Bearing Puller and wheel bearings

[Divot]

Will this Harbor Freight bearing puller do the job to remove the front and rear wheel bearings, or does one need something else?

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-jaw-pilot-bearing-puller-4876.html?utm_term=4876&utm_medium=cse&utm_source=googlebase

If I gleaned the information correctly from the archives, I need two 5204 sealed bearings for the rear (to replace existing right and to do the left bearing upgrade) and two 6204 sealed bearings for the front.

There seems to be great disparity in bearing prices.  Some are really inexpensive and others aren't, is it a quality things or ?  How does one know if they are buying a quality bearing or junk?

[OverdueBill]

The rear axle is larger than 3/4" so the lower limit on the puller will work for the rear.  I don't know the size for the front axle.  When I got my rear bearings, I followed a link posted by someone here and +1 by someone else.  Somewhere in CA.  That's all I remember.  I DO NOT recommend the HF puller kit with the slide hammer costing around $35.  I beat the puller to pieces and did not get the bearing out.  MC shop charged me $20 to pull and replace the furnished bearings.  I lost money there.  Let us know how this puller works.  Looks sturdier than the slide hammer type.  I also did not have any luck knocking it out with a punch.

[Baloo]

I don't know about the front, I didn't have to replace them yet. But I did the rear recently.

In my case, I was able to knock the old bearings out of the wheel using a long punch and tapping not too hard on the back of the bearings. I bought the replacement bearings at a specialized bearing shop around my place. They had one on hand with black seals on and had to order the other one. The guy then explained that the seals are not all the same and that on a bearing with red seals, the seal has greater contact with the center of the bearing, thus provides a more "weathertight" bearing, if you will. The price of the red sealed bearing against the one with the black seals (same brand) was about double. So I ordered one red sealed for the LH side which is more exposed to water and contaminants and took the black sealed that they had on hand (half the price) for the pumpkin side, since it is protected by the final drive.

Recently, someone posted regarding Nilos rings to replace the dust seal that you have to take out of the equation when doing the mod. I find it a great idea and if I had known it when I did mine, I would have put one on. I'll probably put one on my next rear tire replacement.

Good Luck!

[Ricky-D]

Will this Harbor Freight bearing puller do the job to remove the front and rear wheel bearings, or does one need something else?

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-jaw-pilot-bearing-puller-4876.html?utm_term=4876&utm_medium=cse&utm_source=googlebase

If I gleaned the information correctly from the archives, I need two 5204 sealed bearings for the rear (to replace existing right and to do the left bearing upgrade) and two 6204 sealed bearings for the front.

There seems to be great disparity in bearing prices.  Some are really inexpensive and others aren't, is it a quality things or ?  How does one know if they are buying a quality bearing or junk?

If you are doing this as a preventive maintenance item I think it is foolish. The bearings are not an item that require any kind of special attention and will usually last your lifetime of riding your Valkyrie.

As an additional note here - most bearing problems are a repeat of incorrect assembly procedures and sometimes those are from an ill conceived plan of preventive maintenance replacement.

Have at it!

***

[Baloo]

The bearings are not an item that require any kind of special attention and will usually last your lifetime of riding your Valkyrie.

As an additional note here - most bearing problems are a repeat of incorrect assembly procedures

Ricky D, with all due respect, I must disagree.

There is a whole bunch of folks around this board, me included, that experienced bearings problem with their Valk. It is a known problem that the rear LH bearing exibits an abnormal rate of failure and more than likely, it results from a poor design. Probably, due to economical considerations, Honda elected to save a few bucks on the LH bearing by installing a single row instead a double. They do fail and if your opinion is exact, then Honda does not know how to install a bearing, because maybe, they don't all fail, but a whole bunch of them do... 

[Tx Bohemian]

Will this Harbor Freight bearing puller do the job to remove the front and rear wheel bearings, or does one need something else?

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-jaw-pilot-bearing-puller-4876.html?utm_term=4876&utm_medium=cse&utm_source=googlebase

If I gleaned the information correctly from the archives, I need two 5204 sealed bearings for the rear (to replace existing right and to do the left bearing upgrade) and two 6204 sealed bearings for the front.

There seems to be great disparity in bearing prices.  Some are really inexpensive and others aren't, is it a quality things or ?  How does one know if they are buying a quality bearing or junk?

OH NO!!!!

I noticed you forgot to mention what year or how many miles you have on your bike!!!

Not that it matters cause the bearing replacement procedure is the same for all Valks.  I think the only difference is the '97s have a different size bearing.
But some on this board FREAK-OUT if you don't include that information!!

But I digress...

When I changed my front i didn't need any special puller, just slightly tapped them out from the back side, just kept going around a little at a time.

Just follow the procedure in the manual, including, when re-assembling, the - tighten the left pinch bolts and the right axle bolt then bounce the front end up and down a few times to seat the axle...  personally I'm not sure what that is supposed to do but people here claim it is an important step.

Good Luck

[lucky]

unless those jaws are tiny, i think they will be too big for the bearing, i use an automotive flywheel bearing puller, works perfect

[X Ring]

Hey guys, I use a blind hole pilot bearing puller I got from HF only I don't use the 2lb slide hammer.  I borrow the 5lb slide hammer from O'Reilly's.  As far as the front bearings, the '97s use the 6004 as a front bearing and the '98s and later use the 6204.  The 6204 is also used as the stock left rear bearing.  Considering it is rated for a lower static and dynamic loads than the double row 5204, i replace it with the 5204.  As far as cost, you get what you pay for and I'm not buying junk Chinese bearings.

Marty

[John U.]

This is getting a bit off track but I thought only the 97s had a different fron bearing and that the left rear is the same size as the fronts on all years except 97. If that's the case then I wonder why HDL lists a different number for the left rear compared with the fronts and a different frony for 2000 models. They list the 98 and 99 bearing but make no mention of the other years

[John U.]

I guess I should have added that this is not in the microfische section, it's in the Valkyrie store under Honda OEM parts.