Wheel Bearings

[kawazar]

I have to replace both tires on my bike. I have over 42k on the bike, should I do the wheel bearings while I am there? They seem fine. No play in the wheels before I removed them.

[Duck-Stew]

I have to replace both tires on my bike. I have over 42k on the bike, should I do the wheel bearings while I am there? They seem fine. No play in the wheels before I removed them.

For the investment involved (not much add'l time and not much add'l cost) it may be worth it considering the mileage.  Just be sure to get bearings not made in China.  Japan and the US are two countries I've had good luck with...  China, not so much.

[Desmo Demon]

Mileage is no guarantee that the bearings can go bad or will remain good. I've had bad bearings with less than 5000 miles and I've had them last well over 70k miles. Heck, the wheel bearings on my Honda Civic have 243,000 miles on them (well, three of them, one went bad at 120k miles).

Any time I have a wheel off of a bike, I always check the bearings. This means that the bearings are checked every 3500 miles or less. If you feel the need to replace them, if not for anything other than piece of mind, do so. They aren't too expensive, but can be a PITA to change out if you do not have a blind-hole bearing puller and your wheels have the newer Ducati spacer in the hub that has fins on it. I generally try to buy SKF bearings (often manufactured in Germany or France), but just about any quality bearing is good. I want to say the bearings are around $20 each. I've been running NTN brand bearings, lately, because I can get them with my work discount through Grainger.  If your wheel bearings are the same size as the '98 ST2, '02 748, and several other Ducati bikes, they are probably model 6005 bearings....often stated as 6005-2RS. The measurements are 47mm OD x 25mm ID x 12mm width.


BTW, I do a LOT of wet-weather riding. This bearing had about 32k miles on it......






This is what the newer sytle hub spacers look like....

[kawazar]

My bearings don't look like that at all. They have no play and roll smooth. I am probably going to leave them because they are in such good shape. I know mileage is not a real good indicator but I wasn't sure how good the original bearings are. Thanks for the help.