[Drbone641]

My chain began going south on my last trip to WV. I got the new one delivered and cut the old off. After removing the old chain, I gave the wheel a spin and heard a (squeaky groany) bearing noise coming from the right rear wheel bearing. This is at 14k on a garage stored bike. I am wondering if others have had this and is it due to lack of lubrication? (it has a rubber seal which some (old post here) say to pull, lube, replace and continue). I looked all thru this forum and it seems bearings are usually good to the high 30k range. Just curious as to others experiences. I am leaning toward pulling the seals and seeing if lube is needed and if not replacing the bearing. ready set go and thanks. Oh and does anyone know the replacement for the SKF 6005-2RS1-C3?

 

[Mike]

I looked all thru this forum and it seems bearings are usually good to the high 30k range. Just curious as to others experiences. I am leaning toward pulling the seals and seeing if lube is needed and if not replacing the bearing. ready set go and thanks. Oh and does anyone know the replacement for the SKF 6005-2RS1-C3?

Rear wheel bearing life can be drastically shortened if not enough slack is left in the chain. This is true of the counter shaft bearing as well. With the chain needing replacement mid-tour at 14,000 miles it would not surprise me if it had been over-tightened at some point. Check your counter shaft for play or roughness when replacing sprockets and/or chain.

 

[Bill_Anderson]

A few years ago Mark Turbo got stranded in eastern Washington on one of our Spring Break rides when his rear wheel bearings gave up the ghost. You do not want it to happen to you. Get those bearings changed now and try to figure out the cause of the premature wear later.

 

[Drbone641]

Mike, I am very attentive to chain tension. Do quite regular 'walk arounds' (in my blood). I have been thinking that maybe the chain having just one 4 inch section that was lengthening might have been due to the bearing heading south. The noise I was hearing from the chain, might well have been masking the bearing noise. I am pulling the seals today to take a look. Just got back from Venezuala and have a few days to right this wrong.
Also anyone use VXB bearings? quality?

 

[DuckMan]

Mike, I am very attentive to chain tension. Do quite regular 'walk arounds' (in my blood). I have been thinking that maybe the chain having just one 4 inch section that was lengthening might have been due to the bearing heading south. The noise I was hearing from the chain, might well have been masking the bearing noise. I am pulling the seals today to take a look. Just got back from Venezuala and have a few days to right this wrong.
Also anyone use VXB bearings? quality?

FYI: The rear wheel actually has 4 bearings. You won't be able to see all of them without pulling them. I would suggest that if you are going to pull them replace them.

 

[stryder]

Mike, I am very attentive to chain tension. Do quite regular 'walk arounds' (in my blood). I have been thinking that maybe the chain having just one 4 inch section that was lengthening might have been due to the bearing heading south. The noise I was hearing from the chain, might well have been masking the bearing noise. I am pulling the seals today to take a look. Just got back from Venezuala and have a few days to right this wrong.
Also anyone use VXB bearings? quality?

There are any number of reason the bearing is failing at 14K. I can't see how it would effect chain wear though. Perhaps the axle nuts were over torqued causing the races to be misalgined, or perhaps it was damaged when installed, or a bad batch etc etc. If it's shot, lubing won't help, but it will mask any noises. Please post when you have replaced them and let us know if you found a good alternative to the stock units which seem "cheap" even if they are lasting 30K, which is very low mileage IMO. (That's a great pic; love the dragon sticker)

 

[stryder]

FYI: The rear wheel actually has 4 bearings....

The wheel itself has 2 bearing. There are 2 more in the sprocket carrier.

 

[DuckMan]

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[ducsbill]

My chain began going south on my last trip to WV. I got the new one delivered and cut the old off. After removing the old chain, I gave the wheel a spin and heard a (squeaky groany) bearing noise coming from the right rear wheel bearing. This is at 14k on a garage stored bike. I am wondering if others have had this and is it due to lack of lubrication? (it has a rubber seal which some (old post here) say to pull, lube, replace and continue). I looked all thru this forum and it seems bearings are usually good to the high 30k range. Just curious as to others experiences. I am leaning toward pulling the seals and seeing if lube is needed and if not replacing the bearing. ready set go and thanks. Oh and does anyone know the replacement for the SKF 6005-2RS1-C3?

It would be worth the effort to pull the wheel and inspect the bearings. I've been checking and re-lubing mine every year since new. If they look at all suspect it would probably be better to replace them than suffer the consequences. The DucatiiWiki Bearings page has two other alternate manufacturers listed.
Bill W.

 

[Drbone641]

I just pulled the seals to inspect the bearings. Both looked perfect, however the noise that I thought was coming from the right bearing is actually coming from the sleeve that is between the two bearings. (about 6 inches long that slides ove the axle. Now I have to figure out what this is about. On my trip I stayed at a motorcycle campground in VA and there was a KTM factory mech there who 'helped me' check alignment and tension of my rear axle/chain. I think he might have tightened the axle nuts a bit too much. Over torqued perhaps. I know this might have harmed the race, however I don't understand the noise from the inner axle liner sleeve thing The possible overtorque was minimal at most but is a small possibility.

And ducsbill, thanks for the alternate bearings link. There is an NTN rep here in GA.

 

[ducsbill]

Drbone641 - You're welcome. Not sure of the exact purpose of that tube between the bearings either. The parts book description is "Inner Spacer". Over torquing the rear axle nut could cause problems with that spacer but haven't heard of any. I seem to remember that it floats a bit and turns when I'm checking the bearings. I assume that the bearings are pressed against a shoulder but someone else will need to confirm that. Usually the swing arm is damaged when the nut is over torqued or the spacer on the left side is installed backwards. Torque specs for the rear nut are 86nm/61lbft.
Bill W.

 

[JackFlash]

As mentioned previously if you pull the bearing, replace it. The wheel and carrier bearings are very common bearing manufactured by a number of companies. This chart is a cross-reference for several of them; I don’t vouch for the quality of any of them.

I replaced all six of them in my ’05 ST4s at 39k miles just yesterday, I used the *** brand. I’ll see how well they hold up. Buying them from a bearing house a few miles from where I work I picked up all six for $60.88 including tax so you save a lot by doing a little leg work. When looking for these bearings all you have to do is specify a high quality deep groove radial ball bearing with double contact seals of the correct (listed in the chart) dimensions. Do not get bearings with “non-contact” seals. They are designed for clean, high speed applications and contrary to what you might think the wheel bearing in a motorcycle (even a Duc) is not a high speed application in the world of bearings.

 

[Kramer]

Good tread...ant timely. I'm taking the rear wheel in this week to have fresh rubber installed. I'll have them do the bearings too out of convenience.

 

[Drbone641]

Took all apart and did not remove the bearings but did remove the seal to ensure they were still lubed. I cleaned everything and lubed all parts. Reassembled and no noise. The bearings were fine, I think there was some torque issue that caused the inner sleeve to make a bit of noise. I will replace the rear sprocket and bearings at the next tire change.
Thanks to all who added!

 

[ducsbill]

As mentioned previously if you pull the bearing, replace it. The wheel and carrier bearings are very common bearing manufactured by a number of companies. This chart is a cross-reference for several of them; I don’t vouch for the quality of any of them.

...snip (deleted chart)...

I replaced all six of them in my ’05 ST4s at 39k miles just yesterday, I used the *** brand. I’ll see how well they hold up. Buying them from a bearing house a few miles from where I work I picked up all six for $60.88 including tax so you save a lot by doing a little leg work. When looking for these bearings all you have to do is specify a high quality deep groove radial ball bearing with double contact seals of the correct (listed in the chart) dimensions. Do not get bearings with “non-contact” seals. They are designed for clean, high speed applications and contrary to what you might think the wheel bearing in a motorcycle (even a Duc) is not a high speed application in the world of bearings.

The C3 specification in the part number is what makes these suitable for use as wheel bearings. Quoting from the ducati wiki:

"C3 means 1 step larger internal clearance than 'normal'. This is critical for high speed applications where the ball bearings get hot and expand. With the C3 option that extra tolerance is taken after the bearings warm up. Without it you reduce the life of the bearing! "

Bill W.

 

[tonered]

Can you explain why you believe the axles sleeve is making noise? If the axle passes through, it should not rub the inner bore of the wheel and is otherwise static.
Just curious.

Otherwise, the wheel bearings are inexpensive and easily replaced. I learned a lot from my experiences.

Have a good one.

 

[JackFlash]

The C3 specification in the part number is what makes these suitable for use as wheel bearings. Quoting from the ducati wiki:

"C3 means 1 step larger internal clearance than 'normal'. This is critical for high speed applications where the ball bearings get hot and expand. With the C3 option that extra tolerance is taken after the bearings warm up. Without it you reduce the life of the bearing! "

Bill W.

I didn't bother addressing the "C3" portion of the callout because during my bearing search and investigation I never came across a bearing meeting the rest of the requirements that did not carry the "C3" designation, that's not to say that it isn't possible to find one.

 

[st2lemans]

My local *** supplier carries normal and C3, so I need to specify C3 if that's what I want.

Tom

 

[ducatidude123]

My local *** supplier carries normal and C3, so I need to specify C3 if that's what I want.

Tom

Tom,

Can I get the number for your local bearing supplier? I've been trying all day to get someone to find the c3 bearings and on one seems to have a clue.

Any other vendors who sell them would work as well.

Thanks!

 

[Desmo_Demon]

And ducsbill, thanks for the alternate bearings link. There is an NTN rep here in GA.

I got my last few sets of NTN wheel bearings from Grainger.

I had a wheel bearing go out in less than 5000 miles when water got trapped inside the wheel hub, and with the bike on the side stand, the water pooled at the base of the bearing, leaked last the seal, and the insides got a bit rusty.

This is a front wheel bearing from my ST2 that saw a LOT of wet-weather riding over the 30k-35k miles that it was on the bike...and it never failed...

The longest I've had a motorcycle wheel bearing last without giving me problems was 74k miles when it started making weird noises. For cars, I'm at 270k miles for the wheel bearings on my Civic. I'm wondering if I will get 300K out of the car bearings.