Possible failing bearing

[The Atomic Ass]

I was heading to work the other day, when all of a sudden SCCRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCHH. Stopped the engine, pulled over, and anytime I cranked the engine there was a terrible howl.

Turns out it's just the front fixed-face pulley moved out far enough to contact the metal transmission cover. But it still begged the question of why? So after a little digging around I noticed that the outer pulley face wasn't fully seating on the splines, which lead me to the crankshaft ball-bearing pack, whose inner race is now poking out about 3/16".

It will not go back in with tapping, it's rock solid. It doesn't seem to want to come out without a load on the shaft, either, and the engine, without the transmission installed, is still as smooth as a single can be.

A cursory glance through the service manual reveals the necessity of a COMPLETE teardown just to remove the crankshaft, which is required to access the bearing for replacement. Wonderful design, Suzuki.

Anybody around Ohio happen to have a small scooter/motorcycle they aren't using at the moment?

[janvos39]

That is bad luck Atomic. But it is very educating when you take the engine apart yourself. Some special tools are needed though for engine disassembly as is described in the manual. It is a little bit too far for me to come over and assist.

[The Atomic Ass]

Originally Posted by janvos39

That is bad luck Atomic. But it is very educating when you take the engine apart yourself. Some special tools are needed though for engine disassembly as is described in the manual. It is a little bit too far for me to come over and assist.

Well, changing the bearing at the moment is not possible. According to the manual, the engine needs to be almost completely disassembled to get at this one bearing, and until my Ninja 250 gets fixed, I have no other transportation, so I'm going to have to limp along as is.

I really don't like taking apart engines that don't have internal issues, either.