I'm posting this after having to replace my rear wheel bearings. The bearings hadn't failed, but I had to beat the axle out with a hammer and punch due to corrosion between the axle and one of the 3 bearing's inner races. Dealer said replace all the bearings if a hammer was used against any of them so here we are! I didn't have enough grease on my rear axle to compensate for the water intrusion that occurred this last year. Went to change the rear tire after a desert race and the axle wouldn't slide out like usual. So got the hammer and brass punch to get the axle out then called Jeff (Tasky's) to figure out what situation I was in. I got the bearings in 1 business day! I decided to inspect the new bearings after recalling Seahorse's thread from a while ago and discovered these Chinese things had barely any grease in them. I flushed them with gasoline then packed them with BelRay waterproof grease and reinstalled the seals. I put the new bearings in the freezer overnight and heated the hub with the wife's hair drier to ease installation. I used a bearing seating tool (a perfectly undersized piece of steel). The single larger bearing was a bitch to beat in place. The 2 narrower depth bearings went in with little trouble. Anyhow, done with that ordeal. I saved 1 of each of the old bearings as they appear to be of higher quality than my replacements. Next time I'll source the original bearings by manufacturer if possible as they appear to be much better quality (SKF's made in France). I want to thank Seahorse for his most excellent technical tutorial about rebuilding wheel hubs located in the Technical Reference section. Very thorough and applicable to at least the 2010 models as I can attest. Job well done, sir!
yep, I was not aware you could remove that little seal from the bearing and pack in grease ... that is the ticket ...
Worth a check on your rear suspension linkages too. I dismantled mine after 800miles from new and there was small surface rust showing, zero grease. Packed them with waterproof cycle bearing grease. Lucky really, would have ended up a rusty clunky mess. Also in hindsight.. a pair of thin O rings would work well there too.
I've found that if you take these components off every 2-3 months, it is nit such a hard job and will save the bearings in the long run for sure ... Once you get a good coating of grease in them, U are way down the road to keeping UR bearings in good shape ...
Addendum: Was one of the most thorough technical references I've seen so far in my somewhat short offroad riding career. Really helped me out. I grew up operating and big farm tractors and equipment which included lots of tapered wheel bearings of the roller type. Those mostly used cast iron hubs and steel spindle (axle) designs. Beating those out was much easier as access to the inner race was not blocked by a spacer. This softer aluminum cast stuff had me a little gun shy with the beating part. Also, I recommend popping the seals on any new bearings, as Seahorse mentioned, prior to installation so you at least know what your're starting with if nothing else. Good stuff!
