botched wheel bearings

[Suzuki_Don]

You can also freeze bearing with LPG if you are in a hurry or your MRS doesn't like wheel bearings in her freezer department with the fish and other frozen goods.

[79-GS550-L]

Well, too bad about the deceased bearings, but I wonder how they came to be damaged. The bore in the wheel limits travel, right? I mean, that's pretty much the whole idea. It shouldn't be possible for you to drive either bearing too deeply; you drive them until they bottom. At that point, you get that tactile and audio confirmation that you're done.

The center spacer couldn't have gotten longer (unless you have a number of disassembled bikes, and somehow swapped one model's for another... which isn't very likely.)

It looks like you were careful to apply force to just the outer race, using an old bearing as a drift. So -- what went wrong? You didn't inadvertently nail the inner race, did you?

Well I also thought they would just bottom out when they were done. I guess not. No, I don't have extra wheels, that was the original spacer. I used the socket along the outer race until it wouldn't fit (it was a tiny bit wider than the bore), then I put the old bearing on top of the new bearing and used the same socket along the outer race of the old bearing.

They're sealed bearings. They are not supposed to spin like an open ball bearing on a sliding door. :-) Its smoothness that is important. Putting a finger through the center and applying some pressure, turned slowly, they should rotate with no feel of uneveness, catching or wobble. As long as they have no free play and are smooth, you should be fine.

When I had the first new bearing in I stuck my finger in and rotated it - much better, it was smooth and turned well. Then after putting in the second bearing all the way, neither of them would turn at all by finger power alone, until I jammed a scrap of old rod to try to loosen them, then they started turning but were notchy.

I just finally got the damaged bearings out, it took a lot of hammering and they are completely toast now. I should really get a bearing puller!

So, in the future I will freeze the bearings, heat the hub, and I will not try to just hammer until they bottom out! Let's hope the rear wheel will be easier.

[crazedfooter]

stupid spacer

so i am here to say the bore doesn't/didn't limit travel i don't really understand the point in that spacer, without it i would think the bearings couldn't go anywhere anyhow. so do i leave em a bit out from fully seated so everything still turns well. thats what i did if anybody knows why i shouldn't do this let me know and shoot me a better suggestion.

thanks,

nick