hey, i know that that you can buy stock bearings and aftermarket ones. but is there some bearing out there that will last a long time or will all of us just have to wait till they come out with one.

 

Nothing will last forever when you play in the mud.
It cost's to play.

 

There are alot of different makers of the traditional roller bearings that come in quads and some differ in certain areas, but I have never seen one that lasted any longer than the other. Installation is the biggest factor when it comes to bearings.

First of all, most bearings are the sealed type. Some are sealed on one side and some are sealed on both sides. Some aren't even sealed at all. We all know that a bearing must be packed with grease when they are installed, but the problem is when most people just throw a doubled sealed bearing in the rear of an ATV assuming that because it is sealed on both sides that they have grease in them. All these bearings have in them are the assembly lube that was used during manufacturer.
One seal must be taken off and the bearing packed with grease. When installing, the side with the seal removed must be facing inwards of the spacer tube.

A few years back, a company tried tapered pin roller bearings in the rear of ATVs. This showed to be a better lasting bearing with regards to landings from jumps and such, but tended to wear more frequently with side to side movement than a traditional ball bearing.

You probally already knew that stuff, but I wanted to get my point across about the sealed bearing issue while I was thinking about it. I have seen some guys on here get on every few weeks complaining of bearing failures over and over. Something is wrong here.

So,..just who is going to invent the super bearing? Anyone listening?

 

thanks you just answered one for me iv been paceing about forever woundering about that i got these sealed bearings and after i got them it dawned on me how is a high stress point like a rear bearing that's sealed going to hold up anyways somebody tell me pivot work's is good because iv ordered pivot work's everything for my complete chassie rebuild and most of the time i look into everything for weeks befor i make and order but in this case i just picked up the phone and started ordering i hope i haven't made a grave mistake someone tell me some good or bad new's

 

Hey Ohio,...
The bad news is that you are getting the same bearings that came on your machine stock.

The good news is that you saved a few bucks by getting them from pivot works.

The REAL good news is that there aren't any stronger ones offered from any one else either.

No better reliability gained,...but money saved. Good deal.

 

The best substance for bearing known to man is steel, and it doesn't cut it for 'indestructible bearings.' ANY bearing can be deteriorated (service life compromised) by an unexpected shock load or excessive torque. Some are definately better than others, but in the realm of ATV applications where you'll just wipe out the grade 8 bearing's 1,000,000 hour expected life in one jump gone awry don't worry about it.

 

NAPA has a needle attachment for grease guns. It is actually a sharp needle that you can poke through the seal to lube sealed bearings. You would probably want to do this to the inward facing seal, but this way, you don't need to completely remove the seal. I haven't tried it myself yet because I removed the seals from the last set I installed. But, the next ones I do, I am going to try the grease needle. The other thing you want to do, is completely fill the space between the new bearing, and the new outer dust seal with grease. This will help prevent water from filling in there.

 

Ya know Phil, I haven't heard of that one yet [using the needle]. I will definitly try this out next time my self. Thanks for the tip.