I jacked up my wheeler today to inspect some things and wiggled the tire sode to side and up and down and there seems to be about 1/4 inch of play.... is that the wheel bearings or ball joints?

 

how many miles on it? Sounds like the wheel bearings though. ive replaced wheel bearings on my 500 9 times so far(due to alot of mud riding) and have had 1 problem with the ball joints.

 

927 hard miles

 

Speaking from experience with cars and such, you need to inspect where the play comes from. Jack it up, and look at all of the suspension components while you wiggle the wheel in all directions. If none of the suspension components move, then you most likely have a wheel bearing that is bad. If that is the case, you will likely also hear a grinding or hissing noise while you rotate the wheel, or feel some binding if you also try to wiggle the wheel while also turning it.

If the wiggle translates to any other suspension component, then you probably have something up in that area as well. The hub has to sit in upper and lower hub carriers that allow the wheel to turn side to side when you turn the handlebars. There are inner and outer tie rod ends on the steering arms, so you will need to look at both.

A small amount of play in these areas is expected, but a quarter of an inch is excessive.

Good luck!

 

tie rods are tight... just the wheel and tire wiggle about 1/4 inch.. so wheel bearings im guessing... hw long would i have left to ride on that

 

Until it the wheel falls off, dont hold off the bearing job to long you do not want to wear the spindle with the worn out bearing.

Bearings are cheap,spindles are not.

 

yeah, wouldnt wait long to replace them. they run about 30 bucks from the dealer. im sure if you researched it you could match it and get it cheaper somewhere else. The replacement job is kinda easy if you are mechanicly inclined or a hands on kinda guy. The tools i use are a vise, rubber mallet,a socket to knock the bearing out and to press in (like a 28mm i think,maybe bigger), flat head screw driver,wd-40, and i think thats it. dont forget to clean everything before installing. takes about 30 min. after you do it once. Or have someone else do it. Infact, when i get home from NY,i need to replace one of mine.

 

id inspect them and regrease them or are they not reuseable

 

My vote would go for new bearings as well.

Most times the bearings are not reuseable. Once the seal weaers out and lets water and mud sit on the bearing surfaces and it is toast. I keep one of the old bearing that I cleaned up as spare just in case but I would only install and run it if it was really necessary.

I am on my 3rd or 4th set depending on which tire you look at. Very easy to replace once you get he hang of it. The stock bearings must be greased before being installed and can be cleaned and regreased later if need be. The last time I replaced my bearings I switched to a sealed bearing made by All ***** Racing. So the bearing is sealed and you still install the axle seal so it has 2 seals to wear out to get to the bearing. I used them because they were $5 cheaper than stock bearings and I am hoping with the extra seal last a little longer. Time will tell.

The other thing you migh want to check is the rubber bushings on your shocks. They are fairly soft rubber and wear about as fast as the bearings do.

Also, I have found that if one needs it so do others. So I usually do both tires at the same time. If one front needs it I do the other as well. It seems to save time from having to come back in a month or two to do the other side.

SJ

 

I am sure you have already done this but check the shock bushings like the post above says, mine was doing what you described and that is what it turned out to be had to replace all of them front and back, about 1/4 inch play like you said.