Rear Flange Bearings Toast

Joined
Oct 9, 2014
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32
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Isle of Man
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ST1300
+1, I just found my flange bearings are knackered, felt notchy. It was the inner one, the ball retainer had broken up, shards of metal everywhere. I've just cleaned everything up and I can't see any consequential damage thank goodness. The bike is a 2003 with only 17,000 miles. I've only bought it recently and have it in bits for a full examination and refresh. So far I've had to replace the water pump and seals, secondary master cylinder and 2 exhaust clamps. I've just got to cure some coolant leaks in the vee, fingers crossed I don't find anything else!!!
 

T_C

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Mar 8, 2012
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St. Louis, MO
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2005 St1300
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8568
I just found my flange bearings are knackered, replace the water pump and seals, secondary master cylinder and 2 exhaust clamps, cure some coolant leaks in the vee. The bike is a 2003 with only 17,000 miles.
You sure that is not 217,000 miles? The odometers can only show a 1 on the end.

A lot to be wrong for a low mileage bike.`Maybe everything is rusting from lack of riding.
 
Joined
Oct 9, 2014
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32
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Isle of Man
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ST1300
`Maybe everything is rusting from lack of riding.
I think you're right, 17k miles for an almost 12 year old bike is not enough. I get the strong feeling that long periods of stillness are not good for a bike, they need to be used and looked after.
 
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Cleveland
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2010 ST1300
[QUOTE;1806959]On the equipment we build and sell, they are exposed to lots of salt water and high pressure water and chloride cleaning solutions during clean up. They are also in rooms at 32 deg. We use a company called Bearing specialty in RI to pack our bearings with a synthetic grease. They have a clean room where the bearings are flushed clear of the standard grease and then reloaded with the correct amount of the synthetic stuff. Bearing life and serviceability has been increased big time with doing this.

i am owed a few favors and maybe should get them to do me a set for the ST.[/QUOTE]

Repacking bearings is not a a big deal (unless of course they are sealed). Is the synthetic grease this company uses proprietary? Would using it increase bearing life under normal operating conditions? I'm used to wheel bearings in cars lasting 10's of thousands of miles, and have been surprised at the comparatively short life of the ST's bearings. This comes entirely from threads on this website. In the end, I would assume that bearing life has more to do with loading and bearing size than what particular wheel bearing grease is used. Certainly there are enough brands of similar wheel bearing greases out there.
 

Tom Mac 04a

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8347
Last couple of bearings I helped put in seemed to lacking in grease.... Popped off the small seal on the side and repacked with a quality bearing grease.
It's not a hard job, just wear a rubber glove so the grease stays in your palm as you pack the bearing.

He's got 20k now on the new ones , no problem.
 
Joined
Jan 8, 2011
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Arizona
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2007 Honda ST1300A
I would use caution and not try to pack the bearings with too much grease, or you may cause the bearings to churn in it, and cause overheating, etc.
 
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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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1&2 2005 ST1300ABS's
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8562
OK guys,
I've mentioned it on another post, but I'll post it again.
I bought a sleeve of 10 made in China bearings. Overall, they didn't look that bad of quality. Can't remember the price, but it was like a buck a bearing.

I had no intentions of sticking them in right out of the box.
I popped off one seal on each bearing a flushed put what little of grease was in there. I bet if I rubbed the side of my nose with my finger, I would of have had more grease than there was in this bearing.
Once all flushed out, and the reason I flushed it out as it could of been crisco shortening for all I know. Actually, that's what it looked like.
Then I took my favourite Mobil SHC 220 synthetic grease and filled the bearing chalk a block full of grease. Any mechanics out there that have done front wheel bearings on their old cars remember that you packed your tapered front wheel bearings full.
I'm guessing I have about 20,000 miles on them and the last time I gave them a rotation by hand, they still felt like the day I installed them.
As for the fill to the brim bearing, well a bit of the excess grease has seeped past the bearing seal. As for how much, well the grease is red and it looks like a small red O-Ring around the inner race to bearing seal, not much really.

Still have 8 on the shelf filled with synthetic grease if anybody needs a set.
 

BakerBoy

It's all small stuff.
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1408
Grease is a lot like oil ... it's not so much the brand, but rather how much is there.

