Suspension Greasing Frequency

[Tom Ludolff]

I just finished greasing my suspension bearings on my '03 KDX220 per the recommendation of many on this site. After only about 20 hours of riding, I was horrified at the amount of wear and corrosion I saw on the main swingarm bolt!!! The factory did not grease it or any of the pivot bolts at all!!! Bone Dry!!! The bearings had a VERY SMALL AMOUNT of VERY LIGHT grease. They would definitely not have lasted long. I packed the daylights out of them with gobbs and gobbs of waterproof bearing grease, as much as they would hold, oozing out everywhere. It took me a good 10 hours or so to thoroughly clean, lube, and reassemble everything. So, how often should I do this, now that everything is packed with a ton of grease??? I'm guessing I should at least be able to go 2 or 3 years now??? Anyone have some experience they can share???

 

[CaptainObvious]

I do it every winter. Can't ride it (in the NE) so might as well work on it.

 

[Fred T]

Yeah, bear minimum is once per year but it's best to do it about every 6 months, especially that steering stem lower bearing. It's a PITA to change out those bearings, press them out/press them in and especially buying them! That's a job I don't miss -my KTM has no linkage to grease. :yeehaw:

 

[tedkxkdx]

Put some grease zirks on your your bolt and drill some holes so the grease can reach thru, then u don't have to disassemble the swingarm. The bearing that is at the bottom of the shock to linkage is the one that gets the most wear. The frequency of lubing will Depend on the conditions you ride in and how you wash your bike, but you can use that bearing to guage the others need for grease.

 

[gooby]

I just spent this weekend doing my kdx and klx....both at the same time.That's a lot of bearings,stem, rear,wheel.Better listen to those guys....at least once a year ! I do and still had to replace bearings.I forgot what a job it is and doing 2 bikes at once reminded me real quick.However ,if you don't .... the job is much worse and costly.

 

[GreenPeace]

Did anyoune tried to replace the bearings with a vesconite bush? ( or similar material? )

 

[canyncarvr]

re: how often

Often enough. 2-3 years is good if you ride 2-3 times during that period. ;) As mentioned, the bottom shock bearing gets a large amount of hurtin' for certain. Beside that, the oem bearing itself is a piece-`o-junk. I've gotten four of them from kawi and every one of them looks like there's enough space in the cage for another roller! They're crooked out of the box!

Yes, I've looked for a suitable replacement.

Yes. The bushing idea has been discussed. Material types, sleeve useage or not etc etc. Never heard of anyone that had a successful experience with it.

re: zerks

Do some research on this. Been hashed and rehashed. **Note** what you get with a zerk and holes in the pivot bolt. You'll get some grease between the bolt and the sleeve (which isn't a bad idea), but it won't do the bearings any good. You'll need to put the fitting on the outside of swingarm for that.