Cat Bearings - not so good!

[Mills]

I purchased a ’14 hold over Viper RTX new in the box late last year. I now have 1,800 miles on it and decided that I needed to go through all the bearings in the sled before I put it away because anyone I know with a Cat has bearing problems. Below is an example of what all the Cat-NSK bearings in my skid looked like when I popped the seals off. They were completely filled with junk and the junk factory grease was totally broken down and useless. The second picture shows one of the bearings after I cleaned it up. Notice that the ball retainer/spacer is plastic-- no wonder the Cat bearings a junk!!! All the retainers/spacers in my Nytro are what look to be Stainless Steel. I ground out the inner hub on my Tri-hub wheels and removed the bearings and they looked exactly like this as well. They are all getting repacked and put back in but, after next season they are all getting replaced with high-end NTN bearings.

 

[cannondale27]

Like I said on Facebook. Over 8000mi on every one of those stock bearings and only replaced cause I was worried. Clean and grease them every year and they last a long time.

 

[Studroes144]

I haven't touched a bearing on my 2014, haven't even looked at them actually and still running the original tri-hub, just clicked 5000 miles this year..my old rx1, apex and nytro would've all went through atleast 2 complete sets of boggy wheels in that time. Very happy to not have to deal with that crap anymore. However I will be servicing the bearings on mine before next winter.

 

[Mills]

Studroes -- make sure you check, clean and repack the jack shaft and drive shaft bearings on the clutch side. A little work and cheap insurance vs. a major tear down and cost if one of those bearings fail

 

[cobrajet ltx dx]

It’s a non serviceable, recycled world these days.
The recycled metal that is used to make said parts is pure garbage.
Everything made now has a engineered life span then fails.
That’s where the manufacturer’s make there REAL money.

 

[Mills]

It’s a non serviceable, recycled world these days.
The recycled metal that is used to make said parts is pure garbage.
Everything made now has a engineered life span then fails.
That’s where the manufacturer’s make there REAL money.

Cobrajet -- You are spot on there!!! I am a design engineer for a major fenestration product company and get pressure to do this all the time. I listen the requests but then try as hard as I can to push through designs that last and function long term.

 

[Allan]

I have 11562 miles on my stock bearing. Only one I replaces was drive bearing break side (8000 miles ) because I found a little rust when doing inspection.

 

[cobrajet ltx dx]

Allen..... my old 15 ltx only had 2 upper bearings fail by torsion springs at 6k,
Trihub fail at 8k and that was it.
Still had all original bearings in chain case and clutchside, original sliders, never had front arm break or any of my dx shocks fail.
But couldn’t keep mufflers on the sled!!
Every sled is different and the conditions they are used in.

 

[Heckler56]

When I was required to get the flash last fall (2,400 miles on sled), the Dealer told me Yamaha requires those bearings to be replaced at 3k miles. Since the dealer could not get to it for another month I brought the sled the 90 miles home. I made arrangements with my local Cat dealer 3 miles away to replace the bearings with Yamaha bearings.

The Cat dealer told me they have never seen any bearing failures before 8k miles and mentioned it is not a requirement by Cat to replace them at 3k. When I picked up the sled they told me the old bearings were pristine and would not have even required repacking. I trust their mechanic. He was Yamaha Racing royalty back in the day and now works with Cat.

Based on what is being said here, should I believe that to preserve my YES warranty by using Yamaha parts was just Yamaha slapping their name on a Cat part?

 

[geez150]

I purchased a ’14 hold over Viper RTX new in the box late last year. I now have 1,800 miles on it and decided that I needed to go through all the bearings in the sled before I put it away because anyone I know with a Cat has bearing problems. Below is an example of what all the Cat-NSK bearings in my skid looked like when I popped the seals off. They were completely filled with junk and the junk factory grease was totally broken down and useless. The second picture shows one of the bearings after I cleaned it up. Notice that the ball retainer/spacer is plastic-- no wonder the Cat bearings a junk!!! All the retainers/spacers in my Nytro are what look to be Stainless Steel. I ground out the inner hub on my Tri-hub wheels and removed the bearings and they looked exactly like this as well. They are all getting repacked and put back in but, after next season they are all getting replaced with high-end NTN bearings.

View attachment 140029
View attachment 140030

Didn't know the skid bearings we're NSK, always thought they were some no name China bearing? Also was always under the impression NSK was a good bearing?

 

[DVW]

It seems like bearings are turning into a commodity. Ten years ago with a new machine I replaced my off brand bearings but did not end up with a perceived benefit. I just retired my Cat version of the Viper after 25,000 miles. I inspect my skid frame bearings in the spring and service them (repack 100% fill) every 5000 Miles. Because these events have occurred at the same time I have been in a good position to evaluate bearing life. Typically I find a couple of bearings that have lost the viscous feel do to dry caked grease but I have not had a skid frame bearing fail. After the forth season all my original skid frame bearings where replaced because I found one cracked bearing seal. The wheels with new bearings had slightly less wobble when wiggled by hand but there was no perceivable seat of the pants difference down the trail. Amazingly all the wheels went the full 25,000 miles. With regard to the drive shaft and jack shaft bearings, I replace these based on a 10,000 mile schedule because they are hard to inspect. These bearings have not failed do to this schedule. I am currently repacking all my skid frame bearings on my brand new replacement machine. It seems to me that my repacked bearings with 100% fill seem to fare better than the new partially filled first year bearings.

 

[Pstn head]

It seems like bearings are turning into a commodity. Ten years ago with a new machine I replaced my off brand bearings but did not end up with a perceived benefit. I just retired my Cat version of the Viper after 25,000 miles. I inspect my skid frame bearings in the spring and service them (repack 100% fill) every 5000 Miles. Because these events have occurred at the same time I have been in a good position to evaluate bearing life. Typically I find a couple of bearings that have lost the viscous feel do to dry caked grease but I have not had a skid frame bearing fail. After the forth season all my original skid frame bearings where replaced because I found one cracked bearing seal. The wheels with new bearings had slightly less wobble when wiggled by hand but there was no perceivable seat of the pants difference down the trail. Amazingly all the wheels went the full 25,000 miles. With regard to the drive shaft and jack shaft bearings, I replace these based on a 10,000 mile schedule because they are hard to inspect. These bearings have not failed do to this schedule. I am currently repacking all my skid frame bearings on my brand new replacement machine. It seems to me that my repacked bearings with 100% fill seem to fare better than the new partially filled first year bearings.

May I ask what grease you use ? And also if you replaced the Jack and Driveshaft bearings inside the chaincase ?

 

[DVW]

May I ask what grease you use ? And also if you replaced the Jack and Driveshaft bearings inside the chaincase ?

To pack the bearings I use the same low temperature grease that I use on the rest of the snowmobile. I have my dealer replace all 4 drive shaft and jack shaft bearings every 10,000 miles.

 

[Mills]

DVW I use Mobil1 full synthetic molly-lube for high speed and high shear applications. I have a '99 SX 600 with 13K+ miles on it and have never had to replace a bearing on that sled. The Viper got the same treatment this spring.