Wheel Bearing Installation

I'm about to attempt my first front and rear wheel bearing installation on my Seca 650. All of the tutorials I have found on here and other places seem pretty clear. My first question, however, is about the two bearings in the rear that go next to each other. I've read that it's a good idea to remove one seal on either bearings so that they are open to each other. Is this true? Do you do that so that when it comes time to grease them again you can remove the seal to the outer bearing and upon application of the grease it will flow through the outer bearing and into the inner bearing as well? Is all this necessary or would I be better off just keeping the seals on to both bearings.

I'll also be removing the spindle hub. Would anybody happen to know what the torque spec for the spindle hub bolts are?

I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future. Thanks everybody.

 

I'm not going to be any help here but I am interested in the answer to the question also,
I've read this advice somewhere also.
Why would you remove a seal of a sealed bearing? Heat dissapation? Surely it can't be a greasing question since you wouldn't regrease these bearings.
Sorry for not helping.

 

The original bearings only had one shield. I don't think anyone really knows why. I left my new bearings fully shielded when I installed them.

I suppose that it would aid greasing, but a good set of sealed bearings won't need grease for a very long time. When re-greasing sealed bearings you use a grease needle and work it past the lip of the seal to pump new grease in.


As for the spindle hub question: I'm not sure what part you are referencing. Spindles are fixed axles (usually a part of the steering nuclek assembly on a truck or car). A hub is a rotating assembly that a wheel or pully bolts to.

Please use the parts fiche at the link below to tell us what part you are talking about.
parts

And get a service manual if you don't already have one. Torque values will be at your fingertips 24/7/365

 

If you kept your seals on then I will as well.

My bad for referring to the part as the Spindle Hub it's actually the Final Drive Hub with the splines on it (see pic). Also referred to as the Clutch Hub. It has 5 bolts on it and I can't find the torque values for it. I do own the Haynes and I can't find it in there.

 

I left the seals intact. My reasoning being that it seems silly to destroy perfectly good sealed bearings, and I would probably just replace them, not try to re-grease them in the future, especially since (as k-moe mentions) you would need a needle to grease them anyway, so the odds of that ever happening are low.

Another lesson from the school of hard knocks: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE BEARING REMOVAL TOOL!

 

You don't need to remove the splined flange at all, unless is it damaged and needs to be replaced. That's why the torque values aren't listed in the Haynes.

 

From the XJCD 650G service manual.
Generic torque specs.

 

Finally got around to the Front bearing and after taking out the original bearings there were these shavings inside the wheel bouncing around the spacer for who knows how long. What do you think they are from?

 

What is that floating around inside the hub? Doesn't look long enough to be the spacer, could that have been spinning about creating swarf somehow?

 

That's the spacer that just fell over. I had yet to take it out when I took the pic.

 

Hard to see how that got there unless it was shoddy assembly at the factory.
Make sure to knock your locking tabs over when you're done.

 

It looks to me like swarf from machining the bearing bores that was not removed prior to moving to the next station in the factory. Clean it out and move on.

 

Not sure what the parts are but the locking tabs for the rotor bolts need to bent up against the flats of the bolt heads.

 

After I put the bearings in with the spacer inside the inner races on either bearing do not spin freely. They are butted up against the spacer pretty tightly so, I can spin the two inner races and the spacer altogether, but not individually. Should I be worried? I remember the inner races on the previous bearing pretty easy to turn but they're also the original bearings and might have been worn down, yada yada yada.

 

You are probably driving the last bearing in too far. The first bearing gets seated fully, the second one you tap in until it just touches the spacer. If you drive it in too far/hard it will put pressure on the inner races and cause them to bind. How “tight” are they?

 

the inner race and spacer all spin together they are part of the spacer system on the axle. when on the axle they do not spin the outer race and wheel spin

 

Right but the bearing is doing the exact same thing when sticking your finger in and spinning the inner race while the wheel is stationary or bolting the wheel in with the axle and spinning the wheel with the axle stationary. If the inner races do not spin easily when installed then the bearing is side loaded and not installed properly.

 

agreed but once there in there you cant do much without damaging the bearings. maybe if you habe the tool to remove them .. but that still may damage them.
so you can ride like that and bearings will wear out faster, or replace them and hope for better results. what is needed is a shim to prevent installing them too deep. some brass sheet

i chill my bearings to shrink them and can almost push them all the way in by hand.

next set i am going to try dry ice to shrink them more

 

Agreed, not much you can do to pull them back out that doesn't risk damage since you have to pull from the inner race. I suppose you could use the tool and tap lightly.

I hear you on the shim but I think that would defeat the purpose, the depth is variable to accommodate differences in the inner spacer and possible bearing difference between inner and outer race.

I guess we never answered this question directly, the inner spacer and the two inner races of the bearings essentially make up your axle, the outer spacers, inner races, and inner spacer all get pushed together when the axle bolt is installed and tightened. How hard are they to spin? If not too tight and clunky I would ride it and recheck them later.

 

These bearings will withstand a bit of side loading, but obviously not too much.
Fwiw, I've always put them in until they seat on the spacer and stop there. Last set I think I put them in with just a little bit of excess welly, but keeping an eye on them reveals nothing untoward after several thousand miles.
I always use Koyo, so they're probably more able to resist side loading than some of the cheap crap that's floating around.

 

I'm pretty sure the bearings aren't of high quality. They were the cheapest on Ebay and we all know how that can go. I already purchased new bearings from All Balls. I will chime in after I install and let you know of my results.

I am a little confused about how far the bearing should actually be pressed into the hub. Since there is a lip right inside the hub on either side of the wheel that stops the bearings from going too far shouldn't the bearing be seated right on that lip? I mean, isn't that the point of that lip. A couple of you said you only press one of the bearing onto the lip and the other barely touching the spacer.

 

put your bearings in a freezer even in the back of your house frezzer to shrink them. take each one out as you need it.

that has been the debate for a while here.
push the bearing in untill it stops or just untill it makes contact with spacer.
i installe bearings using a large socket to gently tap them in . you feel them stop your done
on my next set of bearings I am going to do some measuring see what I get for numbers and how they add up
if i were you I would drive the bike as it is and check the bearings every week.couple hundred miles you may not get 20k miles from them but i will bet you get an easy 10k miles

 

The lip is there to stop the first bearing that you drive in at the correct location. You then drive the second one in until it just contacts the inner spacer. The idea here is to keep the races and bearings inline to maximize the life. Your axle is made up of the inner spacer, inner races of the bearings, and the outer spaces. Since the axle shaft "presses" all these components together, there is no adjustment here to keep the bearings inline. It's kinda like setting up a ring and pinion in a rear end, it'll work in the end but you need to shim things until you get the correct wear pattern to maximize life and minimize wear. Obviously no shims here but still need to pay attention.

I've been meaning to cut my old wheel (damaged and no good of course) hub out and slot it to show what is happening, for now I'll need to stick to crappy paint drawings. I'm attempting to show a correct installation and then one where the bearings were driven too far into the hub.