bearing races
Just after an opinion from the mechanically minded here. Servicing/changing wheel bearings last night before heading up to exxy next week. The one with the oldschool cap was perfect - no water, grease still red. Two of the other three were not great, grease black, bit of water in one. When I replaced the bearing set on the shot one the new race was tight to hammer in, but once seated it spun. Is this a problem or fairly common? Do I need a new hub or some kind of locktight to sit it in. Or when it heats up will it expand and stop spinning - any advice would be good. I have also made a decision to piss off the bearing buddies and go back to caps and just service more regularly. Maybe i had rubbish BB and need to go to trailer parts, but I thought they were the expensive ones already (can't remember bought them years ago).
scotto
Posts: 2470
Date Joined: 21/04/08
Na mate,
Don't put anything other than grease in there. Loctite and other non-grease products can infect your grease and hinder your grease or bearings performance and life. The race should be nice and tight, and hammering it in (lightly) should be the norm. A touch of WD or CRC is ok though, to assist lubrication.
Bearing buddy's push old carbonisd grease out the seal, and allow nice clean grease to penetrate around your bearings, prolonging their life.
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
At work, if the bearing spun
At work, if the bearing spun around on the shaft, we just used to centre-pop them & that seemed to work fine. Must admit, I never had them loose enough to worry on the hub.
Simon C
Posts: 801
Date Joined: 01/05/07
there not loose to hammer in,
there not loose to hammer in, just spin once they are seated. done heaps on steering heads on dirt bikes and never had one spin so thought I would ask
scottnofish
Posts: 1621
Date Joined: 28/08/07
i have found in the past
that the chinese bearings dont fit aswell as the timken bearigsthe cheap ones always seem to spin on the shaft or in the hub
hezzy
Posts: 1521
Date Joined: 27/11/09
agree with scotto ill add
agree with scotto
ill add that i try to use a short cut bit of soft wood when i hammer bearing races rather than a cold chisel or similar .even gently .....saves any potential damage to the hub or the race edges if you go too hard or miss hit it .... wont damage the metal ..just indents the softer wood ..
hezzy
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
holth
Posts: 812
Date Joined: 09/10/06
Hey Simon, the race shouldnt
Hey Simon, the race shouldnt be spinning once seated.knock it back out and try another one in there.if any of the others spin the hubs the problem.l wouldnt be towing to exxy with it like that.
cheers paul
fishy fingers
Posts: 1719
Date Joined: 28/04/07
best thing to knock em in
is the old race! perfect size to get even purchase and get it in straight and just as hard as the new one so no damage.
Saddles
Posts: 22
Date Joined: 02/10/09
Another Opinion
Simon there should be no issues with using Loctite on the outer race or inner race of the bearings. Wipe the excess when finished though. With all respect to the others earlier postings do not centre pop shafts, or knock in with wood. Centre pops, although it can get you out of trouble in the short term, will effect the running of the taper rollers by raising areas on the raceway where the rollers run. Wood is like copper and brass (which we fitters never use when knocking bearing in) it flakes and can contaminate the bearing. A length of mild steel pipe the same diameter of the outer race shoulder should be used. Like Hezzy said don't use chisels, but you can use pin punches. Most quality bearings are hardened to about 62 Rockwell, so pin punches will not affect them.
Besides being a Fitter and Turner, I sold bearings for about 10 years and this is the stuff we were educated on. I hope this helps and you have a safe and uneventful trip.
Cheers, Saddles
Simon C
Posts: 801
Date Joined: 01/05/07
thanks lads, went to Martins
thanks lads, went to Martins today to pick up some new brake pads and some spare bearing and asked them, they said hubs are definitely stuffed. I did knock the old ones out with a big chisel so maybe that stuffed the seats who knows. Anyway after doing all the bloody bearings and races yesterday off they all came today for new hubs and bearings allround except the front left which was still perfect. Hats off to the boys at Martins in Wangara, great service and looks like better quality hubs and bearings as well(japanese bearings).
Next time I think I will just take it too them and get them to press races etc if the hubs are fine. I have been using bearing buddies but I have had a few too many failures so going to try plain caps and service every 6 months instead of 12
SHould be stress free towing at least with all new hubs and bearings.
allrounder
Posts: 1853
Date Joined: 10/11/08
The other thing you could try
is tapping a nipple into the old style caps that way you have the best of both worlds.
So tell me have you got your info from years on the water or hours on the internet?
stilly
Posts: 341
Date Joined: 10/08/09
simon
speak to martins/coventrys you can actually buy a race punch (timken) for about 40 dollars cuts time for bearings and knocking in new races down to a minimum makes life very easy, never use loctite, and forget bearing buddies unless you put a grease gun on them everytime you put in/out of the ramp to squeeze the water out jmo
Simon C
Posts: 801
Date Joined: 01/05/07
Come on tony, you know I am
Come on tony, you know I am married so obviously badly out of practice with nipples or tapping anything, I am over 35 now, need to leave that to the young fellas.
SamC
Posts: 2013
Date Joined: 30/08/06
Amen to that Simon
Amen to that Simon
Cheers,
Sam