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Ok, I'm after some basic bearing advice. I want to replace the bearings on my 2007 Stumpjumper FSR. I'm going to order a blind bearing puller kit so will be OK on that front. I had most of the bearings out of the frame before but have had the main pivot bearings seize, seemed fine after cleaning and regreasing.
The advice I want is what to look for when buying replacement bearings (I know what size etc I need 6802 RS full complement & 6800 2RS). If I look on Ebay I can get these for a couple of quid a pair. Then I look on BETD and you're talking £ 10 a pair. What's the difference and is it worth the money?
Also greasing, being thick I'd assume the bearings would come pre-packed with appropriate grease. I've heard some people say they strip and repack them from new? I tend to use Finish line white grease for everything.
Helpful, concise advice anyone. I tried to read through kasae's thread but got completely bored by page 3.
Get some SKF off ebay and you'll be fine.
I wouldn't have thought the quality of the bearing particularly matters much for a limited rotation application like a suspension pivot.
They do come pre-greased, generally for high speed rolling applications, so the grease fill often isn't very substantial. Given that the limited roation won't displace much grease, I'd be inclined to pack them to resist water ingress, and thus corrosion.
I'd find your local bearing dealer from the yellow pages and order a quality bearing from them. Price wise I would think it would fall between ebay and betd. I'd follow his advice on the re-greasing thing, he'll know how well they are packed from new. Trouble is if you take the seal off to re-pack it you break the seal and it won't be as water tight but it's worth doing if the bearings aren't well greased from new. As long as you have a good quality bearing well greased I don't think it makes a lot of differnce as bearings are ment to run continuously in a clockwise or counter clockwise direction. On a bike they are lucky if they move half way through their travel and IMO whether you put caged or uncaged etc it won't make a great deal of difference. Their cheap to buy, it's easy to do, might as well replace them after every winter.
Cheers guys that was exactly the sort of advice I was after. There's apparently a bearing and engineers supplier around the corner form work so guess where I'm going to be spending my lunch hour.
They're not water tight anyway, merely water resistant.
IME, bearing dealers have bugger all idea about whether its best to pack with grease for mtb application. Its not exactly a standard use for them. Often they're quite curious.
SKF certainly seem to suggest that re-lubricating is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, thus the rubber seal must have acceptable tolerance for being removed and re-installed.
oh well, here we go. at the risk of ridicule here's my tuppence worth.
i have just done the exact same thing on my 2007 fsr pivot bearings at the drop outs. i bought betd bearings last time round and they have lasted two years. thought i would do it on the cheap this time round and get them from e-bay. first lot about £1.50, utter shite straight in thebin, second lot of "branded" bearings, utter shite and in the bin. just received my 6800 2rs max bearings from betd and they are fine. i do take one seal off and repack them with marine grease, then carefully replace it, but i make sure the side the the seal came out off goes to the inside of the frame. the cheap bearings i bought had hardly any grease inside and had far to much side to side play
you get what you pay for
Do we not have a "bearing expert" on here that could help you? 😉
LOL!
I think Max bearings for pivots is a great idea. It certainly gives them the beast load and shock capacity.
Do we not have a "bearing expert" on here that could help you?
Stop it......
jon - what bearing removal tool have you bought - slide type or puller?
Haven't bought it yet, was seriously considering this:
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They're not water tight anyway, merely water resistant.
Totally agree, never thought they were. Wrong choice of words 😳
depending on how much you're going to spend on 2 pairs of decent bearing it may well be worth buying the Spesh kit. I did my enduro and priced up all the bearings from my local bearing supplier (for cheap chinese bearings) and it was withing a couple of quid of the full kit from Spesh. For £40ish you get all the bearings, and they seem like good quality bearings. Then you have spares for when the rest need doing.
I tried to read through kasae's thread but got completely bored by page 3.
you got that far ??
It's been a slow night.
I've spent the day doing the same to the wife's 2006 FSR. I chose ENDURO MAX bearings. The max type have a greater load capacity but done spin well at high speeds. Perfect for pivots. think CRC do a kit for your bike.
Bearing removal was drift them out from the other side. Watch out for the lip in the HL pivot, they don't go straight through. I have a couple of bearings disintegrated on removal and leave the outer race behind. I bought a Dremel and a diamond tipped bit and cut most of the way through the race. Levered it out with a screw drive and Bob's your mother's live in love.
I looked at the fancy puller kits but I'm not sure the one you're looking at goes small enough. In the end, I decided the Dremel was cheaper and more versatile.
I pull the old bearings out using a combo of an old front QR skewer, and a selection of various socket set ends. Hard to discribe how it works with out pics but here goes..
Skewer..... with selction of larger than the bearing to be pulled out socket sets resting against frame / swingarm etc .... bearing to be pulled out..... smaller socket( or just Skewer cap) set to nest against inside of bearing.
wind up all the slack on the QR lever..BUT have the QR lever in the open position..
When all slack taken up, close the QR lever...this action wil pull bearing out of frame. Depending on depth of bearing, you might have to repeat this step a few times.
I was told by a Spesh dealer if I tried to change the bearings and got stuck he wouldn't step in to complete. From what I've read there's one pair of bearings which are more difficult to remove then others as there's no through hole in the frame and these are the potential pitfall
I don't know how much that puller is jon, but the bearings cost £40 wherever you get them from, and the whole job at the dealer costs £90.
As I understand it the pre 2010 FSR's might be easier
As for Mick's home made puller method, it [u]sounds[/u] great. If my frame was older frame I might well give it a go
I don't know the bearing sizes on the 2007 but on the 2006, the HL bearings have an 8mm bore and they're the hardest to remove.
2007 HL bearings have a 10mm internal dia, I took one of the bolts out last night to check that.
Bonesetter - you're right about the Horst Link bearings, they are a pain to remove, I haven't managed it before (had all the others out). There is a lip between the HL bearings which stops you pushing them through.
Do we not have a "bearing expert" on here that could help you?
You mean a tribologist.. cool profession
> rootes1 - Member
Do we not have a "bearing expert" on here that could help you?
>You mean a tribologist.. cool profession
I assume he means (whisper it) kaesae. Have you been on a remote desert island the last few months? 😀