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Post by Mudbum on Feb 10, 2005 7:21:50 GMT -5
How long do your front wheel bearings last. My son and I both run 27" Laws on aftermarket rims and we have to replace bearings about every 8 months. I have tried OEM and HL bearings, any ideas?
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Post by HondaForemanNo1 on Feb 10, 2005 8:16:08 GMT -5
I had to replace my stock ones at about 2,000 miles. That's when I noticed they were shot. I have the PivotWorks double-sealed on now from Yasky ATV, and had them installed for about 500 miles. They seem to work pretty good.
A lot of it depends on the riding you do...
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Post by Foreman Rider on Feb 10, 2005 9:02:08 GMT -5
Me and my buddies estimated about 2500 miles. If you go throught mud a lot them maybe 2000 or less.
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Ezrider
Sergeant
TBF Member
Posts: 89
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Post by Ezrider on Feb 10, 2005 22:38:22 GMT -5
I have seen the stock go out at 700 miles, and thats with riding in alot of mud and water. To me the key to longer life is to clean them out from time to time and repack them with a GOOD Grease made for water, replace the seals if needed, and maybe keep the tow set more straight. I have between 800 and 900 miles on my stock bearings now, I have repacked them 2 times and changed the seals once. Most of my riding is in mud and water. I have also noticed sandy mud works through the seals a bit faster than what I would call normal mud.
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Post by Jake on Feb 12, 2005 16:32:41 GMT -5
There is really no "life span" that can be measured. It depends on where and how you ride, and what you've done to the bike. I've wiped out a stock set in less than two hundred miles. Riding in a different area (since I moved), I've been able to get over fifteen hundred out of a set, and I've never done that before. HL sealed bearings are more than twice as long lasting as the others in my experience, that's the way I go, but other's experiences WILL be different. (BTW, no there was NOT a problem with the bearings OR the installation when mine tore up. Just operator failure.)
The tires you choose (in particular the lug depth), tire width, offset rims, and spacers are tough as heck on wheel bearings. Also, carring heavy loads on the front rack all the time can add some wear, but usually not by it's self. It kind of "stacks" on top of the other items I have mentioned.
Where you ride is a key factor. If you ride trails with little mud, so the bearings may get "splashed" now and then, then they'll do fine, but if you stay submerged for any length of time you can count on something seeping in there. It may be absolutely minimal depending on how well it's sealed, but no seal that allows motion is absolutely perfect. It's just a matter of time. How much time you spend submerged versus how well sealed your bearings are.
Riding habits have a lot to do with it too. You can't jump a Foreman. Actually yes you can and they're pretty stable in the air for a big utility bike, but it was never built for it and the front wheel bearings are not up to such abuse. Fast riding on rocky, rutted, rooted or otherwise bumpy trails are tough on them.
If you are looking for sealed bearings, first of all, there are limited numbers of manufacturers making these. It was only very recently that they started being available since they are not just off the shelf universal parts, but a Honda spec'ed bearing, used for NOTHING else in the world. (OK, maybe something since you can get them now, but nobody knows what it is). There are lots more sources than manufacturers, and there is no "rocket science" in bearings. If someone's charging a lot more, don't hold your breath for a miracle.
Second, seals are just that. They are seals. They keep out mud and water better than open bearings. To keep the seals as good as possible for as long as possible I also replace the factory external seals. (If your bearing was loose, those seals STOPPED WORKING and need replacement either way). The open space between the factory seals is like a "buffer zone", allowing what seeps past to sit until it can seep back out. (some people grease this space, I prefer NOT to and it works so far.)
Sealed bearings are claimed to last longer, and absolutely will if MUD AND WATER is the cause, or a signifigant contributing factor in causing your wheel bearing failure. Necessarily, there can be no gain in material strength however because that would come at the expense of durability. (Bearings have been out a long time, they are pretty good at picking the best grades of steel that are just hard enough without being too brittle). If you keep the same bearings inside of the same races (albeit with a seal "groove" for sealed ones), then there is no increase in mechanical strength. Spacers, tall lugged tires, offset rims, and generally riding the bike like a sport bike will kill a sealed bearing just as fast as it will kill an open bearing with external seals.
If however your riding entails loads of mud and water that could spend several minutes or more above the wheel bearing level, and at least several times each ride, then even when you add up the added cost of a sealed bearing AND original seals, plus the added labor of installation (if you're paying someone, it's cheaper to change the whole knuckle which comes with new OEM bearings) then sealed bearings may indeed save you a good chunk of time and money in the long run.
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