Wheel Bearing Confusion - Help!

I have a stock set of new wheel bearings for my '79 MKII, which has an 18" rear mag wheel. I may be looking at switching to a 16" mag and was wondering if I could use the bearings I bought for the MKII. According to kawasaki.com, the part numbers are:

601B6304ZZ BEARING,BALL,#6304ZZ for the 77-80 LTD

601B6304Z BALL BEARING,#6304Z for the 79-80 MKII

601B6304 BEARING BALL #6304 for the 78 Z1R

What on earth does the "Z" and the "ZZ" mean? The base number is the same. Are they all interchangeable?
Thanks!

The big bikes (900/1000) have the 20mm rear axle vs the smaller bikes (650/750) have the 17mm axle.

The OD on both bearings is the same its just the ID that is different. So you should be ok.

Post edited by: galaxian, at: 2005/10/25 13:43

as far as size goes, your spot on.
Bearings are bearings.
if memory serves me the z or any letter at the end of a # series stands for sealed or unsealed bearings.
EX, no letter means open caseing, letters mean sealed plastic or steel caseings.

Hope that helps ya.

Yeah, they´re interchangeable - the suffixes Z and ZZ denotes if a bearing is single-shielded (Z) or double-shielded (ZZ). Suffixes RS and 2RS denotes if the bearing is single-sealed (RS) or double-sealed (2RS).

Here´s a link to some background info on bearings:

www.gizmology.net/bearings.htm

Post edited by: onkelb, at: 2005/10/25 15:36

Thanks for all of the help. That link is really helpful. I was hoping the difference was something like that and they would work. It sure didn't take long to get the answers I was looking for. KZ Rider comes through again!

galaxian wrote:

The big bikes (900/1000) have the 20mm rear axle vs the smaller bikes (650/750) have the 17mm axle.

The OD on both bearings is the same its just the ID that is different. So you should be ok.<br><br>Post edited by: galaxian, at: 2005/10/25 13:43

I guess that means that a 650/750 wheel could be adapted to the larger axle just by replacing the bearings with stock bearings from a 1000? Pretty cool to know if I come across a good deal on a wheel with a 17mm axle. Thanks!

Fendrguy wrote:

as far as size goes, your spot on.
Bearings are bearings.
if memory serves me the z or any letter at the end of a # series stands for sealed or unsealed bearings.
EX, no letter means open caseing, letters mean sealed plastic or steel caseings.

Hope that helps ya.

Thanks for the info...and that's a killer avatar, by the way!:lol: I loved that skit on SNL.

One exception to the above 650/750 statement, the 76-80 750 twins have the same bearings as the 1000's.

Front and rear.

The 6304 numbers make sense. In 1979 Kawasaki went to the sealed bearings. I really prefer greasing my own bearings but have never had problems with either.

When I was going through this I just went to NAPA. They usually have what you need in stock