Dang, original rear wheel bearings from 1995!

[HeadTrauma]

Can you believe this?

Does that not look brand new to you? I have been worried about my rear wheel bearings for probably the last two years because they felt a little rough when installed in the hub. After going through Hell and finally getting the right bearing puller, I find that they are not only original single sealed NTN bearings, but in surprisingly good condition.

Yeah, anyway, I'm ordering new bearings on Monday, but I'm going to repack my originals and do a speed run this weekend with the new 15/48 gearing. ?

[martinfan30]

The bottom pic is the original grease????

[HeadTrauma]

Yeah, it is, but the surprising part to me is that it's not black and not missing in action. There is also zero corrosion(this hot, dry desert is good for something after all). It's a little bit dry and gummy, but it's getting replaced with Valvoline semi-synthetic grease anyway.

Say....does anyone looking at this thread know what ABEC rating the stock bearings are? I'm guessing just ABEC-1.

[martinfan30]

Yeah that's what I meant, the grease looks new!

EDIT: I say either 1 or 3.

[Beyond The Pale]

I'd be very surprised if they were anything better than ABEC-1.

Bearings last pretty much forever out here in the dry. I've never had a bearing go bad. Now back east where riding a dirt bike means a lot of water crossings and mud, bearings go bad a lot more often. My street bike has 25,000 miles on the original bearings and they have a lot of life left. I put a similar number on my first bike a 78 XL250.

I tend to replace them just for piece of mind. I do it as part of the overall bearing cleaning/regreasing that I do when I get a "new" old bike. Then I replace them after 4 or 5 years. Since the mid 90's I've been using the 49 cent Chinese bearings that I have to pay $3 for. I've read plenty of bad commentary about them, but I have never seen a quality issue in several hundred thousand miles in my cars, trucks, and bikes.

I always go with the double side seals because I feel that water and the gunk it carries is the main enemy.

What did you need a bearing puller for? I just use a drift. That way I'm not tempted to reinstall them.

The bearings are extremely generic. Just head to your local bearing supply store to get them today. OK, they are likely closed on the weekend. If I remember correctly there is a place just west of the freeway at Ave I.

[HeadTrauma]

I axle felt a little gritty which is why I originally started pulling the wheel bearings. After getting the large one pictured out and apart, I was thinking that maybe it was my imagination. Well, it wasn't my imagination; the big sprocket side bearing was still good, but the brake side (smaller) bearing got water into it at some point and is pitted.

I always go with the double side seals because I feel that water and the gunk it carries is the main enemy.

What did you need a bearing puller for? I just use a drift. That way I'm not tempted to reinstall them.

The bearings are extremely generic. Just head to your local bearing supply store to get them today. OK, they are likely closed on the weekend. If I remember correctly there is a place just west of the freeway at Ave I.

The center spacer made it impossible for me to drive them out with a drift. I used a blind hole bearing puller to get them out of the hub. I had to go out and buy one after monkeying around with seal pullers and screwdrivers. They also seemed to be in the hub tighter than most descriptions make it sound because even the puller needed a good number of hits to get them out.

The bearing supply in Lancaster sounds familiar, but I've never been there. I know there is A-1 Bearing in Palmdale too. There is a bearing house I like that is in the Valencia industrial park. They were the only local place able/willing to find and order me an uncommon and fairly large double race angular contact SKF I needed for the A/C clutch in my '68 Mustang. The part number had apparently been superseded multiple times in the last 45+ years and was more difficult to cross reference.

However, you are right; the bearings are just generic 6203 and 6204 roller bearings. I'm definitely going to get double sealed parts; that's all I ever get anyway unless the application requires different.