Wahoo Kickr bearing specs

My well-hammered 2017 Kickr is making a bit of a droning noise and mild vibration. Whipped the belt off and a quick play suggests that the bearings on the axle which holds the freehub/cassette assembly are very much on the way out, the rest seem fine.

Does anyone offhand know the spec for the bearings on this shaft. It’s quite easy to find the ones that the flywheel spins on, which seem to be more prone to failure – mine still feel super smooth, but I may change them anyway – but the others seem more elusive.

I’ve dropped a line to Wahoo support, but if anyone has the information to hand, would save some time, thanks!

I got mine from here:

Wahoo Kickr Overhaul Kit 2018 Onwards

Thanks, can you remember which bearings went where? The 2018 uses a different belt, pulley etc, not sure the bearings are the same, but I suspect the main ones would be.

I’ll drop them a line and see if they know.

In case it’s useful to anyone else in the future, this is the reply I got from Wahoo’s customer service:

The bearings are: 

6003ZZ flywheel axle bearings
6002DD Upper pulley bearings

As far as I can tell, 6002-DD is the same as 6002-RS, ie: bearing with a rubber seal on both sides.

I suspect the issue I’m going to have is removing the ratchet ring from the Kickr ‘hub’ on the upper pulley wheel – or whatever you want to call it – so I can access the bearing behind it. There’s no specific tool available that I can find, though someone has 3D printed one for the first gen Kickr. I’m going to try various spare freehubs for fit and see if any of those work for size then, if so, look for an appropriate tool. I don’t really fancy my chances. It’s disappointing that Wahoo doesn’t seem committed to long-term refurbishment of its products tbh.

Tbf it’s covered at least 25,000km and this is the first time I’ve looked at a bearing swap. It’s on its third – non-Wahoo – belt and still works fine bar the noise and dying upper bearings. God knows how many brain cells have died on it 🙁

And one more for visitors from the future. On the 2017 Kickr, the bearings that sit on the main pulley wheel. ie the one driven directly by the bike via cassette and freehub are actually:

SKF 6003-2Z – ie the ones with metal shields rather than rubber, i suspect because of possible high termperatures. There are two of them pressed into the wheel which slides off the main shaft once you’ve removed the freehub locknut. No need to remove the ratchet ring as far as I can see.

The bearings in my previous post are for the flywheel axle: 6003ZZ ie: the secondary wheel driven by the belt, lots of info online about swapping those.

And 6002-DD, which are the bearings for the tensioner wheel/pulley.

Wahoo support are polite and reasonably helpful in a narrow way, but the brand’s reluctance to publish detailed instructions and specs for repair and to sell spares for older trainers in particular is disappointing. It feels like they’d rather you junk an otherwise perfectly sound piece of kit and buy a new model for the sake of a couple of worn bearings.

And yes, I know that’s how capitalism works, but it feels more than a little tone dead at a point in time where we should all be looking to conserve resources rather than add to the endless pile of disposable trash which we seem dedicated to producing, he said piously.

I re-read my own post. Too many bearing specs have clearly done my head in. Never mind.

So… 2017 Wahoo Kickr. As I understand it:

The bearings for the big wheel with Wahoo written on it that’s driven by the chain via freehub assembly are 6003-ZZ

The bearings for the hollow drum thing that’s driven by the belt from the great big wheel with Wahoo written on it are 6002-DD

The bearings for the adjustable pulley tensioner that the belt goes round are 6001-ZZ

Now I’ve got that straight I’m going to have a nice lie down.

Just for reference, the ratchet ring does have to come out to replace the driveside bearing. Wahoo does not have a tool to fit it and won’t/can’t suggest one from another manufacturer that will fit – they’d rather you buy a new Kickr. You can’t buy a replacement ratchet ring, so destroying it is a bad idea…

My solution was/is to get the local old school precision engineering guys to remove the material that prevents the drive-side bearing from being pushed out on the other side, ie without removing the ratchet ring, and making up a spacer to replace it. Hopefully the new bearings will manage another six or seven years of use, but if they do go, replacement should be relatively straightforward. Should be done later this week, will update in case it’s useful to anyone going forward.

There is a 3D print file for a tool to remove the ratchet ring from a 2014 version 1 Kickr, but I’m not sure it’ll fit the 2017, which visually seems to have more teeth anyway:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5316514

Also recommended, the Turbo Trainer Doctor: https://www.theturbotrainerdoctor.com/

Very helpful with a mission to resurrect dead trainers.