rear wheel bearing completely shot

S

speeddemon

New member
Went from work to my home and suddenly the rear felt very unstable :mad:, luckely i was 0,5 km from home. Then home i noticed my rear fender was scrubbing my rear tire, so removed that. Then went for a test, no improvement. I then checked my rear wheel and noticed the wheel bearing on the left side was gone with a thin iron ring still hanging on it, the rear axle loose in the wheel and the chain very loose. This is the second time a rear wheel bearing breaks down, but the first time it breaks down comletely. It's a weak point of the bike because the bearing is unprotected on the outside of the rear wheel,

Does anyone have a suggestion how to protect that bearing from impact?

I know that this will keep on happening once in a while and i don't want to risk being stranded or worse.
 
my rear wheel bearings get destroyed fast. i replace them 3-4 times a year. i only buy quality bearings.... i have ordered checkpoint machine's hard coated wheel spacers, to see if this fixes the problem.
 
seals are there - but i think the soft spacers let the wheel move side to side and destroy the bearings? all i know is the bearings wear out extremely fast on my rear wheel. i put a set in earlier this year, have run 6 or 7 2 hour races, and they are shot already. back wheel wiggles...before i put more bearings in, i'd love to solve the cause.
 
I was a bit confused by this statement: "bearing is unprotected on the outside of the rear wheel"

Mine's new and I haven't had a wheel off yet, but that's seems way premature to wear one out.
 
What I mean is that the bearing lies on the outside of the wheel and there's space between wheel and frame so dirt can get in the seals and after a while the bearing will get shot. I would recommend changing the bearings every 10-15 hours if you only ride offroad or every 50 hrs if you ride it dual sport like me . Will now change the bearings every time i fit a new rear tire. My bike eats rear tires so that's not a bad idea i think.
 
I always pop the seals of new bearings before mounting them, and pack them up with a good water resistant bearing grease. Remount the seals, and then they last for at least a full season in the worst of conditions. I know there are mixed opinions of this operation, but it works for me.
 
bergerhag said:
I always pop the seals of new bearings before mounting them, and pack them up with a good water resistant bearing grease. Remount the seals, and then they last for at least a full season in the worst of conditions. I know there are mixed opinions of this operation, but it works for me.
Click to expand...

i do the same, and bearings still don't last for me. my spacers are shot. i switched rear out yesterday - one cage was completely destroyed. hopefully new spacers will fix it.
 
1-i always pop the plastic seals off a new bearing and pack it with some hi quality bearing grease.....the factory doesnt grease them enough
2-on my old honda cr500, there were two bearings stacked on top of each other on the chain/drive side. i think this is a great idea but i dont how feasible it would be to make this work on a gasgas.
 
GasGasDreamer said:
2-on my old honda cr500, there were two bearings stacked on top of each other on the chain/drive side. i think this is a great idea but i dont how feasible it would be to make this work on a gasgas.
Click to expand...

Um, my 07 has this - 2 bearings. Inexplicably they are different sizes, which is why the aluminum spacer washer is in there. I got 180 hrs out my last rear bearings and even then only one had crapped out due to water ingress. I have replaced all and packed with marine waterproof grease between them and the seals.
 
If you are going through wheel bearing this fast there is something wrong.. Your either missing something or putting in bad bearings.. The basic design of these havent changed over the years and My 03 had the originals for two seasons.. the second set was good when I sold the bike and are still in it now.. Make sure you have the spacer that goes between the bearings, if this is missing it will sideload and wear out the bearing in just a ride or two..
 
i will have to check. it is possible there is a washer missing - don't remember there ever being one there between the bearings since i've owned the bike.. i checked the fiche and sure enough there is a washer. i only use quality name brand bearings. shoulda checked the fiche long ago :) anyone have a dimension of the washer?
 
now wait a minute.. i thought something was fishy.

i double checked - i was looking at 2001 xc200 fiche at gofasters. it shows 2 bearings with washer between them on rear wheel left side.

my 2001 (and 2000) fiche shows no washer. and different bearing sizes. i know my fiche is correct (at least for bearing sizes), i use it for bearing look up. (1 6204 2rs
2 6004 2rs) . so should there be a thrust washer between the bearings on the earlier rear wheel???????????? from memory i don't see how it would fit - i think the bearings sit flush to each other.

here's the 2000 parts book pic. no washer between bearings #36 and #8. but then again it shows only 1 washer on the brake pedal yoke(#4), when i know there are 3.

2000rearwheel.jpg
 
blew out a front bearing today. was a nachi. lasted maybe 30 hours. i installed them this year (2nd set this year...)

major water crossings - went through 100 yards + of swingarm deep (and deeper) water... may have contributed to the failure.

gonna try a diffferent waterproof grease, and maybe fag or skf this time. i've had no problems with nachi's in the past. i've never had a fag bearing fail, but i've never tried them in wheels...i have had skf's fail in the rear wheel - then again every bearing i've used in the rear has failed eventually....
 
Yeaaaah man! You should be getting heaps more hours out of your bearings. Somethings not right..

I've done 65hrs on mine now in pretty much shitslop for most of it. Bit tropical wet season with cylones etc.. Water and mud galore. I have spare Nachi's sitting ready but so far the stockers are holding their own.
 
A few years back I ran thru a number of rear bearings on my 97 and it was due to one of the failed bearings wearing the center tube/spacer a few mm .. this then put a side load with the new bearings and the new bearing would only last a long ride or two short ones.. If you had a really bad bearing and your center tube/spacer is aluminum you might want to change it.. might be even a mm short.. can cause a major issue..
 
i will inspect front spacers when i re-install later this week. rear is holding up for 6 hours so far. i will inspect when it fails.
 
rear bearings failed again. under 20 hours on them. i'm gonna tear into it later this week, and measure the inner spacer. i'm gonna try cheap ass bearings for a while until i get it figured out. putting $40 worth of bearings into a wheel that only last 20 hours is just not cost effective.... i can put $8 worth of cheap bearings in and maybe get the same life...
 
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