Wheel Bearings Issue

[DGXSER]

I got new All Balls wheel bearings for my SG front wheel. Installed them just fine. But after install I noticed the inner races do not want to turn. So I remove one, both are free. Install the one I removed, leaving it just off of seated, both turn freely.

I balanced the wheel with a new tire on it, spun effortlessly. Install it on the bike and torque up the axle and now it is hard to turn the wheel. So it seems that the bearings and the collar inside are getting pinched or something when it gets tightly installed.

Anyone ever run into this before? Any ideas?

[James England]

Is there a tube that goes between the bearings, through the front wheel hub?

[DGXSER]

Yes, the spacer is in place

[jetmechmarty]

All Balls bearings are an inexpensive Chinese product. I just spent a few months working in a Koyo bearing plant. After seeing what goes into making a good bearing, I'll stick with a higher quality option.

All-Balls has a nice logo. Great marketing.


Koyo is the OEM bearing and used to be available at Mike's XS.

Needless to say, you're an experienced XS11 mechanic. I'm suspicious of the bearings.

[James England]

So, the bearings run fine until you tighten up the front axle, correct? This would tend to indicate that the inner bearing race is being pushed to one side when the spindle is tightened up. When tightening the spindle, you're doing the right hand side clamp up last, are you?

[DGXSER]

When I first assembled the wheel, then went to balance the wheel, it would not spin on the axle. Took the axle out, could not spin the inner race on either bearing. So, removed both seals, move the spacer over, drove out the bearing opposite the Speedo side. Now both inner races spin nicely.

Reassemble installing the bearing, but not fully seating the bearing. Wheel spins very easily. Balance the wheel. Then install on bike. Now with axle right, wheel is hard to spin.

My only thought is that the races are to wide. Or is there a correct side for the flange on the sleeve / spacer to be on?

[DGXSER]

All Balls bearings are an inexpensive Chinese product. I just spent a few months working in a Koyo bearing plant. After seeing what goes into making a good bearing, I'll stick with a higher quality option.

All-Balls has a nice logo. Great marketing.


Koyo is the OEM bearing and used to be available at Mike's XS.

Needless to say, you're an experienced XS11 mechanic. I'm suspicious of the bearings.

Hey Marty,

I do ok at the wrenching, and feel there is little to screw up about installing bearings in a wheel. So hard to figure I did anything wrong.

I have used All Balls on a number of bikes now and honestly never had any issues with their product to date. But it does seem like there has to be something up with the bearings.

[James England]

It seems to me that the bearings are perhaps too wide??

[DAVINCI]

Actually, I think they are too narrow. In any case they are wrong. The numbers on the shields should match the originals. (6303)

[MPittma100]

Bearings

I got new All Balls wheel bearings for my SG front wheel. Installed them just fine. But after install I noticed the inner races do not want to turn. So I remove one, both are free. Install the one I removed, leaving it just off of seated, both turn freely.

I balanced the wheel with a new tire on it, spun effortlessly. Install it on the bike and torque up the axle and now it is hard to turn the wheel. So it seems that the bearings and the collar inside are getting pinched or something when it gets tightly installed.

Anyone ever run into this before? Any ideas?

When installing the axle nut, I tighten it up snugly, but not real tight and then back off (loosen) to the next hole for the cotter pin. Rather than tighten the nut to the next hole. This is usually about 1/8th turn, possibly a little more. The bearings should loosen outward enough to have a proper (bearing) load as soon as you ride the bike. There will be a little drag on the wheel when turning by hand (with the newly installed bearings), but should not be a lot. Point is that you can easily over tighten the axle nut causing too much bearing preload.

Mike

[jetmechmarty]

I'm suspicious of the bearings.

[IanDMacDonald]

Hey Don- Not sure if it's any help, but I have a new package of those bearings from Scott (6303-2RD), and I measured them @ 14mm thickness.

[DGXSER]

Mike, I torque the axle nut to 75 ft lbs.

I took the wheel off, both inner races move, but one is obviously harder to turn. So, I pulled it out of the wheel. It is a 6303, both are. I even pulled the seal off both sides of the now unmounted bearing and added grease, filled it up. Still noticably harder to turn than the other.

Guess I will contact All Balls and see what they say.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Don,

Okay, bearings spin easily when not installed, as well as when lightly installed but not fully seated, but tighten up when fully seated which puts them against the central spacer tube. Sounds like the inner race is just a hair too wide and causes it to BIND when the bearings are fully seated.

You might put a straight edge across the bearing and see if the inner race is flush with the outer race, or if it sticks up/out beyond the inner race. Also see if there's a difference from one side to the other side of the bearing.

IF it's not too difficult to remove the bearings after fully seating, then you could test fit them again WITHOUT the spacer and see if they remain free spinning. If so, then that would pretty well confirm the binding against the inner spacer. Then, you have a couple of choices....you could take a grinding wheel of some sort to the side of the inner race to remove a few thousandths and then see how it behaves after reinstalling. You might be able to tell how much would need to be completely removed in total by positioning the bearings WITH the spacer installed, and see how much space is left to fully seat the bearing when it just makes contact with the inner spacer. Then if it's a moderate amount, you could divide the amount to be removed from both bearings.

The spacer spins with the inner race once the wheel is fully installed, it just helps to maintain the lateral position of the inner race while on the axle. I wouldn't grind/shave anything off of the spacer because it worked with the previous bearings so it's sized properly, and it's probably more a matter of the new bearings being just a hair too thick!

OR....All Balls may just send/exchange the ones you have for some other ones, hopefully from a different production run batch. You may also be able to find some dimension specs for that bearing that you could use a micrometer to verify if the ones you have are within those size ranges!

T.C.

PS, just searched, found dimensions: 17x47x14 which I assume are just MM's! Looks like there could be room for production error there.

[MPittma100]

Axle Nut Torque

Mike, I torque the axle nut to 75 ft lbs.

I took the wheel off, both inner races move, but one is obviously harder to turn. So, I pulled it out of the wheel. It is a 6303, both are. I even pulled the seal off both sides of the now unmounted bearing and added grease, filled it up. Still noticably harder to turn than the other.

Guess I will contact All Balls and see what they say.

Torque is correct. The one bearing is suspect. May have gotten a bad one.