Wheel bearings

[Maverick]

Noticed a bit of play in my rear wheel recently and changed the bearings this afternoon on the wheel. The right hand side bearing was knackered and the other one was still in good order. Replaced both on 33 000 miles now so let's see how much the new ones do.

Yen mentioned to clip the dustcover off the bearing but the ones I installed has metal covers At £12 for the two suppose it's nearly easier replacing them. Do check your rear wheel for play around 30k as it seems to be normal for the bearings to go.

[Lord Stig]

Mine went to 60,000 or so, oddly enough. From what I've heard this is exceptional though. It's an easy job, so not really a big deal...

Stig

[robelst]

This will sound as old news to many, but wheel bearing live longer if you apply a bit of grease on the axles whenever the wheels come out (never use copper paste though, this will dry out the bearings), follow the recommended torque settings for axle nuts, run a loose drive-chain and avoid using power(steam) cleaners.

Both my Buell and Africa Twins have had their bearings changed (Buell at 38k, the RD03 at 25k and RD07 at 42k), but all were rear-wheel only: The Buell was almost certainly the result of an overtight belt because the gearbox went at about the same time, I bet the ATs suffered from tight chains as well (not sure, bought both 2nd hand with quite tight chains).
I never had to change wheel bearings on any of my 7 BMWs, Guzzi or Honda NTV, even though some of them had done over 100k. Maybe shaft-drive helps saving bearings, or maybe shaft driven bikes have stronger bearings to start with?

[YEN_POWELL]

The rear wheel bearings on my At were replaced at 45,000ish miles before I went to Morocco. There wasn't any freeplay but when I looked at one of the outside ones it was really rusty. It shattered into pieces when I removed it. The other two were fine and came out easily. I put extra grease in all the replacements and they are still in there after 80,000 miles including a lot of water crossings in Morocco. No rust on them this time. I think ATs come with inadequate dust shields on one side of the wheel and this is the bearing that gives the trouble.

[rob4]

Noticed some play in my rear wheel and it's only done 8000 miles, this must be a bit unusual yes ?
Will have to investigate this a little further.

[robelst]

Will have to investigate this a little further.

Tight chain?

[rob4]

Had chain & sprockets fitted by a garage about 6 months ago, I thought the chain was a little bit tight but I trusted his experience, you might be right though this may have caused it. It's about right at the moment so I think it's always best to have it on the slack side rather than risk of too much strain on the bearings at either end.
Like always if you want a job doing right do it thi sen







XRV 750 BLACK 03

[robelst]

Had chain & sprockets fitted by a garage about 6 months ago, I thought the chain was a little bit tight but I trusted his experience, you might be right though this may have caused it. It's about right at the moment so I think it's always best to have it on the slack side rather than risk of too much strain on the bearings at either end.
Like always if you want a job doing right do it thi sen

Yes, it's funny how loose the chain should be set on an AT. I follow the guidelines on http://www.atic.org/faq/chain.html ; I don't know if this is the definite "holy-grale" on AT chain adjustment, but it's probably not far off. I have the impression you'd better check the chain more often because it gets a bit too loose more quickly than when you start with a more tight setting, but maybe that is because I run a rather crappy chain.

[rob4]

thanks for that info on the link Robelst, I hadn't seen that one before, will try it out tomorrow, cheers