(a little background) I have been having problems with the tapered roller bearings in the 2003 250 TB. I found they were loose just before our last trip so I pulled the axle and found them destroyed!

I had an extra set and put them in and we headed to HMT. We did a decent trail ride that day, came back to camp, had dinner and the kids took the quads to the "play area" and rode around for an hour. They came back and told me they stripped a rear wheel hub. I checked and, yep!!!

That machine was done for the weekend - one trail ride.

I get it home and start to look at the axle hub. I decided it was time to pull the swingarm and replace the worn swingarm bushings (it moved a lot).

While doing so I discovered the tapered bearings that I JUST put in were already rusty as hell!!! Yes, I hand-packed them when I installed them and put grease in the carrier but no way did I put enough grease in.

I removed all axle and swingarm parts and did a major cleaning of all the parts including putting the axle and the carrier in the lathe and getting them all nice and clean - no grease left in carrier.

While tearing down I discovered the o-rings on the axles were shot. I presume this is why water was able to get in there.

I put in new swingarm bushings, new wheel bearings, new wheel hubs (yes, two NEW, she's blown out 4 used!!) seals, etc. Get everything buttoned up and while pumping grease into the carrier, I heard a loud POP!!! I looked and the left side seal had blown out!!! There was no grease oozing out so it wasn't too much grease, it appears the air pressure blew it out...

So, we tore down part of the axle and while there was grease in there no way was there enough to push out the seal.

we buttoned it back up. My question now is: I would have thought the seal would allow air to escape OUT while keeping crap from coming IN!!

I am afraid if I pump more grease into the carrier that this same thing will happen. I am afraid if I don't it won't be long before the bearings don't have enough grease and they wear down prematurely!! I can't be doing a partial teardown every ride!!

Anyone experience this pneumatic blow-out before???

 

A way to keep this from happening is to use a small putty knife along with a tub of marine type water proof bearing grease you can find anywhere. Fill the housing as full as you can,replace the bearings. On the seals make sure the seating surface is clean,use a little locktite around the outer part of the seal and seat it flush. Believe it or not this helps keep the seal in place better.After it sets awhile and every things back together you can usually pump in grease through the zerk and stop when you barely see any grease ooze from the inner seal area.This is what we used at the shop,pretty good stuff.

 

My buddy has a tub of that stuff and he's stopping over today! time to text him and let him know to bring it!!

The only other question in the back of my mind; am I putting the seals in backward? I put the lip facing IN with the "flat" part of the seal facing out... I had no doubt this was right until the seal popped.

Would it make a difference if I turned the axle while pumping the grease in? Thought maybe that might help "burp" the system...

 

Flat part of the metal seal faces outward.Turning the axle can help expand the inner part of the seal while you're pumping in more grease.

 

The seal I am talking about is rubber; well mostly rubber anyway, it could be rubber injected around a metal ring for sure. I put flat in quotes because while the surface is flat, there are small relief areas around the surface.

This would be what most would call the "closed" side of the seal while the part with the lip would be the "open" side of the seal. Sounds like I have that part right.

When I partially disassembled the axle to pop that seal back in, I saw a lot of grease in there but definitely not full. I am going to put on a stand today and turn the axle while I try pumping more in there. I am sure that a full carrier would do a much better job of keeping moisture out and protecting the bearings!!

Thanks OPT!!

 

Oh, now I see the pic. That must be the Polaris, I bought an aftermarket kit. They look more like this:

http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn....jpg?1347458002

If I could figure out how to upload a photo from my phone I would do that but this is the best i found. The face showing in the pic is the face I have "out". Seems the lip on the inside matches the taper bearing...

 

that also makes sense why you stated to use loctite. I was wondering how much good that was gonna do with rubber-to-aluminum!!