Re-grease driveshaft bearing?

[Dimebag]

Hi,

I replaced all drivetrain bearings last season with "all balls racing" bearings.

Question is,

The driveshaft bearing is sealed (metal seal) so I cannot grease it up.

What do you do to get fresh grease in there? Drill a hole in the seal, and use a needle grease gun?

Is there any need for new grease in it after one season of riding? (3000 kms)
Or should it be good for another season?

Thanks.

 

[bottlerocket]

I pick the seal out and pack some in there once a year. Work it out slowly and try not to bend it. It will pop right back in.

 

[APEX 06]

Just drill it out and use silicon

 

[sherlock29]

All the driveshaft seals and jackshaft seals in my sleds have little 3/64th holes in them... niddle grease all the way.. then you dont have to dismanttle.. i do mine very 500-1000 miles..

 

[bitchnblue09]

regrese

When should a guy replace those bearings?? I have about 3000 miles on mine... am I do to replace or grease ?? Thanks

 

[Dimebag]

I had about 3500 miles on them when i replaced mine.
If you regrease the bearings they should be good for more miles.

My riding buddy has about 5000 miles on his sled with original bearings, but we are gonna replace the bearings on his sled before this season.

The clutch side driveshaft bearing is usually the worst.

 

[Dimebag]

All the driveshaft seals and jackshaft seals in my sleds have little 3/64th holes in them... niddle grease all the way.. then you dont have to dismanttle.. i do mine very 500-1000 miles..

How do you make sure that no metal particles gets inside the bearing when drilling the holes?

 

[Mazz]

When I drill or tap anything I don't want shavings inside of I like to put a good helping of grease on the bit and drill slowly, the shavings will be held by the grease.

 

[Zakre]

The hole is a good idea, but you are 100% defeating the point of the seal if you drill a hole in them.

However if you are greasing them every 500 miles, the will help to counter act the ill effects of the hole letting everything and anything, moisture, dirt, etc into the bearings.

I don't like down time either, but I buy new bearings every other season for the driveline. It costs me about 100 bucks every two seasons and that's all the skid bearings as well. Yes it takes time and effort, but IMHO its the right was to go about it, 50 bucks a season is cheap to get home.


My sled is about to come out, as i know the rear shocks are done, and need to be rebuilt/recharged. I am not sure if i should upgrade them or not, that's for the next dilemma post !

Good Luck !

 

[Dimebag]

When I drill or tap anything I don't want shavings inside of I like to put a good helping of grease on the bit and drill slowly, the shavings will be held by the grease.

Thats genius! I will make sure to do that when i drill the hole.

Do you drill many holes in each bearing, or is one enough?

 

[sherlock29]

I understnad the question about defeating the "purpose" of a seal. But the ones i have drilled are not exposed to snow/water. i have drilled the jackshaft and speedo bearing seals. last i checked my jackshaft bearing is in a very clean and dry environment... so its gets regular greasing... driveshaft bearing (inside seal) sits below clutch, and in most cases is dry and clean. these bearing seals are "dust or debre" seals, not ment for keeping water out, so a very small.. niddle tip hole hads no affect on bearing life(it will harsh environments where water or grit can get in). When i drill them i usually pull seals off then drill, clean and reinstall untill the bearing is shot.

If people have 3000+ miles on drivebearings and no maintenance was done, ie: clean out old grease and repack... then bearing is probably on its last legs. I fine even with me greasing every 1000 miles at the end of the winter the bearing is feeling a bit rough. since 2008 i have put over 21000 combined miles on both my apex's and have been drilling and greasing bearings this way... it just plain works.... now i have never done this to idler wheel bearings... they just get changed every year.

and only 1 little hole is required....

 

[Dimebag]

Sounds good. I'll grease up mine next week,
And replace them in the summer.

Thanks guys

 

[Grimm]

Just be cautious and you can pop those seals off quite easily. I like to clean them out with WD40 and then pump in the grease, just not too much, else it'll squirt out and make a mess.

 

[Zakre]

I understnad the question about defeating the "purpose" of a seal. But the ones i have drilled are not exposed to snow/water. i have drilled the jackshaft and speedo bearing seals. last i checked my jackshaft bearing is in a very clean and dry environment... so its gets regular greasing... driveshaft bearing (inside seal) sits below clutch, and in most cases is dry and clean. these bearing seals are "dust or debre" seals, not ment for keeping water out.

Maybe this is true in your case, but when I am hitting the powder and water-skipping my sled those area certainly get exposed to water and snow(packed with snow that melts into water from the heat).

When a belt lets go, that's a whole other story bits of belt and cord everywhere but I digress, greasing is a great move I just can agree with putting a hole in the seals that's all I am saying to each his own and in my situation I don't think I will put any holes in them. If you don't want to get new bearings I would be popping the seals off cleaning/inspecting and re greasing.

 

[Sled Dog]

I would pry the seal out carefully with a jewelers screwdriver, clean the old grease out (wd40 slight air to blow out crud), fill it with new synthetic grease and reinstall the seal. I have only done this once in 6500 miles to my sled granted only after the speedo bearing went kaput. Right after doing mine I did the wifes sled with 4200 miles and the bearings were still good but the grease was dried out and you could see it needed to be cleaned and repacked. I would not drill a hole in the seal, just my opinion.