Rear wheel bearings

[iswoolley]

My '02 bike now has 20k miles on it, and the rear wheel bearings are about to give up the ghost. For the last couple of weeks I've had the odd shimey from the rear end whilst cornering, which I had put down to a rear tyre just beyond it's prime. However as I was riding into Belfast last night the vagueness increased, accompanied by occaisional grinding noises. With the bike on the centrestand I can wiggle the back wheel from side to side.

So, I need to find a reputable Honda dealer in Belfast who can fit a set of rear wheel bearings on a bank holiday weekend. Any pointers? Are Charles Hurst any good? And are Owen Brothers still in business?

Iain

[Phoenix]

Hi Ian Owen brothers are still in bus but have just changed address to Prince regent road.. Top of the Castlereagh road on left as you leave town towards ballygowan.
If you are caught out ring me....I live 15 mins out of belfast beside a bloke who can fix anything on two wheels and we've a bike trailer if needed.

Phoenix
07082361781

[Phoenix]

ps re charles hursts they are the main honda dealer with prices to match. not sure about fitting over the weekend.....too big for that sort of thing.

[DaveS]

Iain I've left a message on your mobile with Phoenix's contact details as well.

[iswoolley]

The motorcycle parts department at Charles Hurst were open yesterday, so I rode over and collected 2 new bearings. Most butt clenching 30 miles I've ever ridden, with the back wheel steering itself, and gale force winds trying to push me into the sea.

Got back, took the rear wheel off and discovered that the brake disc side bearing was well shagged, whilst the sprocket side looked good. Levered out the rubber seal, and then went to work to drive out the bearings with a long screwdriver (who has a 30cm drift in their bike toolkit?). The sprocket side bearing came out no problem. However the disc side bearing disintegrated, leaving the outer shell behind. And it's still there because it's so thin there's no lip to get purchase on.

More later....

Dave and Paul, thanks for the messages, be in contact soon.

[iswoolley]

To close off this tale, here's how it ended. I rang Phoenix and took him up on his offer of assistance. As promised his mate Paul 'can fix anything on two wheels' and made short work of getting the remaining bits of bearing out of the wheel, and installing the new bearings. After a pleasant cuppa and cake with Phoenix and most of his neighbours I got the wheel back in it's rightful place, under the bike. I then went and rode the Antrim coast road to make sure all was well. The bike felt fine, and I bagged the one sunny day that Ireland will get this year to boot!

[Recycler]

These happenings are a total embuggerance at the time but it's nice when you come out the other side - well done and hope the rest of the trip went well.

It's a shame these stories don't impress crumpet!!! ( - 'Yeah Babe, I was out ridin' in Ireland one day when my WHEEL BEARING WENT BOSS EYED!!!!'
- 'OOOOOooohhhh! - which island?')

Those pics look like some Cornish roads. The local brew is as good if you like bitter and the welcome not far off (as long as you're not a yuppie buying a holiday home).

[Lord Stig]

A thread resurrection almost a year on....

On Saturday morning I was thinking of you and your Irish trials Iain. On Friday I'd been coming home from work, filtering through traffic when I suddenly thought I had a rear puncture. When I stopped I realised there was nothing wrong with the tyre pressure, so I started to suspect.....the bearings!

You see, two weeks ago I'd noticed there was some play on the rear wheel, but I've had so much work to do I've been putting the job off. Still, I was surprised that it could have become so bad so quickly. On Saturday I managed to source a new bearing set locally (though I knew it would be that little disk side one alone that was causing the problem) but I wasn't able to get new dust seals. It was plain from a distance that the disk side seal was now sh&gged, and the hub had also been nicely milled away by the brake caliper as the wheel moved around by itself. Removing the wheel I found the same as Iain did last year; the balls had totally cracked up (odd - it didn't seem at all funny to me) and the bearing had disintegrated. I also had the same problem finding some way of driving out the old out race. By the Gods, that metal is hard! In the end I had to 'dremelise' segments of the race and break them out using a screwdriver. Not at all easy, and it made a bit of a mess of the hubb (not a problem however).

The moral of this story is, if you notice you have some play on the rear wheel, get the bearings sorted ASAP - it was a quick and easy job the last time I did it - when the bearing was intact. The ones that just failed lasted around 30,000 miles. Now I'm waiting for the new seals to arrive. Hope it doesn't rain too much between now and then....

Stig

[Maverick]

Did my wheel bearings a few weeks ago and think just caught them in time. Agree would rather spend half an hour replacing them instead of pushing them that bit further to struggle with stuck outer races.

We replaced Lootch's AT chain slider last week and greased the linkage etc. While the wheel was off I clipped the bearing seal plates off with a small bladed screwdriver and they were relatively dry. Packed them with some grease again so should last a fair while still. Fortenately there was no play on the bearings.

[YEN_POWELL]

Add the extra grease. My first rear bearings (i.e. from new) went very early, probably about 30k, and one shattered into pieces on removal. The replacements (with extra grease inside)are still going, touch wood. Despite (see below)