Wheel bearing checks

xs400neophite

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OK so when I took the wheels off the bike to take to Cyclecity fer new tires,I stuck my finger in the holes and turned them back and forth. The front turned smooth and effortlessly on both sides. However the back had a little gritty,bindy,chattery feel but just enough to make me wonder if they are bad. The sproket side is worse than the disc side on the back wheel.
How do I know if the bearings are ok to run or not? The finger test tells me they are dry-ish? or bad maybe??
Can you re-grease sealed bearings?
I would just replace and be done with it but first,Yamaha wants $70.00 fer both right and left rear bearing plus seals out the door and second, I cant be 100% sure the cheaper aftermarket sites bearings will fit!
Anybody that has been here before, please advise!! :confused:
Where is everybody buying there wheel bearings?
 
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don't buy from yamaha.

yamaha don't make bearings!

take the bearings out and they will have an international bearing number. get the steel or rubber sealed ones.

just find a local bearing mart!

yes you will need new bearings!
 
You can find aftermarket bearings online for about $30.00 with seals.Look on ebay and do a search for wheelbearings,Yamaha xs400,and you'll find some.Or you can go to Bikebandit, Lyles racing,etc. You can put grease in the bearings of the wheels by prying off the seals and putting grease in,IF they're good otherwise.If the bearings are bad,they're bad,not just dry.I put a little grease in the bearings when I replace them,as they are almost dry.Drewpy's right when he said that Yamaha doesn't make bearings,they just buy them in Japan. lha
 
Thanks guys!!
The #'s are:
6303Z- rightside(disc)
6304Z- leftside (sprocketside)
'Z' designation refers to metalsheilded
Made by 'KOYO'
If any body else needs that info!
 
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Locally it's $25 a bearing here, which would be $100 in bearings from a bearing store, crazy. mikesxs has a front and rear kit which would run me about $40, but I guess I'll have to wait for shipping. Was hoping for a sealed bearing, but I'll just use what was factory then and order them up.

Only thing is, the rear kit has 3 bearings, does the 78 xs400e have a sprocket bearing?
 
Locally it's $25 a bearing here, which would be $100 in bearings from a bearing store, crazy. mikesxs has a front and rear kit which would run me about $40, but I guess I'll have to wait for shipping. Was hoping for a sealed bearing, but I'll just use what was factory then and order them up.

Only thing is, the rear kit has 3 bearings, does the 78 xs400e have a sprocket bearing?
Auto parts stores should have the bearings based on the numbers,such as 6304,etc. They should have National and others. Get sealed bearings and maybe check an industrial supply for prices. Seals also have a number to use when finding alternative sources. VZX[I think that's right] sells quality bearings at pretty good prices.
 
I will have to keep that in mind, I just ordered mine from mikesxs, but if I have to replace them again I’ll check that out.
 
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