Do all dealers try to soak you?

[North Country Tough]

All good comments taking notes,reichstall very good advice,I think in the short term I will sit on my HDI conversion all my brgs and axles were replaced 300 hrs ago Iam going to take a wait and see approach on this,I personally have not had a ton of bearing issues considering the amount of load and water use.

[Badlildoggy]

OK the Scoop on the HDI Bearings From The Horses Mouth..........

Got my monster back today from the dealer and here is what they told me. I did get the deer in the headlights look with every question I fired back at them which pi**ed me off but here it is:
1. Apparently you CAN over grease the HDI bearings with no actual damage to the bearing itself but the bearing housings and seals must be fairly pressure sealed because again apparently I have ruptured 6 of the 8 inner bearing seals which has made the bearing succeptible to contamination / dirt etc premature wear.

2. The dealer techs are assuming I have done similar damage to the outers (killing with too much love) but obviosly cannot confirm without pulling wheels off etc.

3. The dealer guys (who also rent machines and are the head Western CDN distributor for ODG) say that they will do 1 squirt of grease per bearing every 50hrs MAX no matter what the usage and this they have found has given them the longest bearing life. (500 hrs with steady track use and much more without)

Dont know how to take that info, I would appreciate any wrenchbender input.

[swamp donkey]

Doesnt sound like much grease to me

[Mike]

Just for some clarification (and by all means, someone correct me if I am wrong), the inner bearings on HDI Avengers are no different than the older Avenger bearings or the bearings that most 6 wheelers run. They are held in place by the typical four bolt flanges. The bearings that are different (larger) on the HDI are the outer ones held by the new carrier. These are the ones everyone is referring to as "HDI Bearings". I just wanted to make that distinction so you know the inner bearings are basically the same thing everyone else is running including myself.

I grease my bearings after every weekend of riding. I use a standard grease gun and pump grease in slowly until I see or hear it coming out. I'm not too worried with blowing the seals out. They are made to take grease.

It sounds like the dealer didn't even look at your outer bearings so why make any assumptions? I wouldn't worry about it. If your inner seals are blown out though, you can just look down and see them. You should be able to tell if that is the case without any questions. If you can't see the damage then pump some grease in there and see where it comes out. If the seals are truly damaged, take a picture of them so we can see what part of the seal was destroyed or if it just popped out.

[Rock Doctor]

All very confusing and alarming,I just ordered the H.D.I upgrade and will have a meltdown if these things fail in that time frame,I have ran dual wheels on my last 5 machines and get 800 hrs out of my brgs,yes I have replaced the bearing plates they start to "egg" not much support them pressed tin plates but I grease plenty,I dont get it this sounds absolutely ridiculous to me,I must be blessed (not cursed) LOL.N.C.T

Must be blessed, 'cause I don't think I've EVER gotten 800hrs out of an Outer Axle Bearing. Might have come close a couple times. Inner bearings and Idler Bearings, yes, but not Outers.
So far I'm having good luck with the HDI Outers that I put in the Conquest. We'll see how they last.

RD

[DerekF]

I seem to avg 150 hrs on the outer bearings. But alot of my riding is in very cold conditions, where cