Rear Wheel bearings Shot At 8.5k

[Paul Dowe]

Hi, Went to lube the chain on my 2018 1000xt notice a squeak as turning wheel backwards, thought I know that noise, grab the wheel and notice slight knocking when side to side movement, bike has only done 8.5k from new, never jet washed only driven on one wet road in its life, still under warranty till sept this year, but will do myself so I can put in some proper bearings than the shit Suzuki put in, the price these bikes cost new is shocking, the build is worst than ever. My 1200 bandit which I sold after 16 years and had covered 37k where never replaced. The original tyres are still on with 2.6mm of tread on the rear, is it right for tyres to outlast wheel bearings ? Any one else had such an early failure of wheel bearings. As my rear shock linkage was dry when I bought new was proberly the same with the wheel bearings, Suzuki are allergic to grease but so is Honda as I bought a new CRF250L 7 months ago stripped that linkage down and the swingarm no grease what so ever the swing bolt had already started to corrode. can't use the term Grease monkeys with the japanese can we.

[porter]

My rear wheel bearings went after 2 years and 16k miles which I thought was early but you've beat that!
My rear suspension link, swinging arm and head bearings where all greased pretty well when I checked at the first tyre change at 6k miles, quess they've cut a few corners from 2014.
Suzuki are not the only company to do this, none of my 4 new yamaha fazers had grease anywhere, even the two I stripped that had not covered a single mile!

[Brockett]

why not claim on the warranty and if they go again;  then replace them yourself. By not informing Suzuki they will not be made aware of the fault. Suzuki don't make the bearings and need to know about your problem

[graingerblaze]

My bike is still on the original bearings, so that’s 28k and 16 years old. I was going to change them but they are sound and still very smooth, so I don’t fix what’s not broken.

Newer bikes it does sound like some bought in items have been cheaper sourced, or perhaps just a faulty batch in which case definitely let Suzuki do them under warranty.

[Gert]

Have you confirmed that this complaint is in fact bad wheel bearings and not the sprocket carrier bearing at fault? On the first generation Vee, there were a few complaints of sprocket and bearing wear, due to chain mis-alignment blamed on sprocket to wheel bearing spacer size (example https://www.v-strom.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=15066.0)
There where also reports of this same spacer being installed in reverse (example https://www.v-strom.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=33659.0) and then reports of the cush rubbers that was shot (example https://www.v-strom.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=34828.0). Free to do the testing yourself, once you know what to look for. Remember to snap pix as you dis-assemble. These pix that you snap often can help as a re-assembly reference.

[Ianmc]

   In my opinion it’s not the quality of the bearings that are a problem,it’s the type of bearing.Suzuki put bearings with one side open,which on a bike is rubbish as they are so easily contaminated with pressure washing etc.My old K9 rear bearings plus sprocket bearing were changed at 32,000 mls. and I was surprised how dry they were, but I had never pressure washed it,a Pan 1100 that I bought had only 10,000 mls. on it when I got it and the bearings were totally shot.The previous owner was a lorry driver and used to use a truck washer to clean his bike every week.I sold it with 60,000 mls. on it and they were still perfect.Just make sure you use fully sealed bearings whatever the make.Personally I would change the sprocket carrier bearing whilst you have it in bits for the sake of a few more quid.👍

[Dark-Strom]

Good point Ian, always best to go for a bearing with 2rs at the end of the code - means 2 x rubber seals.
There is also a metal cover / shield denoted as z or 2z (sometimes ZZ iirc).
Brings back memories of working on sewage pumps etc...