Tapered wheel bearings clearance
#1
Tapered wheel bearings clearance
Pulled mine out for the first time tonight. Have to say I'm impressed. 26k miles and they look like new.
My question is if I need to check the clearance on these. The bearings look new, the races look new, there was both black and blue grease on them so I'm thinking someone has been in there before. The spacer doesn't have any mushrooming or other signs of wear.
How often, if ever, do you check the endplay on yours?
My question is if I need to check the clearance on these. The bearings look new, the races look new, there was both black and blue grease on them so I'm thinking someone has been in there before. The spacer doesn't have any mushrooming or other signs of wear.
How often, if ever, do you check the endplay on yours?
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#7
It's things like this that keep me running my "old" bike.
Last edited by Uncle G.; 02-17-2017 at 08:28 AM.
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#8
I glance at threads here and there in the "General" section where guys are complaining about the new wheel bearings. Apparently they are made from paper mache or oatmeal or something.
I wonder how the MoCo set the bearings on our old bikes. Did they have a guy who's job it was to individually hand-clearance each wheel? Very time-consuming stuff. I can see from a manufacturing perspective how just pressing in a sealed bearing would save a lot of time and money. Even if they didn't hand-clearance each wheel (and just relied on keeping the parts' tolerance in spec) assembling the old style wheel would take quite a bit longer than the new style.
But from an engineering and long term durability perspective, I love these tapered roller bearings.
I wonder how the MoCo set the bearings on our old bikes. Did they have a guy who's job it was to individually hand-clearance each wheel? Very time-consuming stuff. I can see from a manufacturing perspective how just pressing in a sealed bearing would save a lot of time and money. Even if they didn't hand-clearance each wheel (and just relied on keeping the parts' tolerance in spec) assembling the old style wheel would take quite a bit longer than the new style.
But from an engineering and long term durability perspective, I love these tapered roller bearings.
#9
I glance at threads here and there in the "General" section where guys are complaining about the new wheel bearings. Apparently they are made from paper mache or oatmeal or something.
I wonder how the MoCo set the bearings on our old bikes. Did they have a guy who's job it was to individually hand-clearance each wheel? Very time-consuming stuff. I can see from a manufacturing perspective how just pressing in a sealed bearing would save a lot of time and money. Even if they didn't hand-clearance each wheel (and just relied on keeping the parts' tolerance in spec) assembling the old style wheel would take quite a bit longer than the new style.
But from an engineering and long term durability perspective, I love these tapered roller bearings.
I wonder how the MoCo set the bearings on our old bikes. Did they have a guy who's job it was to individually hand-clearance each wheel? Very time-consuming stuff. I can see from a manufacturing perspective how just pressing in a sealed bearing would save a lot of time and money. Even if they didn't hand-clearance each wheel (and just relied on keeping the parts' tolerance in spec) assembling the old style wheel would take quite a bit longer than the new style.
But from an engineering and long term durability perspective, I love these tapered roller bearings.
As far as setup, as I recall, the parts book had something like three different lengths of spacers that were designed to get the bearing clearance in the "ballpark". Then, too, back then, the tolerance for clearance was much looser. I think my old service manual calls for something like ".004 to .011" clearance. The tighter spec came along sometime after '94 IIRC. I'm at work, so I can't check for sure.
#10
I think the problem is that the Chinese are packing the sealed bearings with Skippy "chunk style" instead of grease.
As far as setup, as I recall, the parts book had something like three different lengths of spacers that were designed to get the bearing clearance in the "ballpark". Then, too, back then, the tolerance for clearance was much looser. I think my old service manual calls for something like ".004 to .011". The tighter spec came along sometime after '94 IIRC.
As far as setup, as I recall, the parts book had something like three different lengths of spacers that were designed to get the bearing clearance in the "ballpark". Then, too, back then, the tolerance for clearance was much looser. I think my old service manual calls for something like ".004 to .011". The tighter spec came along sometime after '94 IIRC.