Refreshed my rear drive

Nearly ended up with a month long tire change...
All started when I decided to take New Years day to change my tires. I had a new set of Road 2's sitting in the garage, so I thought it would be a simple task. I didn't really know anything about the drive flange bearings or the possible issues therein, but just happened to stick a finger in and try out the bearing to make sure it was ok. Well, of course it wasn't. It was a little notchy, not terrible with pieces falling out, but not smooth like I was expecting. So that was a concern. I started in on the tire, but since I have a Harbor Freight changer and Mojo Lever, instead of a profession setup, it was giving me some trouble. Remembering I had to drive to my friend's house that coming weekend to pick up my VFR fairings, and he does have a sweet Coats tire changer and Snap On balancer, I figured I'd just hold off and take my wheels with me to his house. That would give me time to investigate the bearing issue, and probably order replacements.
After much reading, I learned all about the drive flange bearings. The wheel bearings them selves felt fine, so I was ok there. I did have some play in the cush drive though, so I thought I'd stick with the Honda bearings and get the cush rubbers at the same time, so as not to have multiple orders from different places to track. Honestly I didn't even know how to get to the cush drive, so more research on the forum. Figured out there is a giant circlip in there. The two little holes were gunked up, so I had no idea that it was even there. Figured those 4 nuts had to come off. Once I knew what to look for, I had the procedure down. Or so I thought. I could get the center to move a bit, but it felt like it was caught on something. Finally I got a pair of flat screwdrivers and pried from each side to pop the center out. A bunch of dried out flakes of I assume old grease came out, along with a broken O-ring. That's why it wouldn't come out at first, the dry O-ring was binding and eventually broke and released. I had to double and triple check the parts fische to figure that out.
Now that everything was apart and I got it cleaned up, I knew what my parts list was going to be. Flange bearings, cush drive rubbers, that broken O-ring, and for good measure the outer O-ring just because. I also had a long list of VFR stuff I needed for that project, and it was as good a time as any to get all that.
Tires got done that weekend, but I left the rear apart of course. By the next weekend I had my parts order, but the cush drive rubbers were back ordered! I did get the bearings assembled, but still left things apart. Took some time to get ahold of the parts guy, and he told me he was expecting the rubbers to leave out on the way to him by Sat. Now I'm just going to put it back together and at least have a bike to do some riding if the weather permits. I had also found all the Moly 60 info back at the end of the summer, so I had long ago got a tube and was ready to get that all coated nice and purdy. Got all the surfaces cleaned up and painted on a light coat of M60 to all the mating surfaces. I even saw a pic or two from (I believe) Mellow that showed the inner part of the flange (on the cush drive side) painted with what looked like M60. Figured it would keep that O-ring nicely lubed.
Parts finally come in last Friday! It hasn't been glorious weather around here, but I have been able to commute and run errands on the ST, at the very least. I took some time yesterday and got the cush drive rubbers swapped out. Touched up the M60 coating, but it wasn't really needing it. Spray of silicone on the rubbers, and the drive flange slid right in! No play in it, by hand. Before it did have some play, but not sloppy by any means.
Went for a little ride this morning. Probably all in my head, but it did feel smoother. Shifted really smoothly too. May have just been having a "Good Clutch Day", though...LOL
By the way; 2003, 93,300 miles. Bought with approx. 82k, there or thereabouts. Tires I took off were BT023 GT. Front had 10,800, with just the slightest cupping beginning to show. Probably could have gone 12k total on that one. Rear 023 was gone and replaced with the Dunlop that originally came with the bike, and that was finally worn out. Just figured it was time to go with a new matched set again. I forget how many miles the BT rear went. 8-9k, I think...

Yeah, those flange bears go out on you at the most inopportune time! DAMHIK...4:

Replaced my '05 once when I was getting ready to replace the tires and saw that it looked like parts were missing...just the bearing cage was ripped apart.
Replaced my Brother's ('05) flange bearings last summer as we were getting ready to ride up to Oregon. (Thanks again Khris!) you can read the whole story here: Oregon 2013 Trip
And just replaced the flange bearings on my '04 the first of the year when Byron and I were putting on a new rear tire. 4:

Needless to say, I keep a set on hand at all times!

Is there any consensus regarding OEM or aftermarket flange bearings? Mine were starting to get crunchy when I had to replace a rear tire on the road last week. Dealer did not have 2 in stock so I need to pick up a set.

Bones said:

Is there any consensus regarding OEM or aftermarket flange bearings?

Click to expand...

I put a CBR needle bearing in the flange. The bearing supposedly exceeds the specification of the two bearings it replaced. I had a difficult time keeping the inner race in the bearing while driving it and the collar into the flange. Ended up driving the bearings in without the inner race and then inserting the race after the bearings were in. Seems to work just fine now that it's all together. The axle wheel hub and final drive keep the race in place. After several hundred mile I took the tire off and checked the bearings again, they were fine. I'll see what happens after my trip to Kentucky. I'm going to worry that that race will come out during tire changes. Don't know if anyone else experienced this problem.

Order by phone if you decide to go this rout and mention you have an ST1300. Web site: http://www.cbrbearing.com/

This article discusses this issues: https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?55014-ST1300-Rear-Flange-Bearing-Replacement&highlight=flange+bearing

As Honda don't actually make the bearings, as long as you can get the bearing number off the shell or covers you should be able to get some decent replacements....

Much the same with filters.... rad caps, thermostats....

I bought Peerless 6905RS bearings off the shelf from Miller Bearing IIRC when I helped someone change his out. We were in a hurry though and they were much more $$$ than even Honda wanted for them.

What I did when I replaced the flange bearings, is I carefully took one seal off of each non OEM side of the bearing. (OEM Honda bearings only have one seal on their bearings).Use a jewellers screwdriver or a dental pick to do this. I mucked out what little grease there was inside and then filled it with my favourite wheel bearing grease. I my case, my grease is red in colour. Then re-install the seal you took off. When I changed my tires a few months ago, I also checked these new bearings I installed and I can still spin them with no notchy feeling. Also, I can see the red grease around the seal to inner race has not changed colour.
Bearing manufactures have no clue where their bearings are going to be installed. It maybe a 18 RPM machine or a 10,000 RPM machine. So what they do is put the least amount of grease in there for the highest RPM application. I feel we need to add a bit extra lube in this application.

A word to the wise: don't pack the bearing race tight with grease as it will risk overheating due to the constant churning... 75% fill of void space is quite sufficient, and 50% fill is even better.

Bones, don't use a needle bearing either ... the needles rotate extremely fast and wear down or spall quickly.

IME, the Chinese bearing manufactures are coming along, but you'll still encounter bad bearings from them. I'd go with either an industrial bearing-shop's 6905-RS, or a Honda-packaged bearing. If you get a "-2RS" bearing (double radial seal), remove one of the seals to make it a "-RS".

Edit: The two bearing faces which are adjacent to each other shouldn't have seals (they can last with adjacent seals, as others here have demonstrated, but Honda specifies they not have adjacent seals).