Front Wheel Bearings

[GavJ]

Hi Guys (and girls), just a quick write up on bearings... If your a "genuine parts" advocate you may roll your eyes 

Pulled the front wheel off last night to get a tyre fitted and found one of my bearings gone... I have had a few strange feelings around the front for a couple of weeks, had a good push & pull around the front end to see if anything was moving, I suspected the steering head bearings. Didnt feel anything so I assumed it was the tyre, it has worn with a severe shoulder, hard to describe, Ill add a photo... I also recently had a MOT done and they didn't detect any play.
Anyway, removed the wheel, did the usual thumb in the hole and rotated the bearings, they felt smooth enough. Because I had some weird front end goings on I thought I would put the wheel on my static balance jig and see if it was out of balance by much. When I put the ballancer spindle in it I could feel some play? I thought the cones on the ballancer weren't seating correctly in the bearings so I removed it and put the wheel spindle in. There was noticeable play in the right hand bearing. Popped the seal out and there was beads of water and signs of corrosion.....
So bearings stripped out, and new on order.
The usual local bearing supplier I use wasn't open today because of the bank holiday weekend so I cant get near them again until next week due to work.. so on line purchase required...
So I ordered a set of bearings & seals from Flea-bay.... £10.95 I also broke the circlip so a new one of them again from flea-bay £1.28
Out of interest I priced genuine Triumph ones from World of Triumph... total cost... £85.00 
Now I will check the bearings when they arrive, but good quality SKF bearings from my local supplier were £7 each and the seals were £2 so I am not expecting a top brand bearings, so I will pick up a set SKF ones when I can and keep them for spares and change them out if I find any issues.
The bearings are 6204's if you want to get some from a bearing supplier, take the old ones with you if you are unsure, the seals are 28 - 47 - 7 ( 28mm bore / 47mm outside diameter / 7mm thick) You can see from the photos the genuine triumph ones i removed are from Poland. Not a make I recognize but that doesn't mean they are poor quality.
ps. bike's done 28k miles.

[GavJ]

to add to the above..... I googled NSK, and found this..

Widely respected, NSK has been established for over 100 years and is recognised around the globe for manufacturing high quality and reliable bearing products that are used in many different industries, including automotive.

See attached for buy on line page.....

I didn't expect Triumph to use inferior parts for a minute... just over charge for them 

[earthman]

Yes, I think it were member 1675 who mentioned the size of these bearings some time ago and the outrageous price Triumph dealers want for them.

[trophied]

I repaired the almost $200 minimum water pump in my home ice maker because one of the NSK bearings had frozen, and the first bearing they got was an NSK with exactly the same number on it but the ID was too small for the shaft.  Second trip and the manager put a caliper on it and called around and found them across the country with the same part number, but a different ID that would fit my shaft.  Got them 3 days later, icemaker repaired, with all the other miscellaneous OEM parts I bought less than $50 for a repair that would have cost at least $600.  Moral of the story is, just because it has the same number on it doesn't mean it's the same dimensions, check it closely.  My ice maker pump is a proprietary item that the pump manufacturer only sells to the ice maker manufacturer, but being just enough of an inquisitive tinkerer I found the problem as a nothing ventured nothing gained exercise.  Not to say your experience will be the same, but the item bears scrutiny in case it's one of those similar things with Triumph.

[earthman]

Wise words indeed, can't trust any part to be the same, last year I had similar problem with a Samsung washing machine drive belt, same part number but a few mm too short. The parts guy then reckoned that this model should have an elasticated type of belt but the current one clearly isn't.

[GavJ]

Gave the wheel a good clean ready for the new parts to arrive... I also made up a tool for drawing the new bearings in, I never feel right tapping them in with a drift. Luckily I had a couple of 40mm pipe end caps made of cast iron so I dried them and threaded a bit of M10 rod through them.. should do the trick...

I also popped the seals off the old bearings, the one that didn't fail is in great nick and the grease is still clean. So its all about the seals. Im going to reverse my spacers so that the new seals get a brand new surface to work on and if there is a next time i will make up new spacers.

[1675]

I've just had a look for the drawing I had for the stainless wheel spacers I made, and out of the 1500 or so drawings I have for parts I have made for cars, bikes and a lap dancing club (don't ask) over the years, this one is missing. I do still have the dimensions for the pole and bosses for the lap dancing job though if anyone needs that.

[GavJ]

I sketched up from my measurements... should be close enough but check against yours if anyone uses this