A lot of cheap bearings have very little grease in them, and what's there is often more of a soapy/waxy lube that is more suited for their fabrication equipment than for the bearing's life in service. Open up a SKF double-sealed bearing, and you'll see proper grease inside (usually).

Regarding amount of grease ... neither 'barely any' nor 'completely full' is appropriate (but of the two, 'completely full' is better). Best amount is packing grease so that about 1/2 to 2/3 the air volume between the raceways is displaced by grease.
Google 'too much bearing grease'
 

Tom Mac 04a

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OK guys,

I bought a sleeve of 10 made in China bearings. Overall, they didn't look that bad of quality. Can't remember the price, but it was like a buck a bearing.

I had no intentions of sticking them in right out of the box.
I popped off one seal on each bearing a flushed put what little of grease was in there. I bet if I rubbed the side of my nose with my finger, I would of have had more grease than there was in this bearing.....
+1
Al ... these are the same bearings i bought back in the day for about $15, when we first started seeing the bearings go and it was talked about here...
I repacked everyone of them with quality grease ( after popping off the seal ) but did not clean them out like you did. I fiq what I packed in would push out a lot of the original grease. ( which was almost nil anyway )

I have only 2 bearings left ( really 4, as a friend I gave a set to held them as spares and used oem ).

Of the 3 sets of bearings running, not one has had any problems since install !
 

BaileyRock

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Nashville, TN
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2013 Ducati MS1200S
+1
Al ... these are the same bearings i bought back in the day for about $15, when we first started seeing the bearings go and it was talked about here...
I repacked everyone of them with quality grease ( after popping off the seal ) but did not clean them out like you did. I fiq what I packed in would push out a lot of the original grease. ( which was almost nil anyway )

I have only 2 bearings left ( really 4, as a friend I gave a set to held them as spares and used oem ).

Of the 3 sets of bearings running, not one has had any problems since install !
Great stuff guys!
I was installing a new rear tire this week when I notice that my Driver bearings were toast! 54K miles, so I went to a local bearing shop who had some in stock. They were Chinese bearing which was OK, but that you guys for posting up about repacking them before installing them. I popped off the dust seals to find Very little grease at all! None on one side and very little on the other. I repacked them with some decent grease and installed them.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom!
 

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Tom Mac 04a

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As a side note.... When I just put my Hankook tire on in march the rear flange bearing felt gritty ( one of two / outer ). Having been down this road once before I pulled the bearings and put in a new set while the rear was apart.

My first bad set ( only one of the two / outer ) at 15k were real bad.... but this time after getting them out I rechecked... Both bearings felt fine... so maybe the bearing wasn't perfectly seated and / or the rim pocket isn't 100% perfect. I lost track of which was the outer , but cleaned them up and both looked good... so who knows. I guess better safe than sorry.
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2007
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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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1&2 2005 ST1300ABS's
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8562
As a side note.... When I just put my Hankook tire on in march the rear flange bearing felt gritty ( one of two / outer ). Having been down this road once before I pulled the bearings and put in a new set while the rear was apart. My first bad set ( only one of the two / outer ) at 15k were real bad
After 30,000 miles and 2 sets of tires, my outer flange bearing felt a bit rough. Cut it in half with my zip cut on my angle grinder and found that the outer race looked pretty bad. Chewed up (spalled) in one section of it. I left in inner flange bearing in as it felt good when I gave it a spin. No notchy feeling like the outer one.
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2007
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61
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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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1&2 2005 ST1300ABS's
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8562
STony G said:
Question, does the dust cover just pop off?
I'd like to describe it like taking a tire off a rim. Use a few small jewellers screwdrivers and lightly pry it off, try not to distort the seal when you take it off. If you of distort the seal in one area, no big deal. Try to flatten it a bit before you put it on. It will snap in place just like when the factory installed it.
 
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Messages
17
Location
Akron, Ohio
Bike
04 ST1300
On my '04 I've needed to replace the flange bearings at all 6 tire changes. Gritty feeling every time. I think the cavity they fit into is not perfectly cylindrical or something. 7-8000 miles is pretty lousy for a doubled up bearing. But ... once I left the gritty bearings in after re-mounting a half used tire at the end of a season, and when that tire was worn out the bearings still had the same gritty-ness, not any worse, so go figure.
 
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