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First of all forgive me all the writing. I read through quite a few threads on the vtxcafé and the vtxoa site, and asked several questions before I was able to understand the problem and what could be a possible fix. Here is a link that I read through to understand what was going on and why we are having this issue: Its long and has some very detailed information, excellent read:
bareass choppers flange bearing write up link
So after all this, I thought that I’d do a write up to help other guys out there like me who were lost at what flange bearings were and where they went and how to change them. At least this would be a starting point…..
How do you if the flange bearings are bad:
With the rear wheel off, visually inspect the bearings. Do they look damaged or the seal is broken. If they look fine, then turn the bearings in the flange with your finger. If they are turn smoothly, then they are fine. However, if they turn with any amount of roughness or you can feel the ball rubbing and turning, then they are bad and need replacement.
Removing Rear Tire:
The steps below may not be what the book says, but they work just fine for me…..
Raise the bike & tie down bike.
Loosen the “stopper pin bolt” for the rear caliper and pull back as far as possible (stops at the pipes in my case)
Remove the first hose clamp bolt upstream of the rear caliper.
Loosen and remove the axle nut.
Pull the axle out and collar falls out.
Pull the caliper up and out and support it (I usually just it on a towel placed over my pipes).
Remove the rear wheel by moving it towards the right to disengage it from the final drive and off.
Removing the Flange A and B:
Refer to page 14-7 of the service manual for the rear wheel assembly picture/diagram. There isn’t a whole bunch of info about the flange (known in the service book as “final drive flange A”) in the service manual since Honda sells it’s as a unit (flange + bearings).
Since you are going to be removing the flange to change the bearings, you might as well remove “flange B” and clean out the area that holds the rubber damper to help increase the life of those dampers.
Lay a clean towel or cloth down so that it prevents and damage to the rear rotor and lay the tire on its rotor side down on that towel.
Remove the 5 lug nuts that hold the flange onto the wheel.
Remove flange A by prying it upwards gently from the opposite sides using two flat head screw drivers to work it up and out of the lugs.
Remove the stopper ring using ring pliers
Grabbing the lugs by the fingers, pull on flange B and work it out by gently rocking it back and forth.
Remove the rubber dampers.
Cleaning:
Remove the rubber O rings from the Flange A and the wheel hub. Clean them using a dry clean rag and store them in a safe place.
Clean the rubber dampers with dishwasher soap and a stiff bristle brush. Make sure you don’t damage the dampers.
To clean up the next two items, I used a clean rag and some paint thinner (that is what I had handy).
Clean out the hub (the area behind flange B) including the notch from where the rubber O ring was removed and the slot for the stopper ring.
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Clean up Flange B and the stopper ring.
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Flange (“Flange A”) Bearing Removal, Findings and Fix:
Insert a “blind hole puller” through the sleeve from the back side of the flange and tighten up until the attachment clamps open and are snug against the inside of the sleeve.
Grasp the handle of the puller and raise it so that the flange is hanging off the ground or table surface by an 1” or so.
Slide the hammer up and down a few time and the flange will fall off.
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Turn the flange over and use a socket the fits over the inner bearing race an using a hammer, knock out the two bearings inside the flange bore.
Now clean up the flange
This is where I went to a local machine shop and the guy there put the flange into a machine and he then gave me exact opening diameter of the bore (where the bearings go into) at the top, middle and bottom. The following is what I found (opening is about 1" deep -- Some of you might have read about this in the other thread when I was asking for help with the flange):
inside dia at top of flange opening = 1.6516"
inside dia at mid height of flange opening = 1.6509"
inside dia at bottom of flange opening = 1.6504"
the outside bearing dimension that is going to be placed inside of that hole is 1.6535". There are two bearings that will go into this opening.
From what I saw in the threads either used a flap wheel sander inside the opening to touch it up or took it to a machine shop to open up the bore. The correct way to do it would be to take it to a machine shop.
Take flange to a machine shop to open up the bore so that you could get a 0.0005” to 0.001” press fit. Make sure that the sleeve or “distant collar” has a press fit of 0.0005”. Mine was fine.
Lack of patience to look around and had a load of other things to do and was looking for the cheapest way out since I have been on a budget since the beginning of this year, I chose the flap wheel way and called it a day. However, when I did this, the bearing was clicking, which means that the bore was too still too tight! I ended up damaging the bearing.
So I ended up finding a local machine shop that charged me $80 do open up the flange and press fit the bearings into the flange. Might as well fix the problem correctly the first time. Less down time for the bike.
Installing the bearings + sleeve into flange:
I cleaned up the outer side of the sleeve with 3000 grit paper to remove some rust marks that circled the outside.
I had the machine shop press in the sleeve and the bearings into the flange, but if you are doing it yourself, install the bearings onto the sleeve using a socket that fits just exactly over the inner race. You don’t want to load the bearings, so make sure the socket does not overhang the inner bearing race.
![]()
For an easier fit, put the bearing + sleeve assembly into the freezer overnight. Either heat up the flange in an oven or leaving it out in the sun in the morning and by the afternoon, it will be very hot!
Using a bearing & race installer, install the assembly into the flange.
![]()
![]()
Installing Flange back onto the wheel:
Install the rubber dampers
![]()
Apply moly paste into the O ring groove. Coat the O rings with moly paste and install into the groove.
Install the flange B into the wheel making sure it sets in properly
Install the stopper ring.
Install the flange (flange A) over the lugs and install the nuts to 65 lbs.ft torqe
Apply moly paste into the O ring groove in the flange. Coat the O rings with moly paste and install into the groove.
Apply moly paste to the splines of the flange and the gear case and you ready to install the tire back on.
