Whoever did this, should not be working on motorcycles

[KrisZ]

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.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Dang good thing no one was hurt because of it. I haven’t ever seen a fully assembled one so I kinda can picture what it looks like.

 

[Oro_O]

The only good thing about mechanics like that, is that then mechanics like me get fantastic or even unbelievable deals on outstanding vehicles.

 

[KGMtech]

Wow, that's something. What I can't understand is why the previous owner didn't take it back for investigation? You benefit, but can you imagine this going unfixed and ridden by some poor, less than aware rider.

 

[KrisZ]

I wondered too why the seller didn't go back to get this fixed, but he must've had his reasons and I got a deal as a result. I got the bike back on the road for around $35 and a bit of my time, so no complaints here.

 

[BusyLittleShop]

Maintenance malpractice...

 

[Randol]

Good job! Neat Bike. I have discovered similar things. I think that these bikes are less likely to wear out, and more likely to die due to so called "mechanics"

 

[ChristianReske]

This is a classic. It happens often. The nasty thing about this spacers is that they get lost easily when you put the sprocket carrier on the workbench with the sprocket up. On a messy workbench, with a bit of hurry, the mechanic grabs the sprocket carrier for re-install and dont notice that the sapcer is falling out and still lies on the workbench. This happens.
Lesson: Take your time, dont hurry, keep your workbench tidy.

 

[Bonz]

Agree!

 

[Degreaser]

congrats on finding and fixing the problem, great bike

 

[DGXR]

I didn't know a tire change required any fiddling with the wheel bearings.
But holy crap what a mess. Glad you got it fixed up proper. Enjoy the ride.

 

[Bonz]

The tire change didn’t involve fiddling with the bearings. There’s a spacer that goes between the wheel hub and the sprocket carrier. That spacer was not in there so when things were tightened down there was a void where there should be a spacer. Ergo, the stability wasn’t there and over time the wheel hub bearings were shot.