Hello everyone. Last check before ordering stuff to rebuild my engine I noticed that the crankcase bearings don't move so smooth. Seems like they have sand in them or something like that. When I move them It feels grainy (don't know how to say it). So I decided to replace them all. I read something about SKF bearings for replacement being cheaper and as good as OEM. But when I sent an inquiry to my local dealer he asked me a lot of questions, whether I need them sealed or not, sealed with rubber or metal, if I need them with safety groove (I guess it is translated) on the outer ring or not. Does anyone know the right description for all bearings in the crankcase and clearance requirement? I inquired for CN (clearance - normal) as I read they all are. Prices are real good versus OEM ones. I counted 8 of them so far, but please do mention if there are any that slipped my sight.
As I saw a lot of negative opinions on All Balls bearings I could go for SKF for the rest of the bearings on swing-arm, shock linkage, wheels and steering head. But I haven't the slightest clue on the matches from SKF so If anyone has any info to share I would very much appreciate that.

Hey Bob,
There are lots of good bearings out there ... SKF are but one of several. I agree ... avoid the crap ALL BALLS bearings. Some Chinese bearings are good and many companies have their bearings produced there now ... but ALL BALLS are low dollar junk re-branded by MOOSE.  

I'm no machinist but I'm thinking an expert may be required to figure out which ones match your Suzuki bearings. If I was doing it I'd remove all the "old" bearings that need replacing and take them ... in person ... to a good bearing supply house. Most are common size bearings and I'm sure a good bearing guy could match up ones that will work, should have most in stock or can order what you need ... and get the RIGHT ONES , first time out.

IIRC, most Suzuki bearings are Koyo, an excellent Grade A Japanese bearing used in many Japanese products (Lexus, Honda, et al).
But SKF are good too ... as are FAG bearings. (German).

I'm really surprised your crankcase bearings feel rough. How did that happen? Did someone sabotage your motor ... like put sand in it? Not much can ruin those bearings. I've had 3 DR's, only lost one when the NSU bolt chewed up the trans. No bad bearings anywhere in that motor ... it had 35K miles when I parted it out.
The buyer used the whole crankcase and installed his own gear box. He broke his case on a rock (no skid plate!).

You may find a good cross reference chart you can feed in your stock Koyo bearing numbers to and get equivalent bearings from other brands. Any good bearing store should have this. But you need to have your "bad" bearings out first to be sure of the numbers.

If you have trouble finding what you need I would not hesitate using stock Suzuki Koyo bearings. I know they are expensive .... but at least they fit.

PS : Did you know you can't buy a "whole" DR650 motor? (or any Suzuki motor). You can ONLY buy parts!

Good luck, I hope the rebuild goes well.

Here you go

http://drriders.com/topic235.html

MXRob's topic is a great place to start, however I disagree with him on one point. I replaced all my lower end bearings with SKF because the pinned bearing on the input shaft failed. With a lot og googling I was left with the impression that the bearing was of CHINESE origin. The name stamped on the original bearing took me to a website that said the company had divested its bearing business a long time ago.

If you use the Suzuki replacement part, you will likely end up with another Chinese bearing.

I replaced this bearing with an SKF bearing of the same size, but used bearing adhesive to make sure it didn't walk while in use. I have had no problems.

I wish I had found Rob's post while I was sourcing my bearings. It would have saved me a lot of time measuring them with a caliper. No harm done, though. Worked out fine. Got them all from SimplyBearings in the UK (after discussing sourcing with them) for much, much less than the OEM replacements.

rowie, on 16 June 2012 - 04:43 AM, said:

Thank you!

Well, I don't know exactly what happened with the bearings, they seemed smooth when I opened the crankcase but now they are not so smooth. Seeing the SKF prices convinced me to change all of them just to be sure, since everything is appart and all...
One more 63/22 bearing with pin to trace down and then I will start rebuilding the crankcase. The original 63/22 with pin costs more than all of the SKF bearings together. It costs 74 euro without shipping versus 40 euro for all the other 7.


Later edit:

Also I see that some recommend that SKF 6004 SKF 6305 and SKF 6203 to have one sealing. Is that with metal or plastic sealing? I know that plastic sealing has a rev limit. Is it ok with plastic? I found double sided but I could remove one.

Edited by bob808, 18 June 2012 - 02:46 AM.

bob808, on 18 June 2012 - 02:29 AM, said:

Whatever was in the motor works fine. If memory serves, most of the half-sealed bearings are plastic or rubber and came with both seals in place. I simply removed one. I think there was one or two small ones that were steel on both sides (clutch basket?). Just be sure to assemble the same way they were originally as the half sealed bearings guide oil passage to other areas.

I don't think you'll find that pinned bearing anywhere but Suzuki. My theory (since that's the one that almost flew apart on me) is that they used a cheap bearing for ease of adding that pin. Good bearing races are very, very hard and drilling thousands of those bearings to put in that piece of rolled sheet steel (it's not even a real pin) would get expensive. In my case the pinned bearing was 14 grams lighter than the other of the exact same dimensions. Granted, it has lost a lot of material as it disintegrated, but it still seemed too light. I replaced mine with an appropriate SKF bearing and used bearing retainer to lock it in place. I'm sure the retaining plate also helps. No problems and I've ridden thousands of miles on it.

If you look on that bearing you'll probably find that it says HIC as the manufacturer. I found them in Japan, but their website said they sold their bearing business a long time ago. After that, all I could find were chinese knock-offs.

I only got the two larger ones (they had a bit of play) as the rest ran smooth after cleaning. I am only waiting for a friend to come back from the states with my parts. Got some stuff from Procycle and I was lucky as I don't have to pay transport or tax on the parts. After I start to build her up I'll post some pictures of the progress. Only thing that I'm afraid is that I opened the engine some time ago and hope that I can still put it back But the service manual is my friend so I should be ok