Wheel bearing packing

While I have the back wheel off changing my chain and sprockets, anybody have any tricks for repacking the wheel bearings without knocking them out?

riverroad wrote:

While I have the back wheel off changing my chain and sprockets, anybody have any tricks for repacking the wheel bearings without knocking them out?

Well, it would be very difficult to technically "pack" them that way. However, it's a great opportunity to allballsracing.com/ and order new sealed bearings.... ;)

1980 should have sealed bearings unless the LTD was 2 yrs behind the rest of the KZ1000 line. If the bearings are sealed (rubber covers), you don't repack. If they have the balls clearly visable, just press some grease into them best you can. I've never replaced a wheel bearing yet on a KZ.

So Ron are you saying that bikes after 1980 have sealed bearings?

The bearings in the main part of the wheel do appear to be sealed, but the ones in the sprocket hub aren't. I can shove some grease into those, but the bearings in the main wheel are a lot harder to get to because of the rubber covers.
I'll just do what Ron recommends. Mash some in there the best way I can.
As far as buying new ones, I'm from the school of, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

kzwolfsr wrote:

So Ron are you saying that bikes after 1980 have sealed bearings?

I'm not sure about any of the Kawasaki's except I know for sure the KZ1000A and E started using sealed bearings in 1979. I prefer non-sealed and grease myself. My Ford truck uses the exact sealed bearings on the serpentine belt tensioners as Kawasaki uses in it's wheel bearings and last year one of my truck bearings decided to just disintegrate and the entire pulley fell off. I'd rather not have that happen on my wheel bearings, and I've found the open bearings pretty much last indefinitely if you grease them every time the wheel is removed, where the sealed type you just kind of hope and pray there's ample grease in there.

I would knock the bearings out,inspect,if ok,repack,an install.since you can`t get to the one very well.Really not much time involded,since the wheels already off.

I have and would change the bearings, you can get them at just about any bearing supply, they are not very expensive , and yes they were sealed

If you use sealed bearings that have the rubber seal then I recommend you remove the seal and see for yourself how much grease is in there. The seal is easy to remove with a pick and I was surprised to see almost no grease in mine, just a very small amount that barely coated the balls. It looked like a thin smear of vaseline. This didn't make me feel good so I packed them with some bearing grease and replaced the seal.

By the way, I've always heard if you pound out bearings with a drift and hammer, just pound on the outer race. If you pound on the inner race it will probably mess the bearing up bigtime. FWIW bearings are cheap, if you're in there anyway stick some new ones in, clean up the old ones for the kids to play with..

Post edited by: OKC_Kent, at: 2007/02/08 17:44

I've replaced my wheel bearings, and steering bearings last weekend. Wheels came first, and the rear had 3 sealed bearings, and 2 seals. The front wheel had 2 bearings and 2 seals. The steering bearings came with 2 tapered bearings, races, and both upper and lower seals. All in all I spent $74.00 including shipping for all of the bearings, $9.00 for the 17mm Allen Wrench, and $7.95 for Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease to pace them all. Like OCKent states above, repack them yourself before just installing them.

The wheel bearings came sealed, and had a little grease in them, but I don't know what type it was. I removed one side seal cover....carefully... and repacked them with the Mobil 1 Grease.



You can see the rusty-colored grease from the bearing I removed from the wheels, and the nice new red synthetic grease I've packed them with. Replaced the bearing cover without tearing it.

If you remove the stock bearings and repack them like your manual suggests at every 2 years, then you'll have to replace the outer black rubber seals, as I don't know how anyone can remove them without messing them up.

I got a little carried away and replaced the rubber dampner inside the rear hub. Piece(peace) of mind. This wording is for Neilage!!! :woohoo:

Where did I get the bearings from? ALL BALLS RACING <--- Click on this link. Not that expensive for new wheel bearings, and steering bearings. Have you replaced yours since you've owned your bike? :huh:

most bearings have numbers eched in them you can get them from nappa or a machine supply shop.if you re pack them be careful not to over pack because grease expands when heated and will pop the seal out.that is why there does not appear to be mutch grease in the bearing when first opened.believe it or not they only put 2 drops of grease in them when they are made,i did some work for timken bearing years ago.:silly:

Thanks for the info peretc. After I packed the wheel bearings, I spun then around, and wiped off some of the excess, but not on the steering head bearings. I left them pached, and heavily coated. The seals on the wheel bearings will keep grime and dirt out, but can they keep the grease in? I think so, depending on the type of grease used.

Why did they put so little grease in them, and what kind of grease was it, if you remember.

The ones I removed from the wheels, only had a seal on one side. I guess it was so it could be serviced(cleaned and repacked).

Post edited by: CoreyClough, at: 2007/02/09 00:10