Has anyone tried this? I’ve got an ’06 Meta 4 with distinctly lumpy bearings, and I’m looking for the bearing numbers and any how-tos available – they seem to be a bit nonexistent. It looks simple enough to swap it all out (I’ve serviced several FS bikes before, this is the first time the Meta’s needed new bearings) but I’d like to know if there are any hidden fiddly bits, or if anyone has any tips.
Cheers in advance!

very easy, look at commencal owners club, but in summary

1 – take the bearing cap off with large allen key 10 or 12?
2 – drift out pivot thing with the right sized socket, this leaves some bearings attached to the frame and some to the pivot thingy(bush?)
3 – drift bearings off bush and out of swing arm
4 – put it all back together.

Not sure on size but mine were bought from a bearing supplier on ebay

Dan

Or just take it to head for the hills?

🙄

Cheers big ears. seeing as HFTH will be open tomorrow, I may well nip in there instead. although it now looks like my front hub bearings are on the shonk as well…

As per diglover really…also…

There are a lot of tips on the commencal owners website, but its very difficult to drift off the bearings that come out attached to the shaft, as the remaining large flat headed allen bolt will be covering them. The bolt is also quite soft alloy, so if you get it wrong you’ll mark or bend the large flat head.

The ones I did, I got the shaft out and then clamped up in a vice and then undid the remaining allen bolt, but it takes a huge amount of leverage and an extremely tight vice. The bearings can then be tapped off easily. Some pentrating fluid might help before hand.

Ahh, I remember what I did, I turned the bush round and clamped it in the frame facing outwards and hammered it out of the bearings from behind, so to speak

Thanks, both of you! I didn’t know the Commencal Owners’ Club site existed – I assumed there’d be a tech section on the Commencal web site. D’oh.

Head For The Hills have the bearings in stock, and seeing as I don’t have a vice at the moment, I’ve dropped it in there. The main bearings must be really b0rked, by the way – even upside down, the swingarm insists on returning to what must be the general sag position, like it’s sprung. No wonder the shock needed a service. 😳 Not quite as maintenance-free as my old Sub 5 (One set of bearings in three years) or two San Andreases I’ve owned. Mind you, even though the bearings were shot, there was no play in the back end – just no travel…

[EDIT] – just for anyone who searches for and finds this thread, the Commencal Owners Club link is here: Fix the bearings in yer Meta 4 or 5, and you’ll need to order 4 x 6805 and 6 x 608 2RS bearings (you can order off t’web – I think I’ve used Bearingshop.co.uk or similar in the past), and have a vice to hand. Apparently, Loctite 641 Bearing Fit gop is also handy – I’ve used it on Real Crank Case BB bearings in the past, and it’s great stuff… [/EDIT]