Thursday, December 29, 2011

Joey's K3 gets new front wheel bearings.



The Rear wheel bearings were replaced when we rebuilt Joey's K3 in the first place.
The front wheel bearings were also replaced, but that was on another wheel that wound up snapping a spoke. 
Rather than spend the $$ on new spokes, and the time re-lacing them; I opted to take the lazy route and replace the bearings in the original wheel from his K3. It's funny how this wheel was previously not used because I wanted to avoid doing a bearing swap in the first place.
On the upside, this tire has more tread left that the one on the other wheel.

All the parts required.
Old bearings were already pressed out.
Notice the different part numbers?
Bearing on left is a U meaning it's sealed on one side.
The one on right is a UU meaning it's completely sealed.
The stock bearings were single side sealed but having
a fully sealed one in there won't hurt anything.
Place bearing to be set.
Cover with old bearing to drive new one in evenly.
Cover with rubber maillot and smack with a BFH.
Place oil seal.
Place bearing retainer ring and use a spanner or
a screwdriver/chisel+hammer to drive it in.
I actually used a file to turn it most of the way in, then finished
driving it in with a flat-head screwdriver and maillot.
Eventually it'll look something like this.
It's easier to set the bearing retainer first then drive in the oil seal.
Or set the oil seal in the retainer then drive it in like I did.
Place the axle collar (use grease to keep it there).
Place bearing. This is the "U" (one side sealed) bearing.
Note the unsealed side is facing IN the wheel.
Place the seal o-ring over the hub.
Slide on the assembled speedo drive and slide axle through.
Sorry for lack of assembly pics here, the process was a bit too
greasy to be touching my camera in between steps.
Screw on the axle nut to the other side.
Slide on brake disc and bolts. and you're all set!
It's a pretty simple job but there's a lot of places this can go horribly bad.
Most of the bad things happen in the bearing removal process;
particularly with getting the old bearing retainer out.

Next time I do this I'll be making one of these:
Thanks Terry in Austrailia for the write-up!

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