1980 GS1000G Rear Bearings

[Guest]

Thinking about doing a bearing job on my 1980 GS1000G and was looking at the fiche on gssuzuki.com and wondering why the rear wheel has 2 different part numbers for the same size bearing? One number is 08123-63037 for $13.47 and the other is 08143-63037 for $13.06 both are 17x47x14.

Any ideas or comments?

[Nessism]

One may have a seal and the other not.

[bwringer]

Yep, Suzuki likes to use goofy bearings with a seal only on one side, or even no seal. Really a crappy way to do things.

Just slap in two 6303-2RS sealed bearings from your local bearing supplier and go ride.

Yes, even the cheapies are fine -- these bearings are made to withstand many times the load and rpm they'll ever see on a motorcycle.

[Grimly]

As one who actually made balls for bearings, I can tell you for a stone fact, the difference between good quality name-brands and the cheapies is a lot.
The good ones; SKF, Timken, Toyo, Koyo, etc, are made to much higher standards than the cheap no-name ones.
In fact, we were pushed to make balls acceptable enough to Koyo - took us a lot of extra care. Decent bearings are so cheap anyway, it's not worth cheaping out.

[njload]

Thanks for the response guys. Because these are sealed bearings is there any need for grease anywhere in the hub? Reason for asking I printed out the PDF file from Suzuki_Don on Front Wheel Bearing Remove & Installation on BassCliff's site and the wheel he was working on was loaded with greese in and around the spacer.

Any help is appreciated.

[bwringer]

You only need a light coat of grease on the axle and spacers to keep things from corroding.

[njload]

Thanks for all the replies.