Rear sprocket wobble (ER5)

[ncrn]

I've noticed the past couple of days that my bike sometimes (not very frequently) makes a sort of knocking/clunk sound as I launch, it comes from the left side of the bike and sounds like it comes from the rear wheel. When checking my chain last night I noticed I can wobble the rear sprocket side to side a couple of millimetres. What would cause this? And would this be making the odd clunk sound as I pull away? I half suspect my cush drive, but when I took the rear wheel off to fix the drum brake about 500 miles ago it didn't look too bad.

Cheers
ncrn
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Past: 55 Sym Jet, 91 ZZR250, 03 NSR125R. Present: 97 ER-5.
https://www.nsr125.co.uk - NSR Owners forum.

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

Cush Rubbers are cheap. I'd start there.
Unlikely yours have been changed since 1997

Pat
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[Pete.]

You can pack out worn cush drive rubbers with bits of wheelbarrow inner tube if you're too tight/skint to buy new ones.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Blue_SV650S]

Side to side play is not the cush drive, it is the bearing ... sounds like your bearing is shot ....

That said, 'couple of mm' is hardly wort talking about is it?!!? Or do you mean CM?!?!
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The purpose of life is to fight maturity.

[Pete.]

Hmm I took side to side to mean rotary play. If there's axial play in the bearing it needs changing.
____________________
a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Blue_SV650S]

[stinkwheel]

Not uncommon for the sprocket carrier bearing on those to collapse without any real fuss being caused.

My GPZ did it once, I don't know how long I was riding it like that for but it totally fubared the carrier casting. The bearing had almost turned to dust but because the wheel is sat on another two beaqrings, there wasn't much appreciable difference to the ride.

Probably best to check the bearing just in case. If it's ok, pack out the cush drive with slices of inner tube or wrap the segments with self-amalgamating tape while you're in there to tighten it all up.

Don't buy new rubbers, they will be just as loose again within a couple of months.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Agree with the bearing, but I would also consider that when you had the wheel off you put it back together without the spacer between the sprocket bearing and the wheel. This will kill the bearing pretty quickly, and about 500 miles isn't that far out.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[ncrn]

Its axle movement, and by the sounds of it I should take a look at the bearing then . Cheers guys, I'll have a look tomorrow and see.
____________________
Past: 55 Sym Jet, 91 ZZR250, 03 NSR125R. Present: 97 ER-5.
https://www.nsr125.co.uk - NSR Owners forum.

[ncrn]

Well I've taken the wheel off and the sprocket carrier bearing is very slightly notchy and the left hand side rear wheel bearing is definitely notchy. The right hand side one is ok but I figure I'll change it as well.

The cush drive is fine, but I found the o-ring that sits around the wheel hub had split when I put the carrier on last time and was sat on the cush drive which probably attributed to the wobble I was seeing a lot.

Anyone got any good guides on how to replace wheel bearings?
____________________
Past: 55 Sym Jet, 91 ZZR250, 03 NSR125R. Present: 97 ER-5.
https://www.nsr125.co.uk - NSR Owners forum.

[stinkwheel]

No guides as such, but some tips:

1) Kawasakis have a big circlip holding the berarings in. Remove this first before hammering the shit out of it for ages and getting nowhere.

2) Buy a proper punch. You can do it with a bolt but a punch (with the facing filed square) is a lot easier.

3) They are totally standard size bearings. DO NOT buy them from a motorbike shop unless you want to pay five times what a bearing factors would charge. All three bearings are a different size on your bike.

4) If they are the original bearings, they are probably open ones with a seperate dust seal. Read the bearing number off the side of them and order ones using that number with "2RS" added to the end (denoting 2 rubber seals) these are sealed, pre-packed with grease and need no maintainance.

So, these are the bearing numbers for an ER5 (according to google). If you tell these to a bearing factor (yellow pages) they'll know what you mean.
Left: 6203 2RS Right: 6303 2RS Sprocket: 6205 2RS

After that it's down to cost. Generally speaking more expensive = better. FAG and SKF are two good makes I know.

So procedure:
Remove circlip.

Knock central 'tube' that goes between the bearings to one side exposing a slight lip on the inner race of a bearing.

Using a hammer and a drift against the inner race, tap the old bearing out, working round the bearing so it comes out square.

Lift out the tube.

Drift out the other bearing, you can use a socket set extension bar for this one, again butt against the inner race to remove it.

Make sure the bearing seats are clean and in good nick.

Drift in the first bearing until it is fully seated. Use something that is almost the same diameter as the outside of the bearing which butts against the outer race. Make sure you are absolutely square as it goes in. I usually use a big socket and extension bar for this job. You will be able to hear when the bearing is fully driven home.

Re-insert the tube and start tapping the second bearing in.

Once it's started, I usually locate the central tube by sliding a rolled up bit of cardboard through the middle of both bearings and the tube to hold it in place. I then drift the second bearing in until its inner race butts against the tube.

Replace the circlip.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Meshuggah]

I had the same problem on my Fazer. Took it to the garage and they had to replace the sprocket and chain.
Problem solved.
It was something around 150 £ if I'm not wrong.

[ncrn]

Cheers stinkwheel, I don't own a punch or a drift (not really sure what they are?) but will try to source them out before the bearings get here.

I re-fitted the wheel with a new o-ring and the wobble has massively reduced, all the same the bearings need swapping so will do that when they get here.
____________________
Past: 55 Sym Jet, 91 ZZR250, 03 NSR125R. Present: 97 ER-5.
https://www.nsr125.co.uk - NSR Owners forum.

[Pete.]

The o-ring is to keep out water & dirt and you can't rely on it for keeping the rotating assembly running true. Any notchiness in a bearing is bad news and a sign of impending failiure so you're doing the right thing by changing them all. You should check the manual by the way because many bikes specify one bearing be fitted before the other, so that the wheel is held in proper alignment.
____________________
a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[stinkwheel]

[ncrn]

[finiteresourc...]

I had the same issue - see video here

The problem was the sprocket carrier bearing - 2mm play in the bearing. Got bearing & outer dust seal from Wemoto for £11.31 inc postage.

On the ER-500 A1, there's a shim that sits between the inner race and the axle - remove this carefully before tapping the bearing out. I just pushed the shim out by hand - comes out on the cush drive side - put it back into the new bearing the same way round that it came out.

Fitting was easier than expected, thanks to stinkwheel - I had the old bearing out and new one seated in the carrier in about 50 mins, ready to grease and reassemble.

Note: My ER-500 A1 did not have a circlip holding the bearing (or a recess for it to seat into, so I don't think it's just missing).

Service Manuals are available if you Google around.
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Past: X7, Bros 400. Present: ER-5 (A1-98). Wishlist: 97 Speed Triple or Bros

[orac]

if you dont have anything other than a big hammer to fit the new bearing i would recomend using the old bearing as a drift. trying not to hit anything other than the outter race while keeping everything square is very hard. you should not use any other part of the bearing to puch it into place.

i got alot of noise from my carrier bearing the other day, it had no feelable play, just a tiny little bit of ruffness when turned. i new bearing, some use a of a large hammer later and the noise is gone.


also dunno if any of you guys have made a bearing fitting tool. some threaded bar, washers and nut for either end will allow you to draw them in correctly, again use the old bearings between the washers and new bearings