I recently purchased a 2013 Suzuki SFV650 aka Gladius from an owner that claimed something went wrong with the rear wheel shortly after he got the tires installed.
I flat bedded the bike home and started to work on it. The axle was very difficult to remove and had to be hammered out. Once the wheel was out, I found out why. One of the rear wheel bearings was totally shot and another one freely floating in the sprocket hub area along with the spacer. No wonder the axle was difficult to remove, as the spacer was floating freely without the support of the second bearing.
The culprit of all of this? Missing second spacer that goes between the wheel bearing and the sprocket hub bearing. Without it, there was nothing holding the inner bearing races braced, so the pressure from the axle nut made one of the bearings wiggle itself out, leaving all load on the one that was now shot.
Not sure who did the tire change, but it is quite obvious they forgot this crucial piece of hardware when reinstalling everything and lucky the previous owner did not wreck.
Thanks to ebay I got the missing spacer along with a new set of bearings and grease seals. The bike is up and running with no issues now.
I flat bedded the bike home and started to work on it. The axle was very difficult to remove and had to be hammered out. Once the wheel was out, I found out why. One of the rear wheel bearings was totally shot and another one freely floating in the sprocket hub area along with the spacer. No wonder the axle was difficult to remove, as the spacer was floating freely without the support of the second bearing.
The culprit of all of this? Missing second spacer that goes between the wheel bearing and the sprocket hub bearing. Without it, there was nothing holding the inner bearing races braced, so the pressure from the axle nut made one of the bearings wiggle itself out, leaving all load on the one that was now shot.
Not sure who did the tire change, but it is quite obvious they forgot this crucial piece of hardware when reinstalling everything and lucky the previous owner did not wreck.
Thanks to ebay I got the missing spacer along with a new set of bearings and grease seals. The bike is up and running with no issues now.