x-X-x Choppers Club!

Last winter I replaced all the wheel bearings in both wheels since I was powder coating the rims and also put on a new set of tires. Since I put in the bearings I have around 4500 miles on them and I just had a major failure. Last week I noticed a little grease coming out on the right side rear bearing but I lifted the wheel and gave it a spin and just decided to keep an eye on it. Well I was riding home and heard some screeching then it stopped then 5 minutes later the whole ass end of the bike starts fishtailing. Well here's what I found the bearing disintegrated and came apart taking the squish tube,spacer caliper bracket and possibly the hub as well. The rotor started cutting into the caliper as well. Now the problem I have was it the bearing, or the place I had press the bearings in the hubs?

are the bearings sealed??? or greaseable? i am not familiar with the bigdog set up. normaly if the bearings are sealed, when installed into the hub there is a stop to keep them from going to deep. what is the shaft with the ridges on it. if the axle wasnt installed with anti sieze it may have siezed to the inner bearing race, which would take out the bearing. regular grease will wash out quickly, never sieze will stay and not wash out.

Yes Chuck there are 3 sealed bearings, 2 on 1 side and 1 on the other side because of the wide rim. The bearings are pressed to the bottom of the counter bore so they can't move. The axle was fine no marks on it at all. That shaft with the ridges on it is the squish tube that goes inside the hub between the sealed bearings then the axle goes through the center of that.

from what i can see, and your description, it appears to be a bearing failure....lack of grease. does not happen often, but i have seen sealed bearings that have slung their grease. the seal in the bearing fails, letting the grease leave the bearing. when you saw the grease on the wheel, knowing the bearings are sealed, that is when it should have been inspected. i know...hindsight is 20/20.......i hope not to much damage was done to the bike. let us know what ya find.......

Shit All that sucks!!!!

that sucks

wow, that really sucks big time al. gonna be a tough one to prove they were not pressed in right?
what manufacture was the bearings made by?

Yeah I know, the standard bearings that big dog uses was some chinese crap but I paid extra and had to wait to put these timken fafnir made in USA bearings. But I guess is doesn't matter if there not put in correctly and too late to try and prove that.

Wow that sucks big time. Glad I didn't read it before leaving for Wetzelland this weekend. Just glad to make it there and back with no issues. Heard you got her over at Beezers. I'll check it out when I'm there tomorrow.

I saw it in person today and

well i kinda thought you would not have put cheap shit on your ride. but hell,i have heard of the stock bearings seeing upwards of 15000 miles without issue? timken is a good product and one would expect more. so that leaves a defective bearing or installation? that sucks,keep us in the loop on new developments.

Still having problems locating a wheel hub. This was a performance machine hooligan wheel option that was available on the 04 models however big dog doesn't make them for this wheel and pm said they have no idea what was used. Had to send some pics along with some dimensions to pm for a quote on a special order hub.

wow....what a problem this has turned into!!!!! i am suprised there are no aftermarket hubs for the dogs......they are popular!

Now that really sucks al!!!

I have never trusted the sealed bearings mainly because you don't know if they have enough grease in them to start with and your depending on a machine to put enough in.

Al, it sucks big time and I feel for you.

I'm asking myself several things now, before I change my brgs should I pop the covers check for grease and add grease to them? Are the China bearings as good as the Timken? are they all made in the same factory?

Well one thing I have heard is that adding grease can be just as bad, it can overheat and do just as much damage. The thing to do would be to remove the existing grease and replace with a quality synthetic grease which is what I will do this time. As far as the bearing manufactures go Kick your right so far I have replaced both but this was the worst.

With only 4500 miles on these brgs it's totally unacceptable for this to happen. I believe that Ray said he had added grease to his brgs, and I know it's a no no to remove the seals and add grease/mix grease it's the only thing that can be done to assure that there is in fact grease in the damn things.

Are you going to contact Timken about this? if nothing but to see what they say.

I'm thinking that when I change oil I may have to also change bearings.

one thing that could have happened is when the brg was installed, the tool used cut or moved the seal on the brg, allowing the grease to escape. it is nice to be there when this type of work is done. but that cant always happen. i do my own, but if i couldnt i would do my best to find the best wrench around to preform my repairs.......

Chuck this is what I believe happened as well. Over the winter while my wheels were being powdercoated I took the hubs only to a local shop around the corner to press in the new bearings because I thought pressing them in would be easier on the bearing then tapping them in even with the correct tool. But I never have dealt with this place before, and won't again.

one more thing i will add....you cant have to much grease. to much grease will make a mess, but it wont cause overheating.

Ok I have been talking to performance machine trying to get my hub made and they gave me an explanation as to what they believe the failure was. They say they have seen this before on customers who have there wheels powdercoated. This was something that I overlooked and really did not think about until now. They say that because I powdercoated the complete wheel I actually added at a minimum of .010 to the wheel length, which checks out by micrometer and did not lengthen the squish tube by the same amount. So when i torqued the axle I actually was putting more force on the bearing because it did not fully bottom on the center squish tube. This therory does make sense what do you guys think?

I thought about that from the beginning, But figured It could not be true.

yup...i also agree. when i powdercoat, i have special plugs to eliminate the coating of holes and surfaces that i dont want coated.....hindsight...20/20.....

I see your still out of commision, when does Beez think he'll have you running?

It gets worse by the day. No welder want's to touch it so it looks like back to having someone make me one. I called big dog last night to bitch them out and they are going to try and locate me a used one they may have.

WOW!

i guess after the bearing grenaded, ball bearings worked between the squish tube and hub to do all that internal damage.

i had a hell of a time getting that squish tube right when i played with the 360 brakes. have to have the bearings seated in the hub then hubs installed then get an internal measurement without offsetting the calipers. then cut on a lathe for square. went thru a couple of sets of bearings till i got it right. never exploded just a nasty squeal. that tube too tight or too loose will overheat the bearing.

i press the bearings in at home with an arbor press and a 2"+ socket to sit on the outer race. press hard with a mallet smack to seat.

i have hub parts left over but for the front from a millenium wheel. doubt they'd be of any use unless you think different.

"shit breaks fix it"

Well I am having a new hub made but I am changing the design to accommodate 2 bearings on that side to match it like the other. This way I'll have 4 bearings total. The guy wanted to remake both my hubs and use a tapered Timken bearing setup which would be a good idea but I want to ride already.

i hear ya there.

im riding around on an almost smooth rear sprocket!

it'll skip if i hit it from start but roll on's are still fine.

got new sprockets in the garage but seems id rather ride then wrench lately.

keep us updated.
I tried to call you the other day.

hey al,how did everything turn out sorry if i missed it somewhere else.

It all worked great, went with a double bearing on the brake side and now have a 4 bearing system. I only got about 2500 miles on it since the remake but so far its all good.

glad to here all is well. dont think your gonna have any issues ........... any new projects for this winter or are ya done.

Well I never say done, but no plans for this winter anyway.

well hope we get to meet up this summer some more.