In my last post under the thread rotors I kinda described it. What I thought was brake noise turned out to be the bearings. I lofted the front tire and gave it a good shake, things just didnt feel right, I checked the head bearings and no wobble or play that I could tell, put the wheel back on the axle (off bike) and the play was quite noticeable. I also slowly turned the bearing with a finger, I could feel a tad bit (precison term Brian uses) of drag/roughness and of course, the slop (another Brianism). Getting the bearings out took a little bit of doing due to the inner sleeve. I didnt have a bearing puller that would even come close to pulling them so I used a good sized punch to lightly tap around the bearing, I ended up using a coffee can (old fashioned metal one
) to keep the bearing off the bench. I would also strongly suggest pulling the rotors, not forgetting to mark which is left and right. I would strongly also recomend that this is the time for Jim to wash his rim, who knows how long till it gets a bath. To reinstall the bearings get a bearing driver, much less chance of damage to the new bearings. Install one bearing ensuring it is fully seated, flip, install sleeve, I used the axle to help keep it aligned, and install other bearing. Dont forget the new seals and some moly lube. As I said before, the new bearings really feel good, I will never go that long between bearings again.
