Which wheel bearings?

[ATVer14]

I have to replace the front wheel bearings in my 400, the stock ones ground themselves to a pulp. Luckly I caught it before it could wreck my spindle or hub. So I need to know what brand to get. Rocky Mountain sells All Balls bearings, stock Honda bearings, or a Pivot Works Bearing kit. I also need seals, so I was going to go for the Pivot Works kit, but I need to know your opinions. Thanks
Kenny

[phatswinn]

i would go stock, i havent heard anything good about pivit works and ive havent heard anything bout all balls, usually stuff like bearings are the best from stock

[RiPPiNiTuP7]

Go with Pivot Works, or OEM...both are very good ;)

[RIDER11X]

I USE ROCKY MTN. ALL BALLS AND HAVE NO COMPLAINTS AND THE PRICE IS RIGHT. WITH AXLE BEARINGS, I GET ABOUT A YEAR OUT OF THEM OEM OR ALL BALLS.OEM BEING ALMOST TWICE THE PRICE.

[racerx573]

I got Pivot works in my R, so so far soo good!!!!

[Extremeracer167]

Yeah def. Pivot Works, they caught a bad rep b4, but changed there bearings, and ive had backs in all year. havent had to replace my fronts yet, the quads almost 2 years old!

RacerX, Where did u get those high quality bearings from???;)

It all depends on how much you value your arse. The products being supplied from most of the "atv" suppliers like PeonWorks (pivot for those of you that didnt get it) are the cheapest crap on the planet. There are a few, very few exceptions to this but mostly all are supplying the bottom of the barrell products from china. Pivotworks actually denies this but I can tell a chinese bearing even if they (pivot works and others) have the mfg leave off the "made in china" and offer them unbranded.

So if you want to put a quality bearing (one that will last longer than the year racer11x gets from his carrier bearings) that will have much less of a chance of seizing and throwing you over the bars you seem to have only a couple of choices.

1. Go with the OEM parts and pay a little more than the aftermarket "crap" but get a quality Japanese product.

2. Go to a industrial bearing distributor (found in your phone book) and have your bearing numbers ready and purchase a quality brand. Two things to be cautious of here is that some internal engine and trans bearings have "special" clearences and the counter guy you deal with may not be educated enough and supply you with the standard ones (most wheel bearings etc are redially avail and nothing special, thats how the aftermarket guys can get them from china) so be carefull with the internal ones.

You may find that the distributor may only stock certain brands that are as or more $$$ than the OEM ones so shop around and remember your oem bearings mostly came from Japan and are usually much less in us dollars than the domestic or european mfg's.

If you have any specific questions you can allways drop me a pm and I will try to get you straighten out with any problems etc.

[RIDER11X]

I DON'T DOUBT THAT HIGHER QUALITY BEARINGS ARE AVAILABLE IF YOU WANT TO SPEND THE CASH. I WAS JUST SHOWING THE COMPARISON THAT I USUALLY ENDED UP CHANGING MY CARRIER BEARINGS ONCE A YEAR WHETHER RUNNING ALL BALLS OR OEM- TO SAY THAT I WAS GETTING ABOUT EQUAL RUN TIME FROM BOTH SO I MIGHT AS WELL SAVE SOME $$$.

ALSO I PROBABLY CHANGE BEARINGS SOONER THAN SOME, AS I PULL'EM OUT AS SOON AS I DETECT ANY WOBBLE.(MAINTENANCE FREAK)AND I WAS MOSTLY ALWAYS RACING BACK THEN, SO I WASN'T BEING TOO KIND TO THEM EITHER.

ALSO,IS THERE ANY WAY TO GET A LIST OF THE BEARING NUMBERS FOR A 400EX WITHOUT WAITING TO PULL THE OLD ONES OUT?(HAVEN'T NEEDED TO CHANGE ANY IN THIS MACHINE YET.) THIS IS MY TRAIL RIDING MACHINE=MUCH LESS PARTS REPLACEMENT, SO I WOULD LIKE TO CHECK INTO THIS.:)