Quota Front Wheel Bearings

[Lesman]

My Quota is on the center stand.I grabbed my front wheel last night. I was holding the wheel with my hands at 10/2 position. I felt a tinge of play. I thought it might be the triple tree bearings being loose. I replaced them 15K miles ago. I recently tightened them about 1k miles ago. The original bearings had no grease and were nicely notched. The top nut was loose , a little more than hand tight. The bike handled great. It seemed to take a"tad" more effort going into curves. So back to the wheel bearings. I can "feel" the rotors moving in the calipers. The calipers on Quotas aren't solidly mounted. I loosened the axle nut and the 3 10mm crimp nuts. I retightened the axle nut and the 3 crimp nuts on the bottom of the fork legs. It appears almost gone but tinge of play is still exist.
I ordered new bearings.  In 45+ years of riding. I've never had wheel bearings go bad. The only time that I have replaced wheel bearings is when I had a set of wheels that were powdercoated. The Quota has 19k+ miles. The only reason I'm writing is I remember something on another forum about when you grab your front wheel to check for lateral play. It's hard to differentiate between steering bearings and wheel bearings. Wheels bearings are a wear item. I had planned on changing them at 25K. I don't know of any schedule to replace Quota wheel bearings.
Is there a specific sequence on installing the wheel bearings? On my Vstrom, you installed one side's bearing first and completely against the hub, then the inside spacer and finally the other bearing completely against the spacer,IIRC.
The bike rolls fine. The bike handles fine. The bearing is not making any noise. Am I wrong to believe it's the wheel bearings?

[cloudbase]

Les,

Just checked the shop manual, and the chart calls for inspection of the steering and wheel bearings every 12,000 miles.  No info on any special process or sequence for wheel bearing replacement, so it should be a straight forward job.

[Lesman]

I received my new wheel bearings that I bought off ebay. SKF bearings from an US supplier. They are made in India. I paid $9.00+/- for both including shipping. I'm a bit dismayed about them being an Indian Made Bearing.I think India is where China was in the 90's manufacturing wise. Just an opinion, I have been wrong many times. So this morning I go down to a bearing house. I was offered a FAG bearing from China and SFK bearing from Korea. The two bearings from Korea cost $9.76 with tax. The last FAG bearings that I bought were from Japan for the head stock. So SKf and FAG bearings, do they have the same quality standards as the ones made in Germany, Japan or the US?

[LaMojo]

I'd put the bearings on a shelf and ride the Quota.  But- pull the wheel, rotate the inner race and check side play by putting your finger in the inner race and work the race around.  Easy to tell if it needs replacing if you feel any roughness or side play.
 

[Lesman]

Thanks, I'm checking/installing the bearings tonight.  I forgot I ran All Balls Bearings on my DL1000. I guess I not as picky as I thought.

[Lesman]

Pulled the wheel. Checked the bearings. One side had some lateral play. The other side was fine. I pulled the bearings. It didn't take much effort. When I did my DL1000 bearings. It took significant more effort to remove them. As example if I were using a torque wrench. I would rate the Guzzi bearing removal effort at 5-7 ft lbs. I would rate the Suzuki bearing removal  effort at 30-45 ft lbs.Neither the new or old bearings seem roll effortlessly. I will install the bearings this afternoon. I left them in the freezer at the office. I forgot to bring them home. Should I be putting some type of lock tite on the outside of the bearing shell? The original bearings fit snug but not I would consider them "tight". The only reason I would even think this is.... when I removed my bearings to send my wheels to be powercoated. The force to remove the bearing would notch the bearings. I was told to not reuse the bearings. They had maybe 10k miles. Suzuki recommends wheel bearings to be replaced at 20K or 25K miles.

[Lesman]

Installed the new bearings. Everything is now good in world.

[Kiwi_Roy]

Wheel bearings especially on the front don't last long because they rely on the wimpy bearing seal instead of a dedicated lip seal.
I think it's prudent to replace them with new tires and carry a spare when on a trip.
I had to ride my EV  60 miles like this, actually it rode fine on just one bearing.