just got back from a 3 week tour of scandinavia and my rear wheel bearing gave up the ghost in bumble **** Denmark. damn thing smashed to pieces during a hard, banked turn and nearly bucked me off. major brown trouser time!

Anyone looking for the seals - I've just ordered them from Lancashire seals here:

Disc Side: 23x40x7mm
Sprocket side: 30x52x7mm

�8.55 delivered for the full set front and rear. Thanks for the help guys!

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XT660Z

AltecH Wheels
Wheel building and refurbishment, UK wide
AltecH Designs
XT660 Radiator guards, sprocket guards, luggage racks, DNA air filter covers

Hey guys, am just about to have my sprocket carrier lathed out to hold the 4304-2RS double row bearing. Some have suggested lathing 5mm. Problem is the difference between the standard 6304-2RS and the new bearing is 6mm. Guess 6mm machining it is then for me. Anyone experience similar differences?

Also my sprocket carrier where the bearing sits in is quite warn. The bearing slips in and out easily. Am going to use retaining compound medium strength to hold it firmly in place. Have some poly urethane rubbers to go in so looking forward to feeling the difference.

I want to do some preventative maintenance as well and I'm thinking of replacing all the bearings on the bike. This way I will know what mileage they have on them in the future.

What I have so far is the two bearings on the front wheel, the two in the handlebars/forks, the two in the rear wheel and then two in the swing arm.

Am I missing any?

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Yeah... Nine bearings (and two bushes)

There are two more in/under the swingarm where the dog bones mount to it and don't forget the six in the suspension linkage relay. Also you may need the two bushes to go with the two swingarm pivot bearing. You haven't mentioned the sprocket carrier bearing either. Do you REALLY need to replace them all?

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Probably not. I was thinking of changing the ones I mentioned for my peace of mind. I don't know if they were ever checked or replaced at the intervals stated in the manual. I'll also have to do the others you mentioned except for the suspension linkage relay. That will depend on how much work it is.

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TBH, the wheel bearings are fairly easy to do and don't seem to give up any quicker than on any other bike. You're probably better off leaving them until they show signs of trouble. Same with the sprocket carrier bearing really. I know some have had them collapse with some disastrous results, but it's fairly easy to change and they do last if the chain is correctly aligned and cush rubbers are regularly changed, packed out or fitted with polyurethane items.

It is the headrace, swingarm, relay bearings that are the real issue on these bikes as, unless attended to early, will not last and (particularly the swingarm pivots) can be a real ball-ache to do if the swingarm through bolt gets seized in the bushes/inner races. Preventative maintenance is key to long service life. It is definitely worth putting in the effort here.

My headrace, swingarm pivot bearing/bushes and the relay bearings are all original, 8 years old and have covered about 34K miles. I can only think they've done so well because I stripped it all down and greased them at around 10K miles. I've stripped them one further time (at about 22K) and they're were in far better nick than they were on the original strip down. I also removed all the crappy MPL solid lubricant the second time round too. Both times all the seals were replaced and waterproof grease used.

I would recommend focussing any preventative bearing maintenance on headrace and swingarm/relay, especially if you don not know when it was done, if its ever been done at all? You will reap the benefits of your efforts in the long term.

Ohlins wrote an excellent walkthrough guide on doing the swingarm and relay. Have a look and see what is involved:

http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?t=25584

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Thanks Pleiades. Sensible reply, as always. I think I'll give it all a good clean and grease with the guide from Ohlins. That is a great guide indeed.

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