[glenlivet]

Well almost 10,000.



I just did a bunch of maintenance and I thought I'd post about it. 2017 CFM 800 Trail, taken some awfully rough places here in BC and in parts of the US.
The parts list: What broke

- sway bar, broken from metal fatigue
- spark arrestor screen, blown away by heat cycles
- 2 out of 3 exhaust donut gaskets, age and heat cycles
- 3 of 4 wheel bearings, 2 back and 1 front worn out
- front brake pads, normal wear limit reached

So I thought it was sitting a bit off caster a bit one day and I thought maybe my suspension bushings might be a bit worn. Not so, thanks to the zerk fittings and my occasional greasing same they were all tight and fine.
But I found this:

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a/LvliLsa" data-context="false" ><a href="//imgur.com/a/LvliLsa"></a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Right front wheel bearing has some play. A quick floor jacking up of the back showed both of these had play too.
Off they came. (easier said, those mothers were in there tight.)



The bottom left one was the one good bearing. (swapped out all four)
The interesting thing is that at about 4000 Km I got a  Machined Integrations wheel bearing greaser and I did both the back wheel bearings! I guess that displays the benefits of pushing grease at the outside of a sealed bearing.

What surprises me is what didn't need servicing.
- The rear brakes. The bad: Turns out I had the wrong pads, ordered long ago and I don't know from where.
The good: I didn't need 'em! The back pads showed so little wear they looked as thick as the new front pads, thicker in fact. This is BC, we have some serious hills.
- The suspension bushings and king pins: Needed only cleaning and re-greasing (the nylon inserts had to come out in order to bake the aluminum knuckles at 400 degrees in the oven, another story)
- The factory Yuasa battery. No maintainer, no removing for winter, no starting for months on end, still spins the motor like a sewing machine nearly 4 years later. Whats not to like?

PS: I should have shown in the little video, how I found the front axle nut to be sloppy loose, with the cotter pin still intact. I have never had that apart so it must have been somewhat loose, and certainly way undertorqued for the whole time since it left the store! I have read about CF Moto having undertorqued fasteners from the factory and I checked most of mine, but I never suspected that an axle nut (supposed to be 120 Ft Lb spec) would be one of them.
I'm just listing the broke stuff for information, not as any sort of complaint. I figure it's pretty acceptable considering the service I have had. I don't regret for a moment my decision to try some of this 'Cheap Chinese junk' for myself and see what I think. 

[NMKawierider]

Really not bad for the miles/kms. 

[Sockman]

That's pretty good.  I'm at 3300 miles, and have a tiny bit of play in the left rear wheel.  I hate doing bearings, so have kinda been putting it off.

That's great about the battery.  I only got 2 years out of mine.  I should have used the maintainer more, though.  And when the battery went - it just went.  Worked one minute, quit the next time I tried to start it. 

[glenlivet]

An eye opener about your battery, makes me glad I carry a lithium jumper.
The bearings were some tight. The inner race on the front axle that had gotten hot needed a 3 jaw puller to get it off the axle, the other three inner races slid off the axles freely. The knuckle races however needed to be pressed out on a 4 ton bench press using the right size 3/4 drive socket and they needed heating in the oven to 400 degrees before they could be pressed out or in one case, fell out.
I had the new bearings in the deep freeze overnight until install time, and they dropped into the hot knuckles no problem.
I prepared the new front pads with 'Disk Brake Quiet' and on an 80 Km ride yesterday they didn't squeak a bit.

ps: I couldn't get Imgur to host a 10 second video I took of the amount of play in the front axle, did load it on the Facebook page 'Z Force owners...'

[BoatFixx]

How long before the wheel bearings went?
Thanks!

[glenlivet]

3 out of 4 were found to have play by the 10,000 Km mark.
the 2 right side were particularly dry.

[BoatFixx]

3 out of 4 were found to have play by the 10,000 Km mark.
the 2 right side were particularly dry.

Dry?
I wonder what type, and how much grease they pack into them from the factory?
Guess what I doing this fall?

[glenlivet]

This may not be what you want to hear but if you are talking about a bearing greaser I have one and i greased both back axle bearings, not the front as I didn't have the right tie rod end press at the time. It didn't seem to have made any difference, which I guess ought to be expected from pushing grease at a sealed bearing.

[NMKawierider]

which I guess ought to be expected from pushing grease at a sealed bearing.

I know people do it all the time and for those that ride in water and mud all the time anyway, it may extend the life of a bearing some over normal but I have to agree with glenlivet in that forcing grease through a sealed or shielded bearing effectively unseals it..add to that it will push whatever else is trapped between the bearings into them and not all of it will come out. For me when mine start getting a little play I'll match them up with a set of Tinkens or Nationals and hit the trail again.

[BoatFixx]

New to me buggy, and did not know they are sealed.
I suppose I should review the photos more than simply a swift look!
Sealed bearing, then I would not even attempt to grease them as it is futile, and if anything can be damaging.
Perhaps a change out @ 3000 or so miles?

[glenlivet]

I'm just going to make a practice of floor jacking each end every so often and check for play.
After 2 weeks of the SXS up on blocks and me trying to get better bearings through local industrial suppliers and them failing, I threw up my hands and bought stock bearings from the CFM dealership. I'll keep a suspicious eye on them, mind you.

[NMKawierider]

me trying to get better bearings through local industrial suppliers and them failing,

Bummer...that's discouraging....

[Sockman]

I'm just going to make a practice of floor jacking each end every so often and check for play.
After 2 weeks of the SXS up on blocks and me trying to get better bearings through local industrial suppliers and them failing, I threw up my hands and bought stock bearings from the CFM dealership. I'll keep a suspicious eye on them, mind you.

If you got 6k miles out of the stock ones, I'd suggest that is pretty good.  I know I barely get 500 miles out of the front bearings on my Suzuki ATV.  I've replaced them a couple times.  Now, I should note that the Suzuki will get exposed to more mud/water, but still.

[BoatFixx]

I'm just going to make a practice of floor jacking each end every so often and check for play.
After 2 weeks of the SXS up on blocks and me trying to get better bearings through local industrial suppliers and them failing, I threw up my hands and bought stock bearings from the CFM dealership. I'll keep a suspicious eye on them, mind you.

You wouldn't have dimensions handy, would you?
I have some contacts in the maritime industry that may help.