Yes, if you can make sure BOTH sides have seals (some new bearings have seals on 1 side only, just clean up and re-use your old seals to cover both sides if needed :) ), this way dirt/dust/water/debris of any kind will stay out of the bearings ;)

Yes, you need the seals to keep the grease inside the bearing, and to keep water and dirt outside the bearing. This is why you want 2RS bearings, with two rubber seals. You don't want metal seals, which cannot be removed to add extra grease, and which don't protect as well as rubber seals. ;)

Darn I answered almost everything... but I forgot to mention about those pesky "Metal Sealed" ones, thanks for reminding me Spud :tup: I haven't seen that style in a while so I forgots about them :hehe:

I like that wheel bearing removal kit.


When adding grease to a bearing, a needle attachment for a grease gun is helpful.

Thanks Juanro, I'm glad yours are holding up. I'm a little worried as the ride report from an early RX3 has wheel bearing failures as well (then no more ride report, I think he made it from China to Turkey).

Seems cheap insurance as you said, to just punch out the current ones and drop in some known higher quality pieces.

Love the pictures from down south by the way, I'm planning a trip with a friend but it's a few years out to head south and I need to work on my Spanish a bit to get the most from it.

Lee

I'm going to check my front bearings once again. If I have the correct size in stock, I am going to replace them, also. ;)

If I were starting over again, I would definitely get the complete Pit Posse Kit, with the plastic case. :tup: I have spent as much on the individual parts, and I still lack a few collets and the nice plastic case. ;)

I use either my finger, or a welding flux brush to apply extra grease to the bearings. ;)

I seem to recall (but can't find the source right now) that the bearing problems the guy ("Silkrider" or something like that?) had were caused by failing to replace some spacer when dismounting the rear wheel?

That would definitely make for some unhappy bearings. It's too bad we never got a conclusion to that ride report!

I speculated the Silk Road Rider might not have tightened the axle adjusting nuts properly. :shrug: However, I am now inclined to believe the problem might reside with dry, perhaps inferior wheel bearings.

Ordinarily, I would have noticed a notchy wheel bearing a long time before it fractured. However, my Shinko, 244 rear tire lasted so long, I didn't remove the rear wheel for inspection as often as usual. ;)

Come on, are you going to tell me that you don't dismantle the whole bike, just for the fun, every other weekend?

:lmao:

I'm pleased to report the front wheel employs two, 6302 2RS bearings, and they were in excellent condition. :tup:

Spud :thanks:

once again

Do you have a link where I can buy the higher quality Japanese bearings?