Water in the Wheel Bearing?

If it's not one thing it's another, I swear. I'm not sure what the deal is, I brought the bike into the parking garage of the place I live to clean it up(as I don't have a real garage right now, sadly).

I only rode it like 4 or 5 blocks to get it there, and when I parked it I immediately noticed some weird liquid on the rotor and ground by the front wheel. "What the hell?" says I. After close inspection it seems to be water coming out of the wheel bearing.

How it got in there is anybody's guess. Rain? Seems unlikely. Now, I have good bearings, no play or anything that I can tell. And I haven't had the wheel off lately. Maybe I accidentally sprayed the bearing seal when I was cleaning wheels, though I know better.

That's not the point, I guess. Anyway, it seems like it just squirted some dirty water out then stopped. So...can I just pull the wheel off and re-grease them? Or do they *have* to be replaced when something like that happens?

 

you could probably spend an hour or more pulling the bearings apart/cleaning and regreasing or lash out about 30 dollars (if that) and replace them in 20 minutes....

 

I love cleaning and repcking bearings. That and rebuilding carbs... Something about it just centers my chi. Very relaxing.

 

Yeah, I mean I've re-packed car bearings before, but these are a pain to get out. Really the only advantage of not getting new ones is that I already have grease...and time.

 

If you used high pressure spray to wash those wheels. That is how the water got in. It also shows that the grease seals have gone bad.

The problem with motorcyle wheel bearings is that you stress the bearings/races if you use any sort of puller arrangment on them. This could lead to bearing failure. Not a good situation.

At 30 years old. Those bearings had a good life. It is best to replace them with new bearings. Not to mention material quality has considerably improved in that time span.

I believe Fitz did a write up on it. Check the FAQ suggestions section.

Ghost

 

So did I.

 

Actually, you did the front wheel bearings IIRC;

I did the rear wheel bearing how-to.

 

Was it? I thought yours was front as well. (shrug)

 

Yeah, front is what I'm talking about. Thought I mentioned, guess I just hinted at it with mentioning the rotor.

I'll check out the how-to. I didn't use any high pressure hose but I do think the seal must be shot.

 

If the bike has 40K on it and the original bearings, I'd replace them all, front AND rear. It's quite easy (fun even, if you enjoy wrenching) and NOT the least bit expensive. You can buy the "high performance" bearings and still come off surprisingly cheap.

If rusty water came out, don't chance it. Once the hardened outer surface of the balls is compromised it's just a disaster waiting to happen. (Just like a chain, rusted bearing surfaces=all done.)

With all of the work you've done, this is just another item to cross off the list.

Been in the clutch yet? If not, you will be...

 

Oh yeah, it was on the list already. Like I said, I check them for play from time to time, and didn't notice any, only reason I haven't done it. I've had both wheels off many times and always check that they spin smoothly. But they are the new number one, have to move that crappy speedo down a notch.

FWIW, there is no way of knowing the miles on that front bearing, as an unknown number of parts were replaced to rebuild the front by PO, I've mentioned my mystery fork tubes before. For all I know, that's not the original wheel Only thing I've done to clutch is adjusted it, but so far so good. (Daily year round driver for the last four years, but just a few miles at a time, mostly in town)