Ok so I take my bike up to Honda to get new tires installed saturday. They had a deal going for $199 installed for a set of tires. I got myr rear installed and they had to order my front, so I get that next saturday. When I pick up my bike, they told me my rear wheel bearing was totally shot. They told me it'd be about $240 for them to replace it. So how can I tell if the wheel bearing is bad in the back and is it something I can do myself. I know in a car you jack the car up and if you have excess side to side movement thats a good clue the bearing is shot. Is is the same thing on a bike?

 

There's different kinds of "shot" for bearings. Chances are if it had side to side movement you'd have already had a catastrophic failure. Most likely one of the bearing races has a pit in it and maybe has already killed a ball or two. To verify this take the wheel off and turn the bearing a few rotations while applying pressure. If you feel some rough spots (kinda crunchy feeling) then ya it's prolly shot. This is a job you can do at home quite easily if you have the right stuff - getting the old bearings out is easy since you're gonna chuck 'em anyway (i.e. hammer and drift from opposite side -- be careful not to scar up the wheel) and installation is easy as well. You can buy an install tool ($50-$100) or just make one. It's simply a piece of all thread with two round plates that you can tighten down to draw the bearings into their seat in the wheel. Put the all thread through the middle, a bearing on each side, a plate over the bearing and a nut on the outside of each plate. Tighten until bearings are fully seated. A word of caution about the plate -- make sure any pressure exerted on the bearing is directed ONLY to the OUTER RACE of the bearing. If you're exerting ANY pressure on the INNER RACE then you're doing it WRONG. Finally, the bearings should be replaced as a set -- I'm not sure if yours are sealed or not. If sealed then you're good to go -- if not you'll need to pack 'em in grease (by hand -- not only a fun activity but the best way).

Always be careful when your wheel is off the bike cause that's when even the smallest speck of dirt or sand can find its way in a bearing. That's all it takes to kill one.

Geez -- sorry for the long post[sm=icon_blah.gif]

 

242442-001 Bearing - (3) Two wheel and one cush drive (verify this with the dealer) $10.02 ea
243272-001 Dust seal - cush drive $10.20
243317-001 Dust seal - wheel rt side $10.20
243816-001 O-ring left side $3.47

Total $33.89 -- the cush bearing and wheel bearings usually are different so check on these before ordering.

Oh, here's where I found the stuff The Place I Find Stuff

Try checking with the Limpster to see if those #'s are the same for the bearings -- he might could get ya a deal also.

 

Cool thanks for the help chain,
I'll check it in the next week or two. I don't have the time to mess with it right now, but I do want to look at it. For all I know Honda was just trying to sell me on extra service. I usually don't trust dealers unless I take something to them for a specific reason. I got a good deal on tires, so they may be trying to compensate and make a good sale to make up the difference. The bike is a 95 and has about 18k miles on it. Do wheel bearings go out that soon? I know on cars they last alot longer. If it is bad, i'll definatly attempt to do it myself instead of paying the dealership.

 

I guess they could go bad -- I've never had a set go out and I've had some old bikes and some high mileage bikes.