Bearing carrier Tapered or double row?

[howboutchaw]

Need opinions what everyone thought would be strongest?
Which one has less drag to spin?
I always thought the tapered would be the best, but I do not know if the handle the dirt well.

[remlapr]

tapered are suppose to be 15 times stronger then the regular bearings that are used in double row carriers. I have a RAD tapered and it's awesome, even comes with a new billet brake stay.

[Silverfox@C&DRacing]

I have the rad tapered carrier also.

[Dave400ex]

The RAD carrier is very trick how it has the grease zerk on the side. More companies need to do that.

[jhr400EX]

I have the RAD tapered carrier and absolutely love it. It has held up perfectly for over 6 months of hard use.

[jhr400EX]

I have the RAD tapered carrier and absolutely love it. I would highly recommend it.

[K_Fulk]

My rpm tapered bearings are still good after more then 2 years.

[Jnine]

Hello Guys:

You are right that the tapered bearings are stronger. However, there are some major drawbacks.

1: No seals at the bearing!! That is why a grease zerk is necessary. Actually, on a sealed bearing carrier like the stock one or the twin row carriers an outside zerk is a waste. You can't get grease past the seals and into the bearings anyway. Some idiot came up with that, and now half the riders panic if they don't have it.

2: Since the tapered bearings have a larger OD, it will take away chain adjustment. You probably only get about 1/2 the chain adjustment from a tapered carrier.

3: The other bad thing is setting the preload. Set it too tight and you definitely stress the motor. Set it too loose and everything feels loose on the backend, because it is. I've seen one of the best mechanics in the business have a problem with this. Here's the deal... If it was that great all the pros would run them, and I don't know anybody that does. In the end, a twin row carrier is more than strong enough. It's a good idea in theory, but not much more than a clever sales gimmick in the real world.

Hope that helps you out.

[JOEX]

John, I always appreciate your input

I knew about #1 and #2 other than the reason the taperd carrier needs a zerk.

I knew nothing about #3

I have heard that the tapered row carriers are good for flat track racing and TT racing, can you elaborate on this?

Joe

[Jnine]

Hello again:

I didn't know that some people liked them for the TT or flat track stuff. For motocross nobody that I know of uses one. Perhaps it is because of the constant pounding, and their tendancy to come loose or go out of adjustment, which brings us right back to the proper preload thing. Maybe for TT it doesn't get pounded so much, and will hold it's setting. Then again, a stock carrier would be strong enough for that. This tapered setup cost Travis Spader $5000 at a race a few years ago. They tried one of these carriers, and Travis thought he was siezing the motor. TC changed the top end, and it was still laboring like crazy just to move the quad. Only then did they find out the damn thing had adjusted itself tighter and was really working the motor just to move the quad. This episode cost Travis the race and the $5000 first place cash. However, the guy who came up with this POS made plenty, and he still does!