Swingarm bearing parts - grease seal or no?

[Ian_N]

Hello all

My voyage of discovery with my 'bitsa' 1979 R65 continues  :-?.

Would the swing arm bearings have been fitted with a grease seal outside the flat, lipped, washer? The parts fiche suggests so, the suppliers sell them, but it came with just the washer and a big dollop of grease.

Just wanted to check because the big frame bikes often seem to be different and I'm sure the manual says something helpful like 'where fitted'

Ian

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

The R65's are different than the big-framed bikes, and the early R65's were different than the later R65's...

To the best of my recollection... there is no seal on the '79s, just the large flat washer.

I recommend pre-packing the bearing with grease manually before installing them, just to be sure.

Do you have a rubber or plastic-tipped nozzle for the grease gun?
You need one to grease the bearings when they are installed.
Like this:



http://www.hardwareworld.com/05-041-Seal-Off-Dispenser-pRNHCGY.aspx

[nhmaf]

Somewhere I recall seeing where one could get bearings that would fit that had their own grease seal, but I cannot remember where..  If you're good about periodicall getting in there and packing it with good clean grease you should be fine.

[vestandpants]

Just to confirm there are grease cups on the swing arm of a pre 81, they are on the inside of the bearing. The outer is a big flat washer.

If any post '81 owners want the caps I mistakingly bought a pair. PM me

[Ian_N]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm probably being dim, but by grease cup, do you mean the aluminium plate that sits behind the outer bearing shell to stop grease going down the tube of the swing arm?

[vestandpants]

Yep, that's the fella.

[steve hawkins]

That is correct - my 1982 R100 had the old style bearings in the swing arm and I have replaced them with the new style with the seal, only recently.

Obviously another case of using up the old bearings before putting in the new.

My 1979 R65 has the old style, also.

put in the new ones if you can afford them