I changed the rear tire on my 630 today and noticed some burnished areas on the axle at the bearing race areas. The bearings turn stiffly, but are not rough and have no noticeable play. It looks like the inner races are spinning on the axle instead of turning with it. Time for new bearings? This is going on a dyno in less than two weeks.
I had a little bit of that awhile ago. I thought I had tightened the axel to much and put pressuer on the out side of the bearing. I have stopped tightening the axel as much and it never happened again. At 7k now and still good.
Oops!, didn't mean to post that. I was going to take your excellent pictures out of my post to help the slow computer folks. Are there scoring marks from the race turning or just what look like bright spots? All my axles have always had bright spots. Even new bearings will feel stiff because when you try to turn an inner race, you are actually trying to turn all three inner races because of the inner bearing spacer. As a side note: The axle nut only puts pressure on the inner races and needs to be tight or they can spin on the axle.
There is no scoring, just bright spots. I did notice that when I removed the axle that the nut wasn't as tight as it should have been. It may be that the inner races were turning and not locked down. I've taken the precaution of ordering new bearings and seals for front and rear just in case I decide to change them this weekend. Man, overnight shipping is expensive! I need to have spare bearings on hand anyway for that bike. i think I'm still good for now so will button up and ride!
Your bearings are probably fine. Did you pick the seals out and have a look? I try to take the outer seals out at every tire change and change the grease so to speak. Blow the existing out with compressed air and repacking them with good water proof grease. The bearings that come in our bikes are of high quality and worth the trouble to maintain. Having said that, for some reason they don't come with much grease in them though, so I pack up the bearings when new.
I forget, do Huskys have axle bearing spacers/sleeves to keep from over-tightening the bearings? I know even when I kong down on the rear axle, the wheel still spins freely.
The TE630 has spacers, so you can't over-tighten. I haven't packed the bearing yet, but will do so tomorrow.
The shiny can be simply from the minute vibration polishing the axle surface. Obviously I can't see your axle in 3D, but I wouldn't worry unless I saw scoring on the axle. If your inner race is spinning on the axle, there will be scoring.
