Bearing questions - - - Help Please

[nghbuell]

So after putting 4600 miles on my 03 xb9s this season (about 6800 on bike now), yesterday I had a rear right side bearing failure. got the bike back to a friends and trailered it home from there. It has the orange/red seals on all the bearings which i understand were the good ones. anyway i have to replace them and want to do them all now.
Front: 6005 2RS (25mm x 47mm x 12mm)
Rear: 6006 2RS (30mm x 55mm x 13mm)

I want a good bearing (obviously) but am not sure on on which "quality" rating is good enough for this purpose.

I am looking at ABEC 3 bearings on ebay for a reasonable price and can get a lot of 10 for an even more reasonable price per bearing, then maybe resell extra's on here...

Thoughts? Concerns? Suggestions? Brands?
Info that might be helpful?

Thanks alot for your time/help!
Nick

 

[notquitesane]

I will throw in my 2 cents. When I replaced my tire recently I noticed my rear bearings were going too, so I bought new ones. I was thinking about getting higher quality ones as well but I figured it was a crapshoot to get ones that would fit right. Because of that I went with the OEM ones, I also figured that the OEM ones lasted me at least 10,000 miles anyways ( this is the first time I have had to change them). I got mine from buellparts.net. Also, in case you were thinking about doing it yourself, I tried for a few hours with a plethora of tools and could not get those wheel bearings out. Consider someone with the proper tools.

Good luck

 

[nghbuell]

Just checked buellparts.net and it would be nearly 100 bucks for all 4 bearings...ouch and money is tight right now. (right now!?!? its always tight, when is anyone ever like hey my money's loose i can spend whatever)
the bike is my main form of transportation to and from work so i have to steel the wifes car to get here.
anyway i can get 10 bearings (rears) which are ABEC 3 spec bearings for like 28 bucks shipped (and $20 for 10 fronts). crazy cheap, but does that mean that they're going to last me 1000 miles then have to replace again? owell, ill figure something out, maybe ill just buy the cheapies and report on how well they work...Thanks!

 

[uly luigi]

I took my 08 Uly to the local ATV/Tractor parts house, he miked both sets and matched them in stock, 30 bucks front and rear, 18k miles on them now, with no problems at all

 

[bobaganoosh]

i just ordered a set of all balls racing front and rear bearings. they were like 40 bucks off ebay

 

[nghbuell]

Awesome! thanks for the input guys! I used all balls in my 04 blaster i rebuilt after putting part of the piston thru the crankcase, dang thing still ran with a hole in it, ha! they seem like great bearings. Thanks Again!

 

[50dro]

I went with SKF and got them (front & back) for around $80 from a local bearing distributor.

 

[nghbuell]

well i cheaped out ang got the set from "USAbearings" on ebay for $9.99 shipped from michigan. They're HCH bearings, EBEC 3 spec, and the manufacturer is ISO 9001 certified. So i feel pretty good about them, they seem to be good quality. Put them in last night threw the bike back together and rode to work today and after 35 miles one way I'm happy with my purchase. I will report ANY issues with these bearings since some times "you get what you pay for" and other times you pay for the "better" one and still have problems.....time/miles will tell. Nick

 

[nghbuell]

and by the way the red seal bearing that was in there had no grease just rusty balls, haha rusty balls, and the outer race was split right down the center making the inner part really hard to get out, ended up using my dremel with a small cut off wheel to make relief cuts then prying it out. Nick

 

[nghbuell]

bearings installed and about 120 miles on them so far and am still happy. i did take off teh plastic belt gaurds and i love how it looks now.

 

[pur pony]

since we are talking about bearing... i removed the bearing in my wheels before powdercoating... and they were a b*tch to get out... Ordered new factory buell bearings and noticed when i put the fronts in... they dont seem very tight! almost like they could spin in the wheel... WTF? Anyone else have ever have this problem?