Dirt Bike Wheel Bearings Replacement

Wheel bearings are changed in pairs when at least one breaks down. Its wear is found out by wheel play with axial or radial loads. The service life of the bearing depends not only on the quality of manufacture and the protective boot presence, but also on timely service. The replacement procedure is simple, especially if you have a special tool for that. Below you can see some useful information, as well as a video demostrating the replacement of front wheel bearings on Yamaha WR450F.

Bearing service

It is better to sometimes check the bearings condition when removing the wheel, and put additional lubrication. If there is rust, it is better to clean and lubricate the bearing. Bearings tend to rust if you ride on roads with deep puddles.

Old bearings removal

When removing the bearings, it is enough to shift the spacer sleeve and knock out the bearing with an impact screwdriver from the inside. If the sleeve is firmly fixed, it can be loosened by striking the inner race of one of the bearings.

It is quite easy to knock out a bearing with a reverse hammer. Instead of a hammer, you can also use an anchor bolt.

Bearings installation

1. Bearing interface should be well cleaned and lubricated.
2. The bearing on the brake rotor side is always installed first in order to accurately determine the position of the brake rotor towards the fork. If one of the bearings is fixed by a ring, then it is installed first.
3. You can hit the bearing with the help of an old bearing, pipe, hammer, anything - the main thing is to hit the outer ring, not touching the inner one, and not to damage the seating surface.
4. If the seating surface is not damaged and well cleaned, and the bearing is of high quality, then it does not make sense to warm the hub and cool the bearing - it is easily pressed. In the video below you can clearly see how the bearing is easily installed with a small hammer. After cooling, the bearing is covered with frost - this is water. Heating to 100 degrees does not give anything - you will still have to hammer it in, and the strong heating destroys the structure of some alloys and makes the metal more viscous. Heating and cooling are methods that work when you have such problems as: the bearing is stuck, rusted, or the hub has oxidized. Basically, when it is impossible to remove or install the bearing by the hitting method. But if you want, you can still warm it - just make sure that you do it progressively and not for long.

There are also waterproof bearing sets with seals. In the future, we will definitely test them and tell you about it!