Topic: where to get tapered wheel bearings?

[Spinned]

I hear you can put tapered bearings in the wheels and maybe even the swingarm?  I found the ones for the steering neck.  Any ideas on where to get the wheel bearings or should I just go to my local honda dealer.

[Hasenkopf]

by all means, please go to your local honda dealer

[fastbroshi]

I don't think that design is available for the old Honda's, never heard of them for wheels before.

[Retro Rocket]

I don't think that design is available for the old Honda's, never heard of them for wheels before.

Because they are tapered, wrong bearing type. Brass bushes are better for the Honda swingarm also,  bearings are not as good....

[754]

 Many wheels used tapered bearing, but they are mostly 1 pce hubs, our Hondas are 2 pce hubs.
 To use it in a swing arm, you would need exact fit or shimming or a frame munting that allows some slight movement to set the preload. H-D angled twin shock frames use that setup. so do the wheels.

[jaguar]

you can get all balls bearings or OEM bearings for the wheels

the swingarm you either want bronze bushings or needle bearings

[MCRider]

That's an interesting issue. i wonder if tapered bearings are the better choice, assuming they would even fit. My trailer has tapered wheel bearings, as do cars. But they suffer tremendous side loads. Our bikes negate the side loads by leaning.

Wouldn't a tapered roller bearing have a lot more horsepower sapping friction? Quite a bit more surface area than a ball bearing. Which is why they are good for steering stems that have a lot of load but little movement.

[754]

Tapered bearings in H-D wheel hubs are setip with clearance.. no drag.. .004 to .016 clearance I think, set up quite a few ..

 Swingarm has a bit of preload, set with a spring scale actually..

[Kong]

You only use tapered bearings where you have control over the preload/end-play.  There are some places where you do not have that, and our style of hub and bearing combination is one of them.  In order to set preload/end-play you would either have to use shims or distort either the fork tubes or swing arm, depending on which end you were misusing the bearings on.

[MCRider]

I've done a Google on "taper vs ball" and my concensus is what I thought. Tapered roller is most generally used for axial and radial loads. (compared to cars, MC has little axial load as we lean in to the turn). And because of increased surface contact area, friction is increased.

So, for MC purposes, ball bearings in the wheels is the better choice. IMO. Nothing wrong with using tapered rollers as in the HD application, they can carry a higher overall load, but that's unnecessary, and they do have more friction.

On a MC with a sidecar, taper rollers would be better.  I think the HD application is a holdover from days gone by.

OCICBW  YMMV   

[Hasenkopf]

I have to apologise for my reply to this guys question.... with all the spambots lately, sometimes it's hard to tell what's real.....or whatever.      Adjustable tapered bearings would help take up the slop in these old bikes.

[nomad]

Brass bushes are better for the Honda swingarm also,  bearings are not as good....

the swingarm you either want bronze bushings or needle bearings

Ok, my intent is NOT to start a pissing match by asking this question, but which of these is actually the best for our old swing arms?  I'm getting close to this point in my build and I'd like to know.

I know Hondaman uses oilite bronze and there are many here who swear by his product/ service.  The mechanic/ fabricator at my local shop strongly recommended needle bearings.  Having ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA of what the f**k I'm doing with these things, how about a few pros and cons of each?  I'm leaning hard towards asking Hondaman to do mine, but wanted to make sure there wasn't something important I was missing.

[Retro Rocket]

There is a general consensus with guys that have had these bikes for years that the bushes out last and out perform the bearings, not too sure if it is because of the swingarm design or not but everyone i have spoken too about the swing arm say to use brass bushes. PM Honda man for a better explanation, he always answers with a well thought out answer....

[MCRider]

My modern bikes have needles, I think they all do now. But they were designed for it and are sealed. In our CBs, they might be OK for the first season, and maybe longer if you disassemble each seasonfor cleaning.

To put steel needles in an environment like our CBs, I think they will rust quickly, or at least over time. Our CBs generally don't get a lot of miles on them and I would prefer a bearing material that will hold up over time. (Our stock CBs have steel collar and steel bushings which rust and seize almost certainly.)

A HondaMan lifetime guarantee with ooilite bronze (not brass) bushings fill the bill. Top quality materials and workmanship that match the original design. Hand fitted and taken to the nth.

The needle bearing kits for our CBs appealed to me at first. But after thinking it out, they won't provide a better performance, and they will introduce a maintenance item I don't want to deal with.

[Retro Rocket]

Thanks Ron, i assumed it had something to do with the way our old swing arms were made, what you have said there makes perfect sense....