| Author | Message | ||
     Rwven |
Has anyone experienced a failure of an aftermarket bearing. My original rears went at 11,000 and one front went belly up at 15,000. I now have SKF's at both ends. Time for another data point perhaps? | ||
| Hughlysses |
Yes. People have posted here that they have had both SKF's and Koyo's fail. While the bearing manufacturer may be a contributing factor to failures, it's not the only factor. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
this is hilarious! I was just about to open a new thread for the same question. My rear stockers died after only 20,000 or so. I now have the new black ones installed. I was wondering the same thing as you stated. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Short of a 2010 wheel upgrade, here's what you can do to ensure long bearing life: (1) Prior to installing new bearings, check your wheel and spacer against the dimensions Al Lighton provided in this post: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=142838&post=1505281#POST1505281 DON'T proceed with the installation using an out-of-spec wheel or spacer. (2) Use high quality bearings: black seal OEM KBC bearings, SKF, or Koyo, maybe others. (3) Be very careful during the installation. See cautions about method mentioned by Al in the post linked above. Driving the second bearing in using a socket on the outer race can damage the bearings when the inner races contact the spacer. Warming the wheel and pre-chilling the bearings makes them go in much easier. (4) Be careful to follow the torque sequence in the shop manual when installing the rear axle. (5) Inspect the bearings visually prior to every ride and by feel at every rear tire change. If you're so inclined, carefully remove the rear seals and re-grease at the same time. (6) Etenully's trick of drilling and tapping the wheel hub for a grease fitting, then removing the inner seals from the new bearings before you install them also seems to be a good fix. After installation pump grease into the hub until it barely oozes from the outer seals. Re-grease occasionally. Of course, the NEXT question is going to be will someone have a failure with a 2010 rear wheel? I sure hope not!  | ||
| Pso |
+1 on Hughlysses' "NEXT question" | ||
| Court |
+1 on Hughlysses Read Al Lighton's advise . . he's as smart as they come. | ||
| Johnboy777 |
Did I miss something here - I've never read of a SKF failure to date. . | ||
| Rwven |
Did I miss something here - I've never read of a SKF failure to date. Neither have I. It would be good to know which aftermarket bearings are the best. (Message edited by rwven on November 12, 2009) | ||
| Hughlysses |
Did I miss something here - I've never read of a SKF failure to date. Here you go: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=142838&post=1285323#POST1285323 | ||
| Rwven |
That bearing didn't fail on it's own. There was something wrong with the wheel. But that's a discussion for another time... | ||
| Hughlysses |
Well that's kind of my point. Bearing problems may have more to do with other things than the brand or quality of the bearing. |
