Hi All,

I took apart my rear wheel this past weekend to investigate a grinding noise i heard when rolling the bike recently. I have had odd rear tire wear in the past and i thought it might be from the drum sticking, but i found out it was the rear bearings. [img][/img] I replaced the ones in the wheel with brand new completely sealed bearings and kept the one in the pulley wheel because it was still spinning freely and i was only able to get the bearings from a local used motorcycle shop that was open on sunday (but they are brand new). I didn't  even know the pulley had it's own bearings. Anyway, i was looking at the parts diagrams and the pictures on this previous thread: http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1369522661/1 and i am not sure if i saw that pulley bearing spacer in there. Is that attached to the pulley wheel itself? Does it pop off easily or do you have to pound it off? I don't  think there is play in my rear wheel after torqueing to 50 ftlbs. Please let me know what you guys think as finding those busted bearings was quite alarming to me.

Thanks Dave! Seems like im learning the hard way on this bike. Any idea where i can get the pulley bearings and rubber oil seal (some fiche call it sproket drum oil) for cheaper than dealership? I want fully sealed ones and already replaced the 2 in the wheel. That one i think is bigger.

I just take the bearings to NAPA or a similar auto store and let them match them up.  They often are sealed on both sides....and sometimes you get a choice.

Do you think that riding like that would have put more tension on my cam chain?  was planning to do the tensioner change in 1500 miles on the next oil change. I am at 8500 miles.

HighME32 wrote on 11/17/14 at 19:17:44:


No.....stress on the cam chain appears to be related to heat cycles.  Folks who take short rides get less overall miles from their cam chain....while folks who go on really long rides every time they fire up the bike get a lot more miles before it becomes too loose.

HondaLavis wrote on 11/18/14 at 15:31:37:


That is a good price. From Suzuki the bearings are $ 20.31 for the pulley hub and $ 17.69 each for the wheel hub, and the seal is $ 5.75.  I believe I paid about $ 6.00 to $ 8.00 each for the bearings at the local auto store for the Chinese bearings they had.  I got the seal from the local Suzuki dealer.

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 11/18/14 at 19:45:37:


Sadly....all of those have disappeared around here.  We used to have a place called "Bearings Incorporated", and it is gone.  We used to have an absolutely wonderful industrial hardware store called "Aufdenkamps" that had a complete smorgasbord of quality hardware and tools....it is gone.  The only place I know of know is Grainger's, and sometimes they are affordable and other times their products are 3 times a normal cost.

I avoid the Autozone, Pep Boys, Advanced Auto when possible and try NAPA and KOI which are often better quality - however the supply of bearings that are not made in China seems to have dried up.  For things like brake rotors you can sometimes get ones that are made in Canada if you pay more.

I ended up getting Chinese made ones cuz i thought i was in a bind, but they look exactly like the all balls ones. Ends up that i have to replace pulley bearings and wait for spacer. Hope the chinese ones hold up for a while.