Well that is it. I would love to have you guys add what you all did or have suggestions or comments that would help others. Please feel free to correct me where I may have gone wrong…..
bareass choppers flange bearing write up link
So after all this, I thought that I’d do a write up to help other guys out there like me who were lost at what flange bearings were and where they went and how to change them. At least this would be a starting point…..
How do you if the flange bearings are bad:
With the rear wheel off, visually inspect the bearings. Do they look damaged or the seal is broken. If they look fine, then turn the bearings in the flange with your finger. If they are turn smoothly, then they are fine. However, if they turn with any amount of roughness or you can feel the ball rubbing and turning, then they are bad and need replacement.
Removing Rear Tire:
The steps below may not be what the book says, but they work just fine for me…..
Raise the bike & tie down bike.
Loosen the “stopper pin bolt” for the rear caliper and pull back as far as possible (stops at the pipes in my case)
Remove the first hose clamp bolt upstream of the rear caliper.
Loosen and remove the axle nut.
Pull the axle out and collar falls out.
Pull the caliper up and out and support it (I usually just it on a towel placed over my pipes).
Remove the rear wheel by moving it towards the right to disengage it from the final drive and off.
Removing the Flange A and B:
Refer to page 14-7 of the service manual for the rear wheel assembly picture/diagram. There isn’t a whole bunch of info about the flange (known in the service book as “final drive flange A”) in the service manual since Honda sells it’s as a unit (flange + bearings).
Since you are going to be removing the flange to change the bearings, you might as well remove “flange B” and clean out the area that holds the rubber damper to help increase the life of those dampers.
Lay a clean towel or cloth down so that it prevents and damage to the rear rotor and lay the tire on its rotor side down on that towel.
Remove the 5 lug nuts that hold the flange onto the wheel.
Remove flange A by prying it upwards gently from the opposite sides using two flat head screw drivers to work it up and out of the lugs.
Remove the stopper ring using ring pliers
Grabbing the lugs by the fingers, pull on flange B and work it out by gently rocking it back and forth.
Remove the rubber dampers.
Cleaning:
Remove the rubber O rings from the Flange A and the wheel hub. Clean them using a dry clean rag and store them in a safe place.
Clean the rubber dampers with dishwasher soap and a stiff bristle brush. Make sure you don’t damage the dampers.
To clean up the next two items, I used a clean rag and some paint thinner (that is what I had handy).
Clean out the hub (the area behind flange B) including the notch from where the rubber O ring was removed and the slot for the stopper ring.
Clean up Flange B and the stopper ring.
Flange (“Flange A”) Bearing Removal, Findings and Fix:
Insert a “blind hole puller” through the sleeve from the back side of the flange and tighten up until the attachment clamps open and are snug against the inside of the sleeve.
Grasp the handle of the puller and raise it so that the flange is hanging off the ground or table surface by an 1” or so.
Slide the hammer up and down a few time and the flange will fall off.
Turn the flange over and use a socket the fits over the inner bearing race an using a hammer, knock out the two bearings inside the flange bore.
Now clean up the flange
This is where I went to a local machine shop and the guy there put the flange into a machine and he then gave me exact opening diameter of the bore (where the bearings go into) at the top, middle and bottom. The following is what I found (opening is about 1" deep -- Some of you might have read about this in the other thread when I was asking for help with the flange):
inside dia at top of flange opening = 1.6516"
inside dia at mid height of flange opening = 1.6509"
inside dia at bottom of flange opening = 1.6504"
the outside bearing dimension that is going to be placed inside of that hole is 1.6535". There are two bearings that will go into this opening.
From what I saw in the threads either used a flap wheel sander inside the opening to touch it up or took it to a machine shop to open up the bore. The correct way to do it would be to take it to a machine shop.
Take flange to a machine shop to open up the bore so that you could get a 0.0005” to 0.001” press fit. Make sure that the sleeve or “distant collar” has a press fit of 0.0005”. Mine was fine.
Lack of patience to look around and had a load of other things to do and was looking for the cheapest way out since I have been on a budget since the beginning of this year, I chose the flap wheel way and called it a day. However, when I did this, the bearing was clicking, which means that the bore was too still too tight! I ended up damaging the bearing.
So I ended up finding a local machine shop that charged me $80 do open up the flange and press fit the bearings into the flange. Might as well fix the problem correctly the first time. Less down time for the bike.
Installing the bearings + sleeve into flange:
I cleaned up the outer side of the sleeve with 3000 grit paper to remove some rust marks that circled the outside.
I had the machine shop press in the sleeve and the bearings into the flange, but if you are doing it yourself, install the bearings onto the sleeve using a socket that fits just exactly over the inner race. You don’t want to load the bearings, so make sure the socket does not overhang the inner bearing race.
For an easier fit, put the bearing + sleeve assembly into the freezer overnight. Either heat up the flange in an oven or leaving it out in the sun in the morning and by the afternoon, it will be very hot!
Using a bearing & race installer, install the assembly into the flange.
Installing Flange back onto the wheel:
Install the rubber dampers
Apply moly paste into the O ring groove. Coat the O rings with moly paste and install into the groove.
Install the flange B into the wheel making sure it sets in properly
Install the stopper ring.
Install the flange (flange A) over the lugs and install the nuts to 65 lbs.ft torqe
Apply moly paste into the O ring groove in the flange. Coat the O rings with moly paste and install into the groove.
Apply moly paste to the splines of the flange and the gear case and you ready to install the tire back on.
Well that is it. I would love to have you guys add what you all did or have suggestions or comments that would help others. Please feel free to correct me where I may have gone wrong…..
