Koyo Rear Wheel Bearings

[Trk90]

Hello!

I’m replacing the rear wheel axle bearings in my 1990 Geo Tracker—finally started to rumble after 150k.  

My question…has anyone ever come across why the bearings are supplied with only the outward seal? The original Koyo’s that I’m replacing have both inward and outward seals. The bearing that went bad actually looks like the grease oozed out from around the outward seal and started going dry. I always thought that the seals kept the grease in and kept the contamination out?

Any info is appreciated.

[Trk90]

I never did find an answer regarding the omission of the inward seal. A rep from Koyo informed me the inward seal omission was due to a design change initiated by Suzuki—whatever that was, I don’t have a clue. I plan on adding one of my original seals to the new bearing. At least it should help keep the grease in place which was an issue with the original.

[fixkick]

the bearings are sold many ways even in 4 part kits, (1 bearing 2 seals and 1 collar)

so the bearing lip seal is missing 1RS bearing, 1 lip seal not 2 RS 2 lip seal bearings
the bearings are sold in vast ways now, (not suzuki.com they are discontinued) REAR AXLES parts.
8 bearing seal types. (none = open and 7 seal types) (seen at Timken)
china junk bearings a.k.a. NO BRAND. (knockoffs etc)
there is no Koyo Ecatalog now, to see suzuki parts. look up.
Timken sells all 8 bearing types (1 size) for here. 2RS is 2 lip seals, there are dust seal types too and are dead wrong for this car.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tmk-5...l/sidekick
as you can see the Timken bearing 511004 ,is double lip sealed.

the grease seen on the balls (eyeballs sees grease 1RS or open bearings that means the grease is junk packing grease. (I use paint thinner to clean that all off)
the bearing may have an offset, did you check that? (center of bearing hub offset)
the inward seal sure can be missing, and must be fully greased by hand, after cleaning the balls of all packing grease
as you can see if the inboard axle seal fails, the new bearing works like the old open bearing GL5 lubed SAMURAI
that is my guess, the bearing can now default to GL5 lub , method
GL5 is Gear lube rear axle .



Timken Wheel Bearings 511004

I am not the car or bearing designer, just a messenger /tech
bearings are complex, for sure the flooding of china junk parts, here, finding quality parts can be super hard today.
if the RTV steps are followed in the manual, the open bearings and top branded grease work just fine.
in fact this way even allows more grease to be there, (may be better IDK)
all new seals is best if doing this job only once.

The car was made in 1990( after july 1989) and used IWATA made japan axle full assemblies for track kicks and sunrunners. and the vitara's world wide.
and what they used then i have no clue.
Koyo is a great guess,but no part numbers ever posted here of the old bearings, (stamp'ings)






as you can see the Timken bearing 511004 ,is double lip sealed.

the success will be, using the best grease. Mobile 1,or aircraft grease as I show here
https://fixkick.com/fw-bearings#Grease-extreme

see the ASTM spec there on high temp grease (and low)
??? cheap grease is cheaper.

[fixkick]

My new Timken's are packed in dry nitrogen gas (no grease) and says on the sealed plastic do not open until ,installed. ending this usage of packing grease forever...
last one I bought are dry nitrogen packed,
this is because the maker (savvy to the max) knows they their bearings failed in short time because the installer did not read the paper inside the box.
it said , this is packing grease to not run the bearing on any car with only packing grease
if you can see the grease there, the grease is 100% dead wrong to use.
easy no? open bearings of any kind for sure NOS , new old stock with this silly grease inside?
closed bearings are ready to run./
each maker of bearing does their own thing here. (but packing grease seen is no good)>> to drive 100k + miles , no good.
the bearing rust in be box (steel) unless packing grease or dry nitrogen or other inert gases are used,
what worst are no name bearings, from 12,000 miles away,

[Trk90]

My new Timken's are packed in dry nitrogen gas (no grease) and says on the sealed plastic do not open until ,installed. ending this usage of packing grease forever...
last one I bought are dry nitrogen packed,
this is because the maker (savvy to the max) knows they their bearings failed in short time because the installer did not read the paper inside the box.
it said , this is packing grease to not run the bearing on any car with only packing grease
if you can see the grease there, the grease is 100% dead wrong to use.
easy no? open bearings of any kind for sure NOS , new  old stock with this silly grease inside?
closed bearings are ready to run./
each maker of bearing does their own thing here.  (but packing grease seen is no good)>> to drive 100k + miles , no good.
the bearing rust in be box (steel) unless packing grease or dry nitrogen or other inert gases are used,
what worst are no name bearings, from 12,000 miles away,

The original Koyo’s in my 1990 are exactly the same as the replacements minus the dust seal. The new seal has the same stamping as the original. The lubricant is Shell Alvania 2 according to the spec number given to me by the JTEKT rep. I believe it has been renamed Shell Gadus. Also, the bearings are prelubricated according to their 30-50% capacity.  I figure that the original bearings lasted 150k with both dust shields so why change it especially if I don’t know the reason.

