Guy goes into a garage to grease bearings.....

[mfenmor]

Ends up coming out $700.00 in the hole.

No grease fittings on the inner bearing plates. OK, pull axles.
Step one, unstick bearings from axles.
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Rear axles are splined and had grease fittings, so only need to do 4.
First problem. Bearing retainers are half installed right handed lock, other half are set left handed lock and no, not different left and right. Set screws were packed with anti seize, thank you Rod.
Second problem, no anti seize under bearings, Thank you Rod.
Get out the porta power and apply 4 tons. No budge. Get out slide hammer and wack it with 4 tons of pressure on it. No budge.
Never under estimate the power of liquid wrench. Spray them and let them sit over night. Couple of wacks and they move. (see pic of liquid wrench how it creeps under rust).
No grease on bearings, ever means no bearings. Order new bearings, and plates WITH grease fittings.
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Now I see I have two different sizes of bolts holding sprockets to axles, both loose. Make some sprocket repair bungs. Notice while matching up repair bungs that sprockets look funny. See pic. order sprockets.

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Inspect axles and notice flange end. UGH! Order new axles.

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The moral of the story? Never go out to the garage to grease your bearings unless you are prepared for the good, the bad and the ugly.

While being pissed off I came up with a design for portal boxes. Look out @JohnBoyVA.

[trevorakm1]

Well when I got into this hobby I really knew nothing about these ATVs. Had an issue I noticed and decided to change bearings but ended up replacing bearings and sprockets that had to be cut off the axles. Once done with that fight it was time to start looking at other areas of maintenance neglect. Chains, brakes clutches and so forth. I just finally went through the brakes and wow the neglect. The good news is the process taught me how simple these machines are, how rugged these machines are, how costly and tedious these machines can be but best of all how to fix and maintain them and piece of mind it is in the correct condition.

[mfenmor]

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So, I figured I have the four hardest axles removed, why not go all in. The rears are splined and came out like a dream.
Glad I decided to pull frame as I found numerous cracks which I will repair. I also will add supports while it's out in anticipation of portal boxes.
I'll add more pix of the repairs as I do them. Frame went out to the blaster today.
I'l paint it white so it's not so hard to see with all the darkness down in the tub.

[tbone9]

I like your white frame idea. As long as your at it I highly recommend the bearings with set screws instead of the problematic lock collars. Lock collars are for a non reversing light duty application.

[mfenmor]

I probably would if I wasn't so darn cheep.
I may use temp locktight on them. It'll keep out the moisture and still be able to push off with pressure even without heating.
The lock collars are terrible for keeping the axle from moving in and out of the bearings. They are meant only to keep the axles from spinning within the race.
I use split collars on both sides of the outer bearings to keep the axles from moving.
While I have them out I'll drill and tap the ends and use a washer on the inside saving one split collar.

[allwheeldrive]

Portals, with more chains! so many chains haha

[john swenson]

i use the split collars on both sides of my bearings and sprockets . and if a non splined sprocket with a bolt thru the axle has wallowed..besides drill the hole a little bigger and putting in a new bolt , clamp a split collar next to the sprocket and weld one half of it to the sprocket . it will help carry pressure on the sprocket . johnboy va. looking forward to seeing progress on your project .

[mfenmor]

clamp a split collar next to the sprocket and weld one half of it to the sprocket . it will help carry pressure on the sprocket . johnboy va. looking forward to seeing progress on your project .

Great idea JB. I'm gonna do that.
I spoke to the blaster today and he'll have the frame done Monday.
I'm gonna attempt to "weld" a deep chain groove in the tub where I assume a chain broke and wrapped around the drive sprocket. it's over the rear skid plate so I have some backing.

[mfenmor]

Portals, with more chains! so many chains haha

Chains? Where we'er going, we don't need any chains.

[allwheeldrive]

Chains? Where we'er going, we don't need any chains.

We'll now I'm interested. Lets just hope where your going also doesn't involve $$$$$$$$$ money either lol.
Those high lifter gear portals are nice but at their cost I could never justify them.