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Bearing question

  • paqpaku
    paqpaku
    7 years ago
    Hi everyone,
    I'm fitting custom wheels on my 25mm axle. The tightening of the nuts causes the wheels to lock on the brake callipers, so I need a spacer/bearing about 1-2mm thicker. The stock bearing is 15mm thick.

    I bought a chinese made 25x52x18mm bearing to replace the factory 25x52x15 one. However I also considered an aluminium 25mm spacer thats 16.4mm long. The wheels already have a factory steel spacer on the other side.

    I will be putting exactly the same bearings on the front and back so wheel allignement will remain unchanged, however I wondered whether there were any differences between using external bearings vs using a metal spacer. The wheel has obviously bearings inside so I see the wheel movement will be unaffected. 

    Anyone has any thoughts on bearing vs spacer externally? 

    I am still undecided however it would be great to have a discussion with technically minded forum members on benefits and disadvantages of either. 

    Especially considering I would rather put my life in the hands of a solid metal spacer than questionable quality sealed bearing :) 

    Many thanks and thank you for reading
  • houli
    houli
    7 years ago

    put up some photos a drawing with dimensions etc, fucking with wheel bearings and clearances can end badly, are they tapered rollers or ball bearings ??


  • Ken in Cairns
    Ken in Cairns
    7 years ago

    As long as the spacer only is pressing on the inner bearing race it should work, if you can't get a good quality bearing the correct thickness( which you can)

    Do not use some cheap crap bearing, use either an SKF or FAGG.

    You might be better using a thin spacer on either side, than off setting the wheel by two mm, but I would fit it on the inside of the bearings and have the nut against the inner bearing races, there is a good chance a thin shim might tear when you tighten the nut.

    You get thin metal shim stock from any good bearing supply but if fitting it on the inside of the bearing, you will have to cut the inner and outer diameters pretty carefully so it is a good fit. Or get 4 stainless steel ones machined up, use 316 stainless, not 304 as it rusts.

    As stated in the above post, be careful :)

    Cheers

    Ken


    PS just had a quick look and found these:

    SKF Double Row

    Fag Single Row

    These will eliminate the spacer problem. Also listed are tapered roller bearings of the same size.

    Cheers

    Ken



  • paqpaku
    paqpaku
    7 years ago
    Oups sorry, my post doubled up. Please read below.
  • paqpaku
    paqpaku
    7 years ago
    Guys, that's awesome! Thank you so much. Yeah I'm aware of the small differences a change of wheel allignement or shitty quality parts could make - especially in critical elements such as the wheels :) 
    I found a SKF distributor near me in Kalgoorlie, so I will pop my head in and get a pair there. 

    In regards to the set up, both wheels had the ABS sensor removed. I purchased a replacement 15mm wide bearing but tightening of the wheels locks the brake disc to the calliper, so I discovered that the extra 3 mm will be perfect to accommodate for tightening of the nut to torque specs. 

    This will be done on front and back so wheels will be aligned to each other so no stress there. 

    The initial set up was SWING ARM ->stock shim -> WHEEL -> ABS sensor (15mm wide) - SWING ARM
    The new setup will be SWING ARM -> stock shim > NEW WHEEL (slightly narrower axle mount) -> SKF bearing (18mm wide) -> SWING ARM

    Thanks again for the comments. After the installation is complete I will test ride carefully and then periodically check everything to make sure its sitting pretty. 

    Attached image of the work in progress :) 


    IMG_0837.JPG
  • Daggs
    Daggs
    7 years ago
    Usually whatever you add to one side you have to take off the same amount the other side but I'm not fully understanding your issue....
    But yes if you can't fix it with a different width bearing and do need a thin spacer, don't use alloy, get one machined from stainless. 
  • perthhog
    perthhog
    7 years ago
    As daggs said  stainless or steel not alloy it may crush over time  if you look up Vulcan engineering in the 
    States thay make a lot of spacers and adaptors for harley  or just by stock of them and than get  a local 
    Machine shop to make up what you’re after once  you work it out  but normaly measure everything 
    With the std wheels on than replacat that with your new wheels   Belt pulley , brake caliper off sets   
    So you don’t create problems down the track  you may even need to machine pulley  or spacers
    For the pulley and disc  depends on what the off sets of the hub are  and normally try and center the
    Rim as a lot Harley’s wheels are offset factory 
  • meanmother57
    meanmother57
    7 years ago
    Did you install the brake disc bearing side first as this locates the disc in the right spacing for the disc to be alligned. Then the bearing spacer and the other bearing pressed up to it. If you didn't  do that might explain why  the disc is not alligned. 
  • Daggs
    Daggs
    7 years ago
    As stated earlier by myself and perthhog, I would recommend you use stainless not alloy for wheel spacers 
  • Daggs
    Daggs
    7 years ago
    without you putting up detailed drawings it’s hard to really say what you need to do. From what I make of it your new wheels hubs are a different width so your rotors now have a wider Centre. If that is the case it will be hard to fix as the calipers are a fixed item. Unless the wheel only has to move over one way different spacers will fix it. Front anyway, there is more to the back set up . 
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