200ES axel bearing questions

[nathan lovern]

Hi,
Nathan lovern here. i was changeing my back brakers on my 84 200ES and noticed my back axel bearings are worn, about 1/8 in play on brake side up/down play. Will it be ok to still use it this winter till tax time to get new bearings? My worry is it being gear driven it may bess up the mesh of the gears. I found some bearing sets on ebay cheep ( $35) but still prob cant get till tax time :-(
I call her ol smoky:-) smokes like a train and used a quart of oil in a month but runs good. My rebuild top end at tax time also.
How hard is it to replace the rear axel bearings anyway?
Thanks
Nathan Lovern,Va

[kb0nly]

They will probably get you buy for a little while yet, but they definitely should be replaced if you have that much play in them. They are not that hard to do, at least in my opinion. If you were able to replace the brakes then you already know how hard it is to get it all apart on that side.

[tri again]

Do those bearings get lube from the gear oil?
or are they sealed/greased bearings?

service manual
should pop up as a clickable link
and yeah, we all know how hard it is to not ride and hope things don't get worse.

That model was the largest number ever produced so that good to know.
There has to be tons of parts and parts machines avail.

[kb0nly]

The bearings are lubricated by the gear oil in the rear case, its important to keep that gear lube fresh and i like to drain it then pump through a few pumps of fresh gear lube to rinse the last of the old stuff out of the bottom of the case.

When it comes time to replace them there is kits available with the bearings and all the seals needed to do the job, you don't replace the seals you will have a leak for sure trying to re-use them.

Manuals are also available from my server, see link below in my signature.