front wheel bearings

[dtkid]

Hey Friends:

Where is the best place to purchase wheel bearings. I just spent $52.00 for a set for my 1980 GS750. I bought them from Advance Auto. I thought $25.00 per bearing was sorta steep. I could be wrong (often am).

Does anyone know of an online "bearing-manufacturer"?

 

[mriddle]

http://www.z1enterprises.com/

Good service.

Mike

 

[Guest]

Look in the yellow pages and find a local bearing shop. Bring in the old bearings and they'll match them up.
That's what I did and I paid less than ten dollars a bearing.

 

[tone]

As chief says a local bearing supplier will always be cheaper than any bike shop etc

the only time i use a shop for bearings is if its an odd size made specially for a particular bike but i have never found one on a gs gsx or gsxr that i couldnt get of the shelf at the bearing place yet :-D

 

[hampshirehog]

A story on bearing rip off. I rebuilt a TS250 engine for a mate who was dead keen on keeping everything original. Motor needed new crank bearings and I suggested he just bought from a bearing supplier (?15-20). No, he had to buy original Suzuki - ?100 or thereabouts if my memory serves me correctly. I opened the Suzuki S marked box and the bearings were stamped 'made in Germany'. I didn't have the heart to tell him.

 

[PAULYBOY]

A story on bearing rip off. I rebuilt a TS250 engine for a mate who was dead keen on keeping everything original. Motor needed new crank bearings and I suggested he just bought from a bearing supplier (?15-20). No, he had to buy original Suzuki - ?100 or thereabouts if my memory serves me correctly. I opened the Suzuki S marked box and the bearings were stamped 'made in Germany'. I didn't have the heart to tell him.

Dear Mr. Hog, I've been in the car parts biz 22 years, the last 18 with Mercedes. I can't tell you how many times both factory and aftermarket, I've seen the same thing. On a funny side note, when I first got into the biz in an aftermarket store, we had a large engineering company a block away. Occasionally, we'd get an engineer in on lunch break to do some shopping for their cars. One day, I had one ask me for front wheel bearings for his 63 Corvette. He stopped in every day for 4 days and examined them, turbning them over, looking at them with a magnifying glass, etc. I asked him if he was going to buy them, and he sadi he'd be back the next day.
The next day he rolls in with 2 of his engineer buddies and a small shop rag with a couple of old parts and a vernier caliper. I gave him the bearings again and he started taking measurements while one of his buddies started calling off measurements from a piece of paper. As I watched this, it dawned on me that all three of them were comparing the dimensions to the old worn out set.
After about 15 minutes, he looked at me and told me they wouldn't work because they were the wrong size. Seeing as how the customer is always right, I just shook my haed okay and put them away. A week later, he came back without his friend and asked for the bearings. That was when I pointed out that he was making a good purchase. He turned beet red, paid, and walked out of the store without a word. Hmmmmmmmm.......who sez you can't have too many brains?

 

[SAN]

wheel bearings

wheel bearings

Pyramid Parts Worldwide and they are on e-bay. maintained by motorcycle-express . My 81 550T are $9.00 +$6.50 ship.cant beat that.\\/ SAN.

 

[wellsmw]

http://www.goallballs.com/home.asp

I just bought some front wheel bearings from all balls racing. They list the front for $9.90 and rear for $22.00 plus shipping.

 

[SPARKSS]

Hey Friends:

Where is the best place to purchase wheel bearings. I just spent $52.00 for a set for my 1980 GS750. I bought them from Advance Auto. I thought $25.00 per bearing was sorta steep. I could be wrong (often am).

Does anyone know of an online "bearing-manufacturer"?

I see you've been given lots of good info so far. I'll just add that on most ball (roller and other types of similar) bearings, the original manufacturers ident and part number are either stamped or etched into the edge of the steel or, if a shield is included (many ball bearing assemblies) this info is embossed into the shield. Many times the root part of the part number is the same amongst many manufacturers and/or the number in it's entirety can be easily cross-referenced.

Of course, if none of this is evident then measuring same and your local bearing supplier (or having a bearing dimensional reference catalogue) is the next best step.

 

[dtkid]

Thanks for all the input fellas. The problem that I always have is that I live in a place in the mountains of SE-Ky [population = 600 (including me and my family)] so there are no local manufacturers of anything!

I love living this way and must admit that doing business over the internet has vastly uncomplicated my life (this site for example). The nearest Suzuki dealer is 80 miles south.

 

[82Shafty]

I ordered ALL Ballz from Dennis Kirk for my cb750 when I had it. Upon closer inspection, I felt they needed more grease in them so in went mobil one synthetic bearing grease good to 450F.

 

[RJ]

I worked for an industrial power transmission distributor for over 2 years. We sold chain, sprockets, and bearings amongst many other things. We also sold over the counter to the general public. A lot of the bearings, seals and chains that are used on bikes are industry standard items that the bike manufacturers adopt to their machines. Why re-invent the wheel? Often you will find different part numbers on these items but if you take them to a reputable bearing distributor they will be able to match it up to something they have in stock for a lot less $ than what the bike parts suppliers will charge. You can also have a choice as to the bearing manufacturer so you're not stuck with Made in China by Slave Labor parts.

 

[bwringer]

Thanks for all the input fellas. The problem that I always have is that I live in a place in the mountains of SE-Ky [population = 600 (including me and my family)] so there are no local manufacturers of anything!

Then head to the nearest farm equipment, auto parts, or hardware store. They should have plenty. All Suzuki wheel bearings I know of are standard metric bearings, used on all kinds of farm, manufacturing, and lawn care machinery.

On the GS shafties, for example, the front bearings are 6302, and the rears are 6303. Get "2RS", which means "2 rubber seals". These are industry-standard designations. If you look up the Suzuki part numbers, you'll see the standard bearing number is embedded.

The bearings from Suzuki are often sealed on the outside, but it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever if you get double sealed bearings.

 

[BassCliff]

Pornogr....., uh, photographic memory!?!?

Pornogr....., uh, photographic memory!?!?

On the GS shafties, for example, the front bearings are 6302, and the rears are 6303. Get "2RS", which means "2 rubber seals". These are industry-standard designations. If you look up the Suzuki part numbers, you'll see the standard bearing number is embedded.

Mr. bwrnger,

You are a walking parts catalog! Do you have all these part numbers memorized? Simply amazing. :shock:

I appreciate your expertise.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[bwringer]

Mr. bwrnger,

You are a walking parts catalog! Do you have all these part numbers memorized? Simply amazing. :shock:

I appreciate your expertise.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

I have no idea why or how this sort of stuff gets locked into my brain.

I honestly can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday. I'm also shockingly bad at remembering people's names.

I guess food is just fuel, and I can always ask someone their name for the fourth time, but you don't get second chances on most GS parts.

 

[jimcor]

Thanks for all the input fellas. The problem that I always have is that I live in a place in the mountains of SE-Ky [population = 600 (including me and my family)] so there are no local manufacturers of anything!

I love living this way and must admit that doing business over the internet has vastly uncomplicated my life (this site for example). The nearest Suzuki dealer is 80 miles south.

I'll bet you have an industrial bearing and belting/power transmission shop in the area with all the mining in the region. Those bearings in the front and rear wheels are very common.

JC Whitney has Chinese bearings dirt cheap. Less than $4 each last time I bought 'em, but it's been awhile since they were on sale and I got a couple sets for both bikes at $3.20 each plus shipping. They were the two sided rubber sealed variety.

 

[dtkid]

Yep......I called a buddy of mine at a mining supply warehouse and he found the bearings I needed for $12.53per. Its' only 30 miles away!

Thanks fellas:

 

[twinapache]

I just bought a set of rear wheel bearings from Pyramid Parts on ebay for a 78 GS750. When I got them, both bearings had the correct 6204 part number on them, but the inner race on one bearing was about 0.020" inch smaller than the other, which wouldn't allow the axle to slide through the bearing. Of course I didn't notice this until after I had installed them.

Just wondering if anyone else had ever ran into this before. I guess thats what I get for buying cheap chinese bearings. They couldn't even remember to ream the holes to the proper dimensions before sending them out. I think next time I'll try to find some quality bearings locally.

 

[bwringer]

I just bought a set of rear wheel bearings from Pyramid Parts on ebay for a 78 GS750. When I got them, both bearings had the correct 6204 part number on them, but the inner race on one bearing was about 0.020" inch smaller than the other, which wouldn't allow the axle to slide through the bearing. Of course I didn't notice this until after I had installed them.

Just wondering if anyone else had ever ran into this before. I guess thats what I get for buying cheap chinese bearings. They couldn't even remember to ream the holes to the proper dimensions before sending them out. I think next time I'll try to find some quality bearings locally.

It definitely sounds like you got a bum bearing. That sucks.

But nope, I've never had a problem, even with El Cheapo bearings. They're made to withstand far higher loads and speeds than those generated by motorcycles, so quality doesn't matter a whole lot. The only thing that kills them is water and dirt.

This looks like a good place to stock up:
http://www.thebigbearingstore.com/servlet/the-473/6302-Radial-Ball-Bearing/Detail

Less than $3 each for 6302-2RS

 

[850 Combat]

Dennis Kirk has the set by "All Ball" for $10.99. that doesn't seem so bad.

I bought ALL BALL steering head bearings for my Yamaha 650 Seca. They don't fit correctly. I'm still using them though...

I have found that the local bearing house, if you are lucky enough to have one near by, also has a good selection of O rings, with a variety of materials available, Buna-N, Nitrile, Viton, etc. with a variety of hardness ratings even.