Going to make a long story short.... Got a spare set of wheels that needed to be straightened with my racebike. Straightening establishment took the bearings out of the rear wheel before putting them in the <technical term> wheel straightening heater upper thingy </technical term> and then put them in backwards afterwards, i.e. right on the left and vice versa. So, I just noticed this when I was going to mount the wheels for the first time and I think its obvious by now that I know nothing about wheel bearings except that they can be a pain in the @$$! Will anyone have the necessary equip. to swap them out for me at BeaveRun this weekend? I'm sure there could be beer, $$, or (imaginery) women involved TIA!! --Adam
You will need a hammer, large socket (same size as bearing would be best), and a long 3/8 extention just in case you need to remove any bearings.
Thanks for the info. Putting the bearings back in won't be very bad I don't think. Its getting them out that I'm worried about. I figured you need some specialized tool that 2 people on the planet have outside of a service center. I've got a monkey that shucks shingles, so I figure if I put the bearings in place and gave him a hammer and said socket, he would eventually get them in Thanks again for the help!
i would get new bearings. they are cheap, and they get damaged by removing them with sockets and hammers several times.
To get them out all you need is a slide hammer. About 50$ at the parts store and they will come with different ends for different jobs. If you dont want to spend it I will bring mine this weekend (gives me another reason for the wife to let me go). I could give you a hand putting them back in too. What time are you going to be there? Let me know, Tyson
Best not to hammer bearings in and out 'cold.' Heat the area around the bearing with a blowtorch, don't just apply the heat in one place, 'play' the flame around the bearing housing. Before you do this, get some solid hand soap and rub this on the area to be heated, don't apply any more heat once the soap goes black, the bearings should just lightly tap out before this happens though. When putting the bearings back in, put them in the freezer for 30 minutes beforehand to 'shrink' them and heat the housings, in the same way as you did when you removed them just before putting them back in. If you're lucky they will just drop in but again you might need to lightly tap them into place. Make sure any 'drift' you use against the bearing bears against the outer race, if you start bashing away at the inner race you'll kancker them. All this assumes that you have an aluminum hub. If the hub is magnesium be very careful when heating it, you don't want to get it as hot as aluminum, the soap trick won't work with that type of metal.
Thanks for all the advice again. I may just wait until I get back next week and drop them off at a local shop and have them replace the bearings. These are just a spare set of wheels that I was just going to use if I needed to swap on another set of rubbers. But I will take them with me to the track this weekend just in case I change my mind (We'll be getting there Friday morning for the practice day). --Adam
Adam - I'm heading to the shop tonight and will be there all day tommorow getting the stuff ready. If you want I can have them do it... Let me know..
I've been trying to call you... If they'll do it that would be awesome!!! We need to figure out who/what/where/when for tomorrow. Call me! --Eck
Robin172 is right on! I too removed my wheel bearing for replacement this past weekend. It was a nightmare to take them out when cold. Once they are punched out, they are definitely damaged if you can only hammer on the inner race to get the bearing out (most bearing sit against a stop/seat and prevent you to be able to hammer the outter race to drive the bearing out. I also had to punch the new ones back in. Although able to drive them in by hammering them on the outter races to prevent damages to the bearings, the new bearings cut/shaved some aluminum off the hubs as the fit is that tight (compression is what holds them in the hub)! Good thing they didn't cut/shave too much. Definitely worth heating the hub up to allow it to expand and hence compress against the bearings less and make punch/press the bearings in easier and without any hub damage. Of course, a press machine will help too if you can agin access to one! The bearings wasn't cheap for me though. Each at around $20 for me as I got the original ones (quality Japanese) from the Honda dealers instead of having the local bearing store source me some cheap Chinese replacements (1/4 of the price). I would recommend you to do what I did which is take the rubber seals off the new bearings and pack in more grease then place the rubber seals back! This is because they will not be packed with a lot of grease as they come off the manufacturers. This will ensure better lubrication and maybe heat management (runs cooler) which may extend the bearing life if you didn't kill them against by some other means.
Your local bearing store can also get quality American bearings which are as good, or better, than the Japanese ones you bought from Honda. In fact, most bearing supply houses don't carry Chinese bearings at all because they're crap. At least the ones around here don't.
Is that you?? Brett just bought another bike - a 2003 600RR. Knowing him, he will sell it at the end of the season for 1/2 of what he has into it
Yep, that's me. I'm wanting to get a 600RR this winter so let him know I'd be interested in another 'Hand-me-down' if he does in fact sell it
