Ha! You didn't! But, you did say."...I think if the front wheel bearing is fine the rear will be too along with the swing arm bearings."

Then, that you "... have done everything you're not supposed to do when it comes to maintaining bearing life."

Therefore, I assumed you had not turned over a new leaf, yet. Good for you if you did decide to start proper bearing maintenance!

 

Thank you for taking the time to write this up, I just checked my 07 for the first time and found they were also dry, and some water got through one of the swingarm bearing seals.

Dry as a bone

Loaded up with good grease

Here's the one that had some rust, not too bad once I cleaned it up and re-greased, the seals looked ok too


Loaded up the rocker arm bearings too

Used this grease

All buttoned up, don't mind my cheapo stand

 

I got my freshly greased rear end back together and headed out to the woops..... that dam squeak is still there.... oh well at least the bearings are greased. I ended up with the rear wheel catching the plate and bending the whole thing back under the fender... but i think that was another sound i heard later in the ride. I just took that off and bolted the plate to the fender behind the tail light (endwise... long ways front to back), to be read from the right.

 

PSUDude...looks like you were able to save that one bearing. Good catch!

 

Nice bike stand! I have one just like it. Also a cinder block. Now I've even upgraded to a "real" (chuckle) HF stand.

 

Yeah I'm glad I got a chance to dig into them. If I would have waited much longer that bearing would have been toast for sure! I have bought a spare bearing and will keep it in my garage if that one decides to take a crap on me this season.

Thanks, takes a little coordination to stack it on the stand without tipping over
Maybe later down the road I'll get a real stand, but it's pretty low on the priority list, ideally it will spend more time being ridden .

 

craftsman professional jack is awesome.

 

Someday I would love to buy a real; dedicated moto-jack. Haven't seen one that would work on twin-tube-type dirt bikes and also work on sport bikes. I've been using jack stands forever, though, so I probably wouldn't know how to act even if I found one. Tough to beat a ratchet strap through the triple, up to the rafters, for working on the front end. I've also been known to use a regular floor jack with a wooden plank (w hole cutout for the drain plug) strapped as a jack-pad. Works amazingly well.

 

That. Looks like an accident waiting to happen.... lol..... that 100$ craftsman jack is the best thing i ever bought for the bikes. i use it constantly.

 

Ha! It IS!! You don't whack too hard with the 'ol rubber mallet when you're getting the axle out....