the best bearings to use in Max

[mudbug3]

My Max is a 2003 with only about 55 hours use. How often should I grease my bearings,,how many squirts when I grease them, and what kind of bearings to install when the ones from the factory go bad? I am using marine grease.

[whipper-ag]

The frequency of how often you should grease your bearings is mostly determined by how much you ride in any kind of water or mud. Anytime I have mine in the water , it gets greased. Reason being, the grease pushes any water out that is left inside the bearing flanges. Usually just 2 or 3 squirts will do. The next question is does the grease really get into the bearing? It's quite possible that it's not. If you look @ the pic, there is a little hole in the O.D. of the bearing. There's usually 2 holes. When the cars are assembled @ the factory, they are suppose to line the hole up w/ the grease zert. I think some grease can still get in the hole if it's not lined up, but after hrs & hrs of riding in mud & water, that little hole can get clogged & , guess what, no more grease can get in the hole. Most water that enters your car seeps thru the cavity between the bearing flanges. So keeping that cavity filled w/ grease gives you a fighting chance of keeping the water out & the mud that can clog the hole. Marine grease is good. Just remember that the more you ride in the water, the more bearing problems you might have. Just keep the cavity greased after a day in the water. Those pillowblock bearings were not designed w/ us in mind. Even though they say they are a sealed bearing, they weren't design to be submerged in water. Gees, they have a hole in them. Duh! Hope this helps you out.

[jpswift1]

I have had excellent luck with Peer tripple sealed bearings. They are tough, they last a long time and they are very reasonably priced as well.

[micmac]

Jeff,

Where do you find a distributor of peer bearings and what model # do you use for the older Max 1.24 small O.D. bearings?

Mike

[jpswift1]

At Recreatives they use Peer bearings (they tend to get pricey there though), but I mostly go through Buffalo Bearings in Buffalo, NY. Their phone number is 716-874-1720. They have just about every bearing known to man and they give you excellent prices. Ask for John and tell him Jeff sent you over and he will take care of you. They even found tripple sealed 1 3/16" bearings for my Hustler restoration and they were much cheaper than other sites that sell them.

[micmac]

Thanks Jeff I always like to squirrel this info away for when I need it. I think my AATV file is the biggest on my computer

[jpswift1]

Yes, I would have to say that I do the same thing. It sure is nice to have this info handy because sometimes when you're working on these machines you spend half the time trying to find out where you can get parts and what to look for exactly. Thats whats nice about this forum. There are so many helpful people on here and it makes restoration projects so much easier.