Crystalyte X5 Bearings Shot in only 4 Months?

[calinb]

The lateral play at the rim is becoming significant (about 1mm side to side). My axle and nuts are secure in the dropouts. Are the bearings in my 5304 Cruiser going bad already? If yes, does anyone know of a quality 3rd party bearing supplier?

My vendor, ElectricRider.com, advertises a 180 day warranty on hub motors but it's probably not worth a claim, if they're only gonna wear out again within 4 months. I'd rather install some decent bearings and avoid the shipping hassle and charges too.

Thanks,

-Cal

 

[lazarus2405]

Well, I can't judge whether bearings are your problem, nor how quickly replacement ones will wear out, but ebikes.ca has them.I believe that they're just the same clyte bearings, but it's better than shipping off a motor.

 

[D-Man]

I'd just get new replacement bearings. It's probably a defect during the manufacturing process. Like maybe they forgot to put the grease in. I remember of only one other member who had this problem but it was long ago. If you ride in rain make sure you have a drip loop in the wire harness so water doesn't feed into motor bearing.

 

[Ypedal]

They are sealed bearings, so if the axle is improperly machined or the bearings were hammered in un-evenly etc.. they could wear out unusually fast.... otherwise they last a lifetime..

It's a common size, all-balls or Timken(tomken? ) brands are ok, if you pop them out and bring it with you to a bearing place they can match them up for sure.

 

[Drunkskunk]

The lateral play at the rim is becoming significant (about 1mm side to side). My axle and nuts are secure in the dropouts. Are the bearings in my 5304 Cruiser going bad already? If yes, does anyone know of a quality 3rd party bearing supplier?
-Cal

They are ball bearings, not the cone bearings normaly found in a bike hub, so they havea loosertollerance to side play but superior rolling efficancy.

1mm side play is nothing, mine have 1/8 inch each way, and have since new. its inherent in the bearing design. If you want a better bearing, any industrial supplyer should be able to size them and get you some Japanese timken bearings, but the effort and expense won't gain you anything. you'll stiill have side play. if there isn't any side play in this type of bearing, they would jam.

 

[D-Man]

Mine don't have any play. Solid as a rock. Maybe there is a difference from a front motor to a rear motor? Shouldn't be.

 

[fechter]

You might take apart one side of the motor and see if the play is in the bearing itself or just between the bearing and the axle.

The X5 motors have plastic washers on the axle that take up the lateral clearance on the bearings. Perhaps yours melted or just needed to be thicker. If there's too much clearance, the side cover can possibly make contact with the windings (bad).

 

[calinb]

All great advice! Thanks to everyone! Given that others have reported play since new, I may monitor it for a while and see if it gets worse, but I think I would've noticed it if was there when it was new.

> You might take apart one side of the motor and see if the play is in the bearing itself or just between the bearing and the axle.

I'll take a look, fechter. It feels like the play is not end play that could be taken up with a thrust washer like you've shown in your picture. When I try to just push the wheel back and forth in line with the axle, it doesn't move. I could be wrong, however, because it's tough to tell exactly what's loose with the wheel on the bike. The only thing I know for sure is the play is not coming from the axle in the dropouts. Thanks for taking the time to upload that pic! To be safe, I guess I'd better check to make sure my cover screws are tight. I've had the cover off once before and it looks like a loose cover would result in end play.

-Cal