Bearing Seal

[fixkick]

thanks for sharing real Koyo facts. (hard to get those)
the only reason for Suzuki to do that (after the books on this car were printed 1989/90
is to increase grease volume. for longer lasting grease.
you'd have to add the grease. but not too much as it expands hot and would find a way to leak out.
just like boat trailer bearings do. or worse. under water they suck water in , launching a boat, the same reasons. (thermal expansion /conctraction)
that is my only guess here, as the guy at suzuki who did that , is retired. LoL !
and begs the question 89 >98 did suzuki do that or GM(geo).??? hummmm 20 chapters of TSB to read. ouch.
I see no TSBs there, on axles, bearing or seals rear of car. even vitaras' I looked out to 2012, when suzuki ended new car sales here.
the original bearing wa 09269-35010 ( 35x80x21mm size) full kit #, 2 seals 1 bearing and 1 collar ring lock.
the FSM also covers this in chapter 4B in the 1996 free FSM manual (off this sticky1) GM1996 tracker
found it, page 9 step 7
FSM reaL
https://acksfaq.com/HTML/pdfs/96-FSM-v1-4b.pdf
gm 1051344 grease.
this is not seen in earlier manuals for sure not suzuki asking for GM greases

Seems it is GM thing only and only 1996 up.
my 2004 Chevy tracker not one word on greases there.


i put this in the gallery.

[fixkick]

in 1996 step 7 changed.
there is no TSB covering this change it is a factory change (ghosted)

and nobody asks why the step 7 has GM grease slapped over, Shell koyo grease. (only GM book states that)

[Trk90]

in 1996 step 7 changed.
there is no TSB covering this change it is a factory change (ghosted)

and nobody asks why the step 7 has GM grease slapped over, Shell koyo grease. (only GM book states that)

Nice! That’s more descriptive than the 1990 GM FSM. Also, I like how they added grease sloppiness to the retainer/bearing in the technical drawing.  

The one thing that bothers me about my retainer ring(s) is that both rubberized FIP gaskets were basically destroyed during removal. So much so that I removed them completely. I’m hoping the RTV does its job but I’ve never had 100% success with RTV. Eventually it leaks or on this case doesn’t seal.

Also, in the 1990 FSM, they call for GM# 1052366 sealant which I believe has been replaced by Threebond 1217h according to the internet. Is the Suzuki bond 1215 a rebranded Threebond product as well?

[fixkick]

in 1996 step 7 changed.
there is no TSB covering this change it is a factory change (ghosted)

and nobody asks why the step 7 has GM grease slapped over, Shell koyo grease. (only GM book states that)

Nice! That’s more descriptive than the 1990 GM FSM. Also, I like how they added grease sloppiness to the retainer/bearing in the technical drawing.  

The one thing that bothers me about my retainer ring(s) is that both rubberized FIP gaskets were basically destroyed during removal. So much so that I removed them completely. I’m hoping the RTV does its job but I’ve never had 100% success with RTV. Eventually it leaks or on this case doesn’t seal.

Also, in the 1990 FSM, they call for GM# 1052366 sealant which I believe has been replaced by Threebond 1217h according to the internet. Is the Suzuki bond 1215 a rebranded Threebond product as well?

also the engine oil pan in the SUZ factory is RTV glued on, and then cured and then pressure tested. (no pan gasket used)OEM

the Threebond,  I used on my transmission M/T casings per the FSM. this works great. ( yes is the real maker of Suzuki sealant)
the axles were made in Iwata japan,  i'd bet there is no GM sealants used there in Japan. sure Threebond.
GM's books are very heavily modified, even with errors.

here is my list of errors



http://fixkick.com/IGN_timing/error-galore.html


in some GM FSM books this sealant topic is only covered in the brake pages. 

good luck with yours. some parts are now hard to find.

[Trk90]

in 1996 step 7 changed.
there is no TSB covering this change it is a factory change (ghosted)

and nobody asks why the step 7 has GM grease slapped over, Shell koyo grease. (only GM book states that)

Nice! That’s more descriptive than the 1990 GM FSM. Also, I like how they added grease sloppiness to the retainer/bearing in the technical drawing.  

The one thing that bothers me about my retainer ring(s) is that both rubberized FIP gaskets were basically destroyed during removal. So much so that I removed them completely. I’m hoping the RTV does its job but I’ve never had 100% success with RTV. Eventually it leaks or on this case doesn’t seal.

Also, in the 1990 FSM, they call for GM# 1052366 sealant which I believe has been replaced by Threebond 1217h according to the internet. Is the Suzuki bond 1215 a rebranded Threebond product as well?

also the engine oil pan in the SUZ factory is RTV glued on, and then cured and then pressure tested. (no pan gasket used)OEM

the Threebond,  I used on my transmission M/T casings per the FSM. this works great. ( yes is the real maker of Suzuki sealant)
the axles were made in Iwata japan,  i'd bet there is no GM sealants used there in Japan. sure Threebond.
GM's books are very heavily modified, even with errors.

here is my list of errors



http://fixkick.com/IGN_timing/error-galore.html


in some GM FSM books this sealant topic is only covered in the brake pages. 

good luck with yours. some parts are now hard to find.

Thanks!  

Two things worth mentioning…  

First: I wasn’t able to use the inner dust seal. I overlooked the fact that the inner race ridge was removed. They kept the ridge on the outer ring but eliminated it on the inner race. My bad!  

Second: After completing the job, I don’t think the omission of the inner seal will have any effect on lubrication. The bearing fits up against the axle housing and the only open void is the bevel towards the inner oil seal. I added a little extra grease in this area which should be around the bearing retainer ring if I could see it.

I will say that parts are crazy hard to find (unless you use non-Suzuki which aren’t the same in my opinion) and the prices have nearly tripled or more in some instances. Only one of my brake backing plates is still available from Japan and its price is over $450. I have come to the realization that my Tracker is closer to the junkyard than I might think.  

Thanks again for your insight!