Rear axle seal doesn't spin with wheel

[Anonymous]

Wierd, I was going over the 400 I sold to my brother and noticed that the sprocket carrier seal had fallen out. I popped it back in and spun the wheel but the seal just sat there instead of turning. Anybody else have this happen to them? I've had to use Loctite bearing lock on the rear bearings to keep them from doing the same thing! This is an '82 GS400EZ with *roughly* 45K km on the clock. All seals and bearings are new. It's a good thing I put in sealed bearings this time around.

Cheers, Steve

ps. I put 200 km on the 400 today and it was a real laugh. To think I used to ride it all over the place and considered it peppy. Once you go up to a litre class bike you never go back. :twisted:

[Anonymous]

Sounds to me like you might have a damaged hub there. What were the housings like? Are they rough or pitted? The bearings should be a tight (interference) fit in the hub. If at some stage a bearing failed and seized on the shaft they may have torn up the softer aluminium hub. The option is to have the hub sleeved if its really bad or replace the wheel.

Loctite is only a temporary option. Used when the intereference fit is a little weak. IMHO But I only ride a Honda, so what do I know :roll:

[sharpy]

Seal

Sounds like its the dust seal not a real seal. Most suzy's use these to keep out road grime. But when you put new bearings in you should always go for one with the seals botth sides. If it was a bearing it would make the chain run eratic and u should be alble to move it side to side same as the back wheel if its bearings have gone.

[Anonymous]

I remembered a key point today. Suzuki specs a seal that ends with xx.5 mm. Well, I nearly got hauled over the counter and taken out back when I asked for that seal from a bearing house. I was told to take a regular seal that ended with xx.0 mm so it's 0.5 mm too small. I guess Suzuki sort of knew what they were doing when specing the seal but they should have just made the hole a standard size.

Honda Rider, you're right about the damaged hub. I tried quite a few different bearings in there and they kept spinning so instead of getting the hole sleeved I just glued in the last one. The hole is centred but just a touch loose so it isn't a big deal.

Cheers, Steve

[Anonymous]

I remembered a key point today. Suzuki specs a seal that ends with xx.5 mm. Well, I nearly got hauled over the counter and taken out back when I asked for that seal from a bearing house. I was told to take a regular seal that ended with xx.0 mm so it's 0.5 mm too small. I guess Suzuki sort of knew what they were doing when specing the seal but they should have just made the hole a standard size.

Honda Rider, you're right about the damaged hub. I tried quite a few different bearings in there and they kept spinning so instead of getting the hole sleeved I just glued in the last one. The hole is centred but just a touch loose so it isn't a big deal.

Cheers, Steve

I had the same thing happen with my seal. My new bearings went in tight though, and I did not have hub dammage. Since the seal looked ok otherwise, I stretched a thin layer of electrical tape over the outside diameter, then trimmed it with a razor. The seal fit in nice and tight after that.

[Anonymous]

You guys might be able to check on this... could you use an imperial spec seal? Like 3/8" is 9.5mm, and a standard metric one might be 9mm? So Suzi might have given that xx.5mm size for that, for example. Did that make sense?