Rear Wheel Bearing Frozen?

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Its not easy to do Chip đź’Ş
Kevin I like it! Yes on your example, a spindle assembly, getting to the internal workings would be a serious problem. Next option. Throw away the stethoscope! Seriously, I would measure backlash on the gear cluster and visible chatter on the element. Of a more direct plan, shoot the **** thing. The derringer on the bench top would be a start !
 
Kevin I like it! Yes on your example, a spindle assembly, getting to the internal workings would be a serious problem. Next option. Throw away the stethoscope! Seriously, I would measure backlash on the gear cluster and visible chatter on the element. Of a more direct plan, shoot the **** thing. The derringer on the bench top would be a start !

On a side note. I used to have a machinery stethoscope with a amplifier / head phones. It allowed for finding the sound range. If turning at slow speed was a growl, turning up the volume might give you another indicator. Anyone seen these? Sorry for changing topic, but humor an old man...
 
Some folks say that if your spacer gets shortened or the ends are no longer parallel (probably from a gorilla mechanic) that will cause the bearings to bind when loaded against the spacer.

Another less popular school of thought (and I am not advocating this idea, but it is something I remembered seeing long ago in another tight rear bearing thread) is that Triumph makes the spacers too long and that is what is causing the bind. They talk about machining off a fraction of the spacer. OK, ok, don't shoot, don't shoot- I'm just putting it out there to hear what comes back.

Links to that idea (and more on tight bearings)...
 
Some folks say that if your spacer gets shortened or the ends are no longer parallel (probably from a gorilla mechanic) that will cause the bearings to bind when loaded against the spacer.

Another less popular school of thought (and I am not advocating this idea, but it is something I remembered seeing long ago in another tight rear bearing thread) is that Triumph makes the spacers too long and that is what is causing the bind. They talk about machining off a fraction of the spacer. OK, ok, don't shoot, don't shoot- I'm just putting it out there to hear what comes back.

Links to that idea (and more on tight bearings)...
Well, since you have the guts to bring it up I will stick my neck out too. I just got back from my brother-in-laws place in Pacific Beach. We used his Harley bearing puller and the bearing popped out with no trouble, and yes it then rotated easily like new. Then I mentioned to my Bro that I saw a post on here(via a search)by someone believing the spacer/sleeve in their wheel was an 1/8th of an inch too long and he speculated that may be why the bearing inner race is too tight against an out of spec sleeve. So, we decided to take a closer look and the end of the sleeve and found it is clearly projecting above the outer perimeter of where the bearing should rest when it is fully seated. We decided to shave off one end of the sleeve so it rested perfectly level with the outer ring of the bearing pocket. We used coarse sand paper laying on the flat surface of a vice and like Indians grinding corn we finally got down to a point where the sleeve was at a length perfectly level with the bearing seat. After installing the new bearing we could could turn the sleeve but with no free play we could detect between it and the bearing. I am hoping when the axle nut is cinched down over the outer spacer, brake caliper mounting plate and swing arm that we have removed just enough from that inner sleeve to prevent the complete jamming of that inner bearing race. I'll probably do as Sonny advised(ordered?) me to and only torque the axle nut to 70 ft. lbs. I am guesstimating we ground approximately 1/16" off the sleeve end. Anyway, right or wrong, time will tell if we screwed the pooch or not.
 
If the length of the sleeve is too long, ensure that you seat the inner bearing race against the spacer instead of the outer race in the rim. I've posted this before from ALLBALLS. It works. Figure 1 is the way the bearings should seat. The bearing that doesn't have a snap ring in place is the one that is sensitive to this. You would install that bearing until there is no freeplay in the inner race against the spacer.

1613777186214.png


Again, having said all this, that outer bearing on the rotor side (which tends to feel tight) will see a considerable amount of side play because it has to compress the cush drive along with that weird sliding spacer in the cush drive hub.
 
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Well, since you have the guts to bring it up I will stick my neck out too. I just got back from my brother-in-laws place in Pacific Beach. We used his Harley bearing puller and the bearing popped out with no trouble, and yes it then rotated easily like new. Then I mentioned to my Bro that I saw a post on here(via a search)by someone believing the spacer/sleeve in their wheel was an 1/8th of an inch too long and he speculated that may be why the bearing inner race is too tight against an out of spec sleeve. So, we decided to take a closer look and the end of the sleeve and found it is clearly projecting above the outer perimeter of where the bearing should rest when it is fully seated. We decided to shave off one end of the sleeve so it rested perfectly level with the outer ring of the bearing pocket. We used coarse sand paper laying on the flat surface of a vice and like Indians grinding corn we finally got down to a point where the sleeve was at a length perfectly level with the bearing seat. After installing the new bearing we could could turn the sleeve but with no free play we could detect between it and the bearing. I am hoping when the axle nut is cinched down over the outer spacer, brake caliper mounting plate and swing arm that we have removed just enough from that inner sleeve to prevent the complete jamming of that inner bearing race. I'll probably do as Sonny advised(ordered?) me to and only torque the axle nut to 70 ft. lbs. I am guesstimating we ground approximately 1/16" off the sleeve end. Anyway, right or wrong, time will tell if we screwed the pooch or not.
The more I listen and put some effort into this issue it becomes mechanically a solvable situation. Sonny is using a practical approach. When you stack surfaces together they have an effect of growing more than the individual specs. All surfaces are not equal. The more you compress and tear down the rear wheel, the more the number, or length will increase. By reducing the pressure to 70 vs 81, in effect the growth is less meaningful. Facing off the spacers is done in machinery rebuilds everywhere. To be honest, when I changed the rear tire on my 08 R3T I noticed the bike sure pushed hard. I thought switching to a wider tire, a 200 series, made it push hard. I don’t use a torque wrench all the time. Lazy and just snug it up. Usually I’m close, and haven’t got caught cheating. Bad practice. I’m going to dial in the 08 and find the torque that works best. Thanks for making me think! Facing the surfaces on a axle with 65,000 miles is needed.
 
If the length of the sleeve is too long, ensure that you seat the inner bearing race against the spacer instead of the outer race in the rim. I've posted this before from ALLBALLS. It works. Figure 1 is the way the bearings should seat. The bearing that doesn't have a snap ring in place is the one that is sensitive to this. You would install that bearing until there is no freeplay in the inner race against the spacer.

1613777186214.png


Again, having said all this, that outer bearing on the rotor side (which tends to feel tight) will see a considerable amount of side play because it has to compress the cush drive along with that weird sliding spacer in the cush drive hub.
@Gregger that is how I've been doing it, but I think once we cinch on the axle (68 ft lbs) it just compresses the bearings all the way into the race, jamming the spacer. I know when I go to remove the spacer the next time it is wedged in tight!
 
I Bought a new spacer from Triumph after having this issue with the frozen bearing. From previous experience knew that the spacer might not be the right length. Took spacer to work and had them measure length in the machine shop. They removed 1/32 from spacer to get to the specified length. Then looked at the torque of the back axle at 110 Nm ? Watched the pressure being applied at this torque pressure and lighten it up a bit. Never had a issue since other than wearing out the bearings. Cush drive after time needs to be replaced.
 
I Bought a new spacer from Triumph after having this issue with the frozen bearing. From previous experience knew that the spacer might not be the right length. Took spacer to work and had them measure length in the machine shop. They removed 1/32 from spacer to get to the specified length. Then looked at the torque of the back axle at 110 Nm ? Watched the pressure being applied at this torque pressure and lighten it up a bit. Never had a issue since other than wearing out the bearings. Cush drive after time needs to be replaced.

I have a guess, but what's it feel like when the cush drive starts to go?
 
slams around a bit on take offs and hard breaking. Rode a bonneville for a long while and on that model you really feel and know when to replace. Rocket you have to pay attention. Never seen a post on here about cush drive which surprised me. Maybe i might have just missed those post.
 
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