where can i find QUALITY wheel bearings
- Thread starter mackmack
- Start date
skid jackson
New member
where do you live ... most decent size cities have some kind of local bearing shop ... I usually get mine from eastern bearings.
In my experience its always been water and dirt that took the bearing out. There is no bearing that will hold up to having water/dirt in them. I run bearings that cost $5 per wheel. With good seals and no pressure washer forcing water into them they last a long time. I have never replaced a wheel bearing that just wore out. They key is to have good seals and spacers.
widebear
Banned
Adrian. Next time you need to do an engine rebuild why not install some of those cheap Chinese main bearing like the ones being sold for $35.00 a pair on ebay by Wiseco and others. Let us know how that works out for ya.
roostafish
Gold Level Site Supporter
I've done it. After doing a bottom end four times on my 250, I figured I'd try it. They worked just fine.......... For another 500 miles. About average for that bike. Well, average was probably closer to 200 miles considering the first left crank bearing grenaded at 54 miles.
widebear
Banned
Did you use Wiseco's or generic c-3 Chinese bearings. If they where failing that frequently its sounds like a bore alignment issue and not a bearing issue.
einsteingarage
New member
MackMack
I have found that when you buy bearings they come with a minimum amount of grease in them.
I pull the seals before I put them in and pack with water proof grease. Replace seals clean off excess and then install.
This will increase the life of the bearing.
I have found that when you buy bearings they come with a minimum amount of grease in them.
I pull the seals before I put them in and pack with water proof grease. Replace seals clean off excess and then install.
This will increase the life of the bearing.
Ud_luz
New member
Ditto. This is usually the real issue on wheel bearings versus quality. The rear wheel bearings on KTMs are the same bearing as the pilot bearing on Fords. I pay $.78 for them in bulk. They do not fail after repacking them with waterproof grease. Considering they will last years as a pilot bearing then you can easily surmise it's water and not the quality that makes them fail as wheel bearings. Various vendors sell stainless steel collared wheel spacers for KTMs. I haven't seen any for the GG.
GMP
Active member
I see it both ways. I DO NOT use cheap Chineese bearings in anything, but good bearings will also fail if seal mainanence is ignored.
First, NO pressure washer. I pull the wheels every couple rides, clean the seals, and repack the gap between the seals and the bearings with Castrol Pyroplex Blue waterproof HD grease. This will block water/dirt from getting to the bearing, and if the seal is failing letting water in you will see it before the bearing is destroyed. I have NEVER had a wheel bearing fail doing this, and its muddy here. My '03 is now ridden by a friends son, it has the original bearings. Actually, I've never had to change wheel bearings in a GasGas. KTMs with the soft OEM spacers that wear out in a few rides will trash everything fast. Also, I don't bother repacking the bearings themselves. I'll change the seals seasonally and the spacers if they are grooved. Any bike I get I swap out any alloy spacers for stainless, if they are not available I have them made.
I get all my bearings/seals from Worldwide Bearing here in NJ. They specialize in motorcycle applications, and have supplied race teams and importers. Many times you can upgrade to a better grade bearing for half the cost of OEM. I've done this with crank bearings. Look for the small ad in Trailrider Mag if you get it.
First, NO pressure washer. I pull the wheels every couple rides, clean the seals, and repack the gap between the seals and the bearings with Castrol Pyroplex Blue waterproof HD grease. This will block water/dirt from getting to the bearing, and if the seal is failing letting water in you will see it before the bearing is destroyed. I have NEVER had a wheel bearing fail doing this, and its muddy here. My '03 is now ridden by a friends son, it has the original bearings. Actually, I've never had to change wheel bearings in a GasGas. KTMs with the soft OEM spacers that wear out in a few rides will trash everything fast. Also, I don't bother repacking the bearings themselves. I'll change the seals seasonally and the spacers if they are grooved. Any bike I get I swap out any alloy spacers for stainless, if they are not available I have them made.
I get all my bearings/seals from Worldwide Bearing here in NJ. They specialize in motorcycle applications, and have supplied race teams and importers. Many times you can upgrade to a better grade bearing for half the cost of OEM. I've done this with crank bearings. Look for the small ad in Trailrider Mag if you get it.
I'm not going to be silly. There is a big difference in the ease of installing wheel bearing, And typically dirt and mud don't pack into main bearings. If it did it wouldn't matter if it were chin chang bearings or skf. Dirt and water are not friendly to any bearing that I know of. I know that Chinese bearing are junk as compared to a high quality US or european bearing. In my engines that's all I will use, But in wheel bearings it doesn't matter that much if the seals are going to be infiltrated. Good spacers and seals and no pressure washer.
roostafish
Gold Level Site Supporter
Indeed. Changing the cases cured the problem.
Thanks for the advice on greasing under the seals, I'm going to begin doing that. I also think I need new spacers after reading this. Where do you get Stainless spacers?
GMP
Active member
I have them made by a local machine shop. Your bike is an '01 so you should have steel rear spacers OEM, there good. The '03+ went to an aluminum sprocket side spacer with the new hub. The fronts seem to have a good anodize coating but still groove in a season. I give the shop the OEMs for a few days , they mic them up and make stainless copies. Usually they last the life of the bike, and the seals last longer as well.
skid jackson
New member
I got an anodized sprocket side spacer for my 06 from go fasters....
Stainless is the way to go. I make a stainless sleeve for the sprocket side spacer. That's a pretty heavy chunk of stainless if you make the whole thing out of it. Even if you spent $75 dollars per axle it would save you in the long run. If you don't power wash. I consider all pivot points off limits to high pressure.
