed to only take a certain amount of side loading and if you leave out the spacer, then you will apply to much side load on the bearings leading to premature failure.

Now about repacking wheel bearings. With sealed bearings you pack them properly when they're new and that's it for the life of the bearing.

I hope you didn't toss that spacer.

Geezer

[randy]

No, Geezer, I didn't toss the spacers, I'm going to put them back. But through all of this I did learn a few things form the group, and I also learned something myself that may be useful to all.

Chapter one in my New Book of Revelation:

When the manuals describe moving the spacer aside, they negelect to mention that to do it you need to slide the flange into the hub to allow the spacer to fall free. See, the flange keeps the spacer lined up so that when you remove the axle, it wont drop into the hub. That's what the flange's job is. To move it you need to use a fine tipped tool like a prick or a small drift to push it away from the bearing. It slides on the spacer. Then the spacer just falls away revealing the bearings in all their glory!

I know to some of you this may have been crystal clear, but I also know that for some of us (myself obviously included) this is a very important bit of info, eh? That such a simple assembly can be such a puzzle?

Maybe someone mentioned this in one of the posts, but I couldn't find it.

What do you think, Geez, am I on the mark?

Randy

[Geezer]

Originally posted by randy
No, Geezer, I didn't toss the spacers, I'm going to put them back.

I know to some of you this may have been crystal clear, but I also know that for some of us (myself obviously included) this is a very important bit of info, eh? That such a simple assembly can be such a puzzle?

Maybe someone mentioned this in one of the posts, but I couldn't find it.

What do you think, Geez, am I on the mark?

Randy

The sad part is you will probably damage one of those new bearings gettign it out to reinstall the spacer.


Repair manuals are famous for leaving out the tiny bit of info you need to do the job or to make a hard job an easy one. I thought I meantioned that you could push the spacer away on one end but I may have forgten to tell you that.

I use a long punch to drive out the old bearings and I use the end of the punch to push the one end of the spacer out of the way. a light tap on the punch is usually enough to get the spacer out of the way.

Geezer

[prometheus578]

OK, so I'm five months behind on this thread.... As several posters have mentioned already, the spacer is VERY important. Without the spacer in the hub to hold the bearings in position, when you torque the axle nut the inner parts of the bearings are forced inward, producing tremendous stress on the ball bearings, leading to ultimate failure. We've had several new Victory motorcycles come back to the shop. The bearings were shot, as were the expensive rims that got chewed up in the process. They had spacers installed, but upon examination, we found that they were just a few milimeters too short. It doesn't take much to screw up wheel bearings.