Rear Bearings on Big Red

[bigredhead]

Ok here goes.

Having shaft drive, 84 200 ES big red, when your rear bearings are in need of replacement, is it easy to tell ?

I've seen shot rear bearings on the chain drives and you simply pick up the rear rack and "wiggle it , just a little bit"< who sings that again? and you can tell from the freeplay..

Will you get this on shaft drive systems as well ?

I don't want to let them go and ruin something, but i don't want to tear the rear end apart just to check them either. ( i will if i have to .but ya know

.. )

[smokinp]

yep,just check them the same as a chain dirve bike,if they have never been changed(how long have you had the trike?)then I would change them.I changed them on my 84 200es and its a lot harder then a chain drive model.I would get a manual for it...

[bigredhead]

Oh i do have the manual. ( but i'm at work at the moment, and realllly bored.. )

I've had it for about 9 months or so. And i don't know if the previous owner did them or not.

I read the whole thing, but can't recall where it says how to check them ( without taking the whole thing apart )

[BIGCRIP28]

You should open it up and check them. On a 250 big red some guy I know was riding around the house then all of a sudden I heard a weird noise and seen the back tire with half of the broken axle on it fly across the yard. We did some investigation and seen that there wasnt really any oil in it just mostly mud and water. Their was rust everywhere inside of it. The bearings were really rough and the housing is so rusted i dont even think it would hold a seal now. The bearings were really rough. If you change the bearings it would be a good idea to do all the seals too. The little boot between the engine and drive shaft tube should also be checked for cracks where water could get in. It isnt that hard of a job to do, but it is pretty expensive. Some guy I talked to said the complete rear end bearing set would be around $200. You also need new seals too. As far as diagnosis the only way to truly tell is to take it apart, you could maybe hear a noise that would warn you.