How To - Change the front wheel bearings

[Sin_Tiger]

Renewing wheel bearings is a common exercise and normally pretty straight forward on most wheels. The Steamer front hub has a couple of curve balls for the unwary but not insurmountable nor particularly expensive given a little care and ingenuity.

The commonly available (we know who you are) manual is unhelpful to the point of being misleading IMHO in this respect and the genuine Triumph workshop manual not a lot better.

• Disconncet the brake calipers and hang them up, it's best in the long run, less chance of damaging anything during reassembly.
• Disconnect the speedo cable and secure the end with some duct tape to prevent damage and crap collection.
• Remove the axle (22mm nuts), taking care not to drop or damage the spacer and speedo angle drive in the process, an extra pair of hands would be welcome.
• Remove the seals. The RH side is pretty straight forward and easily prised out. The LH side with the speedo drive needs a little more care. The speedo angle drive (already removed) is driven by a steel "washer" with "tangs" on both sides, one side sits into slots in the hub body while the other side locates in the angle drive. This drive washer is a loose "floating" fit prevented from falling out only by the seal at this stage. The space should be well greased, clean enough grease away so that you can see what's what before trying to prise out the seal. When placing a lever in to prise out the seal, make sure the washer tangs on the hub side are sitting cleanly into the hub slots to prevent damage to the washer and hub and place the lever in a position where it's not going to put any pressure on either of the two output drive tangs and bend them, then prise out the seal as normal.
• Remove the internal circlip on the RH side of the hub, you will need very strong and rigid circlip or needle nosed pliers, this circlip is a lot stronger than it really neads to be for the purpose.
• Now the interesting part and for the uninitiated, one of the early Triumphs of engineering design. Both wheel bearings are identical 6303 2RS (two rubber seals and can be fitted either way around being deep groove ball bearings) which are commonly available and nothing special. That means however that they have the same internal diameter, not normally a problem but there is also an internal spacer sleeve to maintain the distance between the inner races when the axle is clamped tight. The problem here is that the spacer internal diameter is exactly the same as the bearings, i.e. there is no edge or step to get a bar or punch through to knock out the first bearing whichever way you try it. The genuine Triumph workshop manual suggests that the internal spacer can be dislodged sufficiently to gain a purchase against the bearing, I have never been able to achieve that due I believe to the sleeve being square ended and tight between the bearing races once properly clamped, I believe it would only work if the outer races were a loose fit or the bearings so worn as to be properly knackered. There is no special tool / puller for doing this job in the Triumph toolbox but it can be done simply and inexpesively by using a "Rawlbolt" or expanding masonary foundation bolt. You will need a 10mm bolt, fit the expanding end into the bearing, depending on the bolt maker you may need to dress off any rough casting to get it to fit properly, try not to fit the widest part any deeper than the thickness of the bearing to prevent possible damage to the spacer sleeve bore. Grip the exposed part of the anchor bolt body and tighten up on the thread of the expander bolt as much as you can with normal hand tools, it doesn't need a huge force to get enough grip on the bore for our purposes. Now turn the wheel / hub over, support the hub as near the centre as you can (NOT the discs if they are still mounted) on wood blocks or the like conformable material. Now you should be able to push out the bearing using the normal method with a bar / punch through the axle hole.

When replacing the bearings DO NOT forget to replace the spacer sleeve, the circlip or the drive washer, the Triumph diagrams are a bit misleading with respect to the assembly order. A light smear of grease is all that's required, too much and it may cause unescessary pressure on the bearing and hub seals when they heat up (for those that keep the front wheel on the ground anyway). Take care when refitting the wheel as it's very easy to let the speedo drive unit move out of alignment with the drive washer, forcing it will just damage the washer and the soft alloy bits. Axle torque is 110 Nm. RH Bearing Seal - 3600019-T0301 LH Bearing Seal - 3600020-T0301 around £8.00 for the pair from aftermarket suppliers.

[nickjtc]

Just did a wheel bearing replacement on the rear end of my XR650L. The drive side ball bearing cages had disintegrated for no apparent reason since there was a load of grease in there.

Unlike the Tiger the spacer 'tube' on the Honda does move to one side enough to drive the bearing out from the other side of the wheel, like in the drawing in the post. I used a 9" long nail with the head filed down just enough to get through the axle hole. It was harder getting the old ones out than putting the new ones in.

TIP: bung the new bearings in the freezer overnight and when it is time to install borrow the s.o's hair dryer to get the wheel nice and hot. With judicious use of an appropriately sized socket they tap in nice and easy.

[nickjtc]

but there is also an internal spacer sleeve to maintain the distance between the inner races when the axle is clamped tight.

Not sure that the spacer is actually clamped tight between the bearings, because if it was the inner part of the bearing would not be able to rotate...???

[Bixxer Bob]

The spacer is clamped between the bearing inner races when the spindle is done up. It is the same dia as the inner race so doesn't foul the bearing seal.  That locks the inner races, the bearing spacer, the wheel spacers, the swinging arm and the spindle as one static block while the outer races, carrying the wheel, rotate upon it.

[Sin_Tiger]

The spacer is clamped between the bearing inner races when the spindle is done up. It is the same dia as the inner race so doesn't foul the bearing seal.  That locks the inner races, the bearing spacer, the wheel spacers, the swinging arm and the spindle as one static block while the outer races, carrying the wheel, rotate upon it.

I got let out for the day  you beat me to it.

[Bixxer Bob]