The bearings on the front wheel of my bike are completely fooked. I've got the wheel off and I'm wondering whether to tackle this myself to save some time. I've never done bearings before but from what I've read it's basically a case of bash out, bash in (making sure they're straight) Anyone on here done it? (I know that' likely a dumb question) What bearing set do people recommend?
It's straight forward enough. Place the wheel on two bits of wood so it sits on the tyre to avoid damaging the discs. With a large flat screwdriver or similar, you should be able to wiggle the spacer in the middle enough to get the screwdriver on the edge of the bearing nearest the ground looking down through the wheel. Begin tapping, moving the screwdriver around so you are not just hitting the bearing in one place and it comes out square. Remove inner wheel spacer, turn over and knock the other bearing out the same way. Use the old bearing or a socket that sits on the outer lip of the new bearing to knock the new bearing in. Tapping around in a circular motion to ensure in square.
As above mate, its not a hard job. Gentle taps going all the way around the bearing and it should come out fairly easily. If its a little stuck heat up the hub of the wheel that the bearing sits in and it will come out . Mind and order new dust seals as well as bearings.
I've been going through a few threads on here and Allballs Racing bearings seem to get recommended a bit, I've followed one of the eBay links and they're still available and also include the seals. Are these still the ones to go for? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honda-CBR...8?hash=item2cbae64950:g:5AkAAOSwajVUTQT0#rwid
The likely options look like Allballs, SKF or Koyo Also, when you press the new ones in, do they just go in until the stop or do you need to know how far to press them in?
They will have little lips that the bearing will sit against or you can measure the gap once you remove the dust seal. You'll know when its seated properly as you'll hear a change in the noise from the hammer when you hit the bottom.
Though I'd report back, this is the old one, you could literally push the inner race up and down (bad) Had to man handle the seals out by literally knocking them away from the hub with a screw driver and hammer (hitting only the seal!!) Knocked both bearings out evenly by tapping around from the inside. Cleaned up the messy recess so that I wasn't putting nice new bearings in to muck Squarely knocked in the new bearings, remembering to replace the space tube in the middle of the wheel, the typical recommendation seemed to be to use the old bearing over the new bearing, I opted for a piece of wood followed by a large socket instead. And finally... all done with new seals (definitely use new seals even if the old ones came out ok) I re-greased the axle prior to refitting, torqued everything up to recommended specs and out for a test ride. Wow is all I can say, I had so much vibration through the handlebars before and a slight judder under heavy braking. Well that's all gone, braking is now smooth and confidence inspiring, needless to say I'm very pleased with the outcome.
Top man and you've saved yourself a good bit of cash doing it yourself too. Probably a good idea to check the bearings in the rear wheel and sprocket carrier too. Same goes for the swing arm ans suspension linkage bearings, probably just needing cleaning and re greased.
