Hey FTE,

I was wondering if people commonly reuse the wheel bearings when they swap out rotors? If so, what things to consider?

I recently did this and installed the old bearings without the races into a new rotor.... I'm going to have to redo this project and was wondering if i should just get all new bearings for the front tire sets.

 

YES.

New rotor should come with the outer race. Inner race could be stuck on the spindle. If it doesn't look pitted, worn or crack you may re-use it. As far a the rollers, change them, they are not that expensive and your live rides on them and they tend to screw up at the worst moment (like in the middle of New Mexico on a 900 miles overnight trip so you end up limping to an Auto Zone and fix it in their parking lot until 3 am)

 

Sure, change them. They're cheap and easy while the rotor is out.

I have reused them if on inspection they looked new. But typically I had done all of the service and new the last time they were changed.

 

so I'm kind of dumb and not so keen on the terminology here. when you say rollers, do you mean the cylindrical bearings housed in a single doughnut shaped metal sheath? and when you say racers, you mean the ring that they ride on? I did the job already and easily removed the rollers (as i pseudo-defined above) then put them into the rotors without installing any races or removing the old ones from the old rotors.

I didnt know what I was looking for when trying this out so I couldnt tell if there were races in either! now I removed the old races from the rotors, so they defiantly had some, ill upload a photo later. I think what i need to do is redo the job and either install the old races with the bearings or buy all new.

 

You got it. After re-checking how these bearings look like, I need to modify my comment. The inner ring (race) is integral with the roller cage . With a bearing puller you should be able to remove it easily. If the bearing fails, removing the ring is very hard as you will not have an edge to grab. I think it is worth replacing them.

 

Don't screw with the old races. Leave em where they are. You'll damage them in removing them. Go buy new quality bearings, not the cheap stuff, ask for the best quality, like SKF, National, Timken. The store brand ****, is just that...……...****. Pack them with a good quality name brand grease. Ditto for the seals, stay way from the store brand stuff.

 

 

I would never reuse those races. Not only because of what they look like, but they could be damaged from hammering them out of the hubs. (then hammering them back in)

 

I rarely replace bearings....I look at the color of the rollers and If I see blueing or any discoloration , I replace them along with the rotors....I have never replaced bearing races ....I just change the rotors...Then again I re-pack the bearings every time I service the Pads / Calipers.....