Tonight's Pucker Moment

CYLax · 06-08-2007, 10:50 PM

I had to run down to the auto parts store to grab some high temp grease and a couple other small things so I decided to jump on the bike...figured the would be a good time to scrub my BRAND NEW 2CT's in a little and cycle the BRAND NEW oil I just had run through a little...plus it was a gorgeous evening.

Well... I make it to the parts store, run to target, and I'm on my way home...accelerate the bike up to right around 45mph...all of a sudden from the rear end I hear <squeek, squeek, squeek, CLANK!> , the rear tire locks up, bike shuts off and I'm all of a sudden in a 45mph skid. Thanks to plenty of experience (and honestly time on a mountain bike), I was able to keep my balance and hold the bike steady until I got it stopped. Talk about Mr. Toad's wild ride. Well, I'm now in the middle of my lane, the rear wheel is completely frozen the bike is immobile and there's traffic en route. I solicited some help from a couple passersby of the moment and had them hold the handle bars steady while I lifted the rear end and we got the bike over to the side of the road where I could start diagnosing.

Long story short, I ended up having to call a tow truck to get the bike back to the garage and start diagnosing the problem. As of right now I'm 99% sure I have a frozen wheel bearing. (psst...kevinwilly, you have a PM).

I spose since I had a pucker moment, SBN law requires me to give some level of advice. There's not substitute for time and experience on a motorcycle. This didn't happen because I ride a litre bike, and I didn't save myself from a wreck because I'm a MotoGP racer (which I'm very much not). I kept my bike up and myself and others around me safe because I properly learned how to ride a motorcycle, I took a lot of time learning and understand how my bike works, and I continue to practice the fundamentals of riding every opportunity I have. I repeat my previous statement...regardless of what you ride, there is no substitute for time and experience on a motorcycle.

...now that all that is off my chest, I'm gonna go back to being pissed off and drinking myself stupid all the while trying to figure out how to get a frozen wheel bearing off.

On that note, I apologize for poor grammar and misspelling, I'm half crocked (thanks Stealthy1) and still in a bad mood.

kevinwilly · 06-08-2007, 11:23 PM

It's not as bad as you think it is.....

You'll kick yourself in the morning. The wheel and brakes come off independent of the wheel bearings.

I sent you a lengthy PM.

Are we still doing a track day? I need some speed.....

CYLax · 06-08-2007, 11:33 PM

Heh...clarified the current state of my bike in the PM. I have the whole rear end disassembled as far as I can get right now...problem is physically getting to the wheel bearing atm.

Lengthy PM replied.

I'm definitely doing a track day this year. Just sent my leathers off for some custom work and I'm busying making some upgrades to my bike...like a new rear wheel bearing

....once all that's done, I'm going to start looking at some time at either Blackhawk or Heartland. At the very least, there's the Iowa Speedway in September.

ajohn505 · 06-08-2007, 11:34 PM

I hear a torch is good for heating/expanding the metal and getting bearings out...

CYLax · 06-08-2007, 11:35 PM

I see the use of a Blue Wrench and BFH in my near future. I've never actually worked on the final drive of a bike before...but I have more than enough wrench time on german cars to know what a pain they can be.

RayOSV · 06-08-2007, 11:40 PM

I've never heard of a bearing freezing on a bike. It's an '02? How many miles? Any idea how that could happen? I'm betting the spacers and bearings weren't put back in the right places after the tire change.

kevinwilly · 06-08-2007, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RayOSV

I've never heard of a bearing freezing on a bike. It's an '02? How many miles? Any idea how that could happen? I'm betting the spacers and bearings weren't put back in the right places after the tire change.

You don't mess with ANY of that on these bikes.

The wheel comes off without taking anything else out. No bearings, to spacers, nothing.

It's one nut, and JUST the wheel comes off. Even the brake rotor stays with the bike.

Strange that it just locked up, though. I've never heard of it happening before. Though i've never heard of one of these engines seizing before, and it happened to me.

Oh well. Should not be TOO bad to fix.

CYLax · 06-09-2007, 12:01 AM

Well at least we're all on the same page with never hearing of this happening before. I'm not 100% sure it's the wheel bearing, but that's what i've boiled it down to so far. I know it's not the brakes, I know the engine and tranny work fine, I know everything in front of the swing arm works fine...and I know the bearing will not turn right now. I'm going to try and get to the bearing tomorrow...that might answer a few questions. I'll definitely keep an update going in this thread as I figure stuff out.

CBRAWR · 06-09-2007, 12:02 AM

ill tell you what i had to do when one of my races got stuck inside the wheel

took it to a good machine shop, the guy took a piece of flat stock welded to the bearing and knocked it out from the opposite side

i have no idea if you can do that with yours, but its an idea if you can

RayOSV · 06-09-2007, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevinwilly

You don't mess with ANY of that on these bikes.

The wheel comes off without taking anything else out. No bearings, to spacers, nothing.

It's one nut, and JUST the wheel comes off. Even the brake rotor stays with the bike.

The beauty of a single-side swingarm? Bearings may have more stress in that configuration?

sirjohnson_2k6 · 06-09-2007, 12:05 PM

If you plan on fixing it yourself, I can give you a hand if you need one.

kevinwilly · 06-09-2007, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RayOSV

The beauty of a single-side swingarm? Bearings may have more stress in that configuration?

Yeah, it's very nice for removing the wheel.

But the axle is cantilevered, so it's GOING to put more stress on the wheel bearings. The bearings are just EXTREMELY beefy to make up for it. They are over twice the size of standard ones, both in diameter and thickness.

So the forces on them are well within what they are rated for. Normally crap like this does not happen.

Weird.

CYLax · 06-09-2007, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevinwilly

Yeah, it's very nice for removing the wheel.

But the axle is cantilevered, so it's GOING to put more stress on the wheel bearings. The bearings are just EXTREMELY beefy to make up for it. They are over twice the size of standard ones, both in diameter and thickness.

So the forces on them are well within what they are rated for. Normally crap like this does not happen.

Weird.

Very nice for removing the rear wheel and aesthetics simply cannot be beat...but it does have down sides when it comes to maintenance.

Kevinwilly is right, the bearing is huge (as I've seen online, mine still packed away). Right now I'm trying to figure out how to support the rear of my bike without the use of a paddock stand. Ratchet straps should do most of the work, but I don't trust the rafters in my garage so I'm working on alternative means.

Sirjohnson...I may just take you up on that.

scotty · 06-10-2007, 09:40 AM

Holy crap man. Glad you are ok and it didn't happen at high speed on one of our rides.

I am not the guy to help diagnose but I do have a clean garage and some good tools. Let me know if you need either. Got a NICE new craftsman mpact wrench and BIG air compressor... Just promise me you wont scratch my pretty wrench. :-)

So you may have a flat spot on the tire then too, eh? and you say they were new? How's the chain tension? If you just had new tire installed, this seems to be a red flag (maybe not) and an overly tight chain can do bad things - but as said above, Im not very mechanical past basic bolt on mods.

CYLax · 06-10-2007, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotty

So you may have a flat spot on the tire then too, eh? and you say they were new? How's the chain tension? If you just had new tire installed, this seems to be a red flag

The flat spot isn't too bad. I did leave about 200ft skid mark though. The tires are band spanking new...less than 50 miles total on them. I guess once I get it all fixed up I'll just have to spend more time on the Iowa twisty's to even out the tread wear.

Thanks to help from SirJohnson and Crankshaft with telephonic consultation from Kevinwilly...we got it all torn down yesterday. The axle is frozen in place and literally can't move...which means a wheel bearing broke and either welded or lodged itself to the internals.

Thankfully I know a guy that has a small addiction to Daytona's and just happened to have a swing arm laying around in his garage...much appreciated kevinwilly. Hopefully it will be less than a week and I'll be back on the road.