Front Wheel Bearings Went Bad

A kind of popping/clunking noise started coming from the front end on smooth road(Why do new problems always appear when you are on a trip?). You could even feel it in the handlebars. So I decided to try and narrow it down.

First the obvious, nothing loose or stuck in the wheel. I got the front wheel off the ground and there was no free play in the wheel or head bearings. The rotors are fine and appeared to be running true.

Now the motion tests. While moving and I hear the noise, I apply front brake and still the noise. Next the rear brake hard enough to apply the lower pad on the right front caliper and still the noise. Great, must be something in the bearings and I have to go 600 miles back to AL Friday.

I took it to Greater Yamaha of West Palm Beach (Great service by the way) today and they pulled the front wheel. The left bearing looked fine, but when you put your finger on it and turned it, you could feel the flat spot or bump. New bearings tomorrow and glad I got YES warranty.

How many miles on your '06?

Make sure they replace the seals as well. New bearings without new seals too often means short life on new bearings. Do it even if you have to buy the seals yourself.

Any chance you got some trash in there during a wheel change?

What've you got on the bike 26K or so?

That's good to hear, Tim. We're still on for Thursday!

Lemme know if you need anything while you're here. Otherwise, I'll see you then.

-BD

I have about 49,500 miles on her so far. No trash or anything (bearings are sealed type). New bearings and seals are on order. I told the service manager I want the old ones so I can cut them open to see what happened. The only thing I can think of is when I hit the bear cub about 15,000 miles ago. I guess it took that long to manifest itself. Thanks BD for the offer of any help and see you Thursday night. The bike should be ready by COB today. :yahoo:

I doubt hitting a bear cub had anything to do with it.

With many items on the FJR, there is a relatively very low failure rate. You're not the first to experience bearing failure. A few have had it occur with much less miles on the clock. In general, they are not an issue, but there are always exceptions.

Probably just a bad bearing from assembly/materials. Though I would of thought it would have failed before 49k miles.

Do you use the high pressure car wash type wands to wash your FJR by any chance?

SkooterG said:

I doubt hitting a bear cub had anything to do with it.
With many items on the FJR, there is a relatively very low failure rate. You're not the first to experience bearing failure. A few have had it occur with much less miles on the clock. In general, they are not an issue, but there are always exceptions.

Probably just a bad bearing. Though I would of thought it would have failed before 49k miles.

Do you you the high pressure car wash type wands to wash your FJR by any chance?

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No high pressure washer. If it was a bad bearing I thought it would have acted up sooner, that is why I thought something must have caused it. Thus the bear strike.

Yeah, dem bear strikes usually cause the bearings to get out of whack...remember to keep your bearings straight directly after the strike, eh.

borrec said:

Do you you the high pressure car wash type wands to wash your FJR by any chance?

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No high pressure washer.

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that's always the first question i ask too.

borrec said:

I have about 49,500 miles on her so far. No trash or anything (bearings are sealed type). New bearings and seals are on order. I told the service manager I want the old ones so I can cut them open to see what happened.

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Just curious.

Are the stock bearings manufactured in Japan or China? The reason being, I had bearings fail in a Kawi with low milege. Those bearings were manufactured in China. Although 49,500 miles isn't low milege to me. Thanks.

Capt. Bob

I changed the bearings on my old '05 in prep for WFO (prior to crash). There was about 26k on the clock at the time. There was a noticeable difference with the new ones. The old ones had no noise, but in comparison, had obviously worn over the miles. This is a heavy bike that spends a lot of time leaned over. That's a lot to ask of a couple of bearings.

I had a single front bearing fail on my 97 CBR1100XX at 30k miles. No high pressure washing, although I do ride in the rain very often. I'm thinking those "occasional" wheelies might have something to do with the early failure.

So tell the truth, how often is that front wheel up in the air on your FJR?

Harald said:

So tell the truth, how often is that front wheel up in the air on your FJR?

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Once. High-side.

When I picked up the bike the mechanic had cut open the bearing to see what went wrong. He said it was still sealed and no water or corrosion. One bearing had a bad spot (very small flat spot) on it. During its life it had scarred the other 2 and the races. No way to tell how this started and time till noise was heard. Another case of "Shit Happens" Sorry no pix as he had thrown parts in scrap metal box.

:blink:

odot said:

Yeah, dem bear strikes usually cause the bearings to get out of whack...remember to keep your bearings straight directly after the strike, eh.

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I can barely stand to read this, let alone bear reading the whole thing. Another caution, watch out for odot's bare trees in the Winter. Sometimes you can feel or hear a failing bearing whenever you bear left or right.

Serously, I'm glad you found the problem and had the repair before a sudden catastrophic failure. That would be extremely un-good.

Evidently Bubba stopped to pick up borrec's bear.

Capt. Bob said:

borrec said:

I have about 49,500 miles on her so far. No trash or anything (bearings are sealed type). New bearings and seals are on order. I told the service manager I want the old ones so I can cut them open to see what happened.

Click to expand...

Just curious.

Are the stock bearings manufactured in Japan or China? The reason being, I had bearings fail in a Kawi with low milege. Those bearings were manufactured in China. Although 49,500 miles isn't low milege to me. Thanks.

Capt. Bob

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You mean China making a faulty product!!! I can't possibly believe such a thing, heck lets just import more!!! :blink:

Sorry, off my soap box!!

SkooterG said:

...You're not the first to experience bearing failure. A few have had it occur with much less miles on the clock. In general, they are not an issue, but there are always exceptions...

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I've recently ordered new front wheel bearings and seals for my '03. They aren't making any noise but I can feel them when cornering. No pressure wash, very few wheelies, 96K miles.