Check your front wheel bearings

[SledderSteve]

Just a head's up...

While I'm pretty sure it was due to neglect and improper post-ride cleaning on my part, I've found the front wheel bearings on both of my Grizzly's going away. I found this the hard way during a trail ride when my wife informed about a nasty noise and vibration coming from her quad.

The right front bearing was completely shot, causing the remaining pieces of the bearing to weld themselves to the axle and the steering knuckle. This made for a rather interesting replacement task involving pry bars, bearing puller, torch, hammer & chisel as well as some spoken French for encouragement.

Checking the bearing is easy, you simply push on the wheel from the side to detect deflection. A good bearing won't deflect at all and a worn bearing will cause the wheel to move in a direction other than it was intended. All four of my front bearings were bad but it seems the right hand of both machines were the first to go.

The good news is the bearings are readily available from your friendly Yamaha dealer or you can cheat like I did and order a set (both axles) from Rocky Mountain ATV for $43. They're much easier to replace before they completely destroy themselves.

 

[MrSled]

yep,,,been down that road before.... always clean after mud running or really sandy trail rides.

 

[sxrsist]

i just checked mine and noticed that the right front is a little loose to. another interesting thing is that a clicking noise is coming from that side when it turns. to me it sounds like its from the inner cv area. Is this normal. And why is it the right side going bad?

 

[vipeboy2000]

i had a clicking sound on my rear left wheel area . i thought it was a bad cv but it was just a bad bearing. but all my other bearings are good... maybe i should check now though since i have almost 8,000 miles on it.

 

[SledderSteve]

Both of mine click when rotating the right front wheel. I'm "assuming" this is normal and I'm also "assuming" that the right front is the first to receive torque in 4x4 mode.

All I know is that I really never learn anything about my stuff until I ball it up and have to take it all apart.

That's fun, right?

 

[sxrsist]

so they click even with the new bearings in? thanks sleddar

 

[Port-Parts]

SS - Sorry to hear about your fun with bearings replacement!

As far as bearing kits go we have had alot of luck with Pivot Works bearing kits. Pivot Works kits are slightly more expensive than some other kits out there but the bearings they use are spec'd out for ATV use (mud, dust, etc.) and are not just bearings that match the stock size. Some of their kits have extra seals on the bearings in addition to the stock seals. In my opinion it is better to due this job once with adequate parts than twice with cheap parts! Here's a link to the Pivot Works kits on our site. Note: There is a link to an application chart in the description at the top of the page.


http://www.portyamaha.com/eshopprod_cat ... G_KITS.htm

 

[SledderSteve]

sxrsist, Yes, they still click and I believe the clicking is coming from the front diff, I'd like to think that it's normal.

Aw shucks Kevin, I didn't have anything else to do anyway.

For what it's worth, I did go with the Pivot Works bearings, FWK-Y14-600, and the other three weren't near as difficult to replace as the one that was destroyed. The others were all about to go and pretty much fell apart on removal.

I should have known that you could get me the same thing for the same price but I was scared away by the OEM price for a single bearing.

My apology, I know better now.