After just a little more than 55,000 miles on my '03 (I know, leaving it parked too much) I'm having to replace the front wheel bearings on the bike. Not really surprising, as this bike probably sees harder use than 99.9% of GL1800's while I ride around with ADVriders on their dual sports.
Partly my own fault as the last time I installed a new front tire at home I noticed the RH seal was worn, as well as the bearing collar upon which it rides. Should have replaced them then, but in a hurry, etc. It was probably fording the deeper than normal stream a month or so ago that provided the finishing touch.
Anyway, there was some noise and jerking coming from the front end on my last ride in to the big city (Los Anchorage) and getting home was becoming more doubtful with every mile. But make it I did - and parked the bike 'til repairs could be made.
Sure enough, the RH outer bearing was in total disarray, with the little balls running around in a random pattern. The inner bearing was in somewhat better shape, and was the only reason the bike was able to be ridden home rather than occupy an ignominious postion on a trailer.
But examination of the bearings (my first time to have a reason to do so) revealed the fact that on each side two #6004 bearings are siamesed together with a rubber seal on the outer sides of the pair only. This means that the two bearings are sharing lubricant, but also sharing any contaminants that are able to get past the seals. It was obvious that ground up material from the outer bearing had entered the inner bearing and accelerated its demise. This design seems to obviate, to some extent, the redundancy that the dual bearings would otherwise provide.
So the replacement bearings will be two separate bearings on each side, each with 2 rubber seals, so as to provide as much protection as possible to every bearing. For those of you who only have to replace front wheel bearings every 200,000 miles or so, it won't make much difference, and someone needs to support Honda's parts division. :lol:
Partly my own fault as the last time I installed a new front tire at home I noticed the RH seal was worn, as well as the bearing collar upon which it rides. Should have replaced them then, but in a hurry, etc. It was probably fording the deeper than normal stream a month or so ago that provided the finishing touch.
Anyway, there was some noise and jerking coming from the front end on my last ride in to the big city (Los Anchorage) and getting home was becoming more doubtful with every mile. But make it I did - and parked the bike 'til repairs could be made.
Sure enough, the RH outer bearing was in total disarray, with the little balls running around in a random pattern. The inner bearing was in somewhat better shape, and was the only reason the bike was able to be ridden home rather than occupy an ignominious postion on a trailer.
But examination of the bearings (my first time to have a reason to do so) revealed the fact that on each side two #6004 bearings are siamesed together with a rubber seal on the outer sides of the pair only. This means that the two bearings are sharing lubricant, but also sharing any contaminants that are able to get past the seals. It was obvious that ground up material from the outer bearing had entered the inner bearing and accelerated its demise. This design seems to obviate, to some extent, the redundancy that the dual bearings would otherwise provide.
So the replacement bearings will be two separate bearings on each side, each with 2 rubber seals, so as to provide as much protection as possible to every bearing. For those of you who only have to replace front wheel bearings every 200,000 miles or so, it won't make much difference, and someone needs to support Honda's parts division. :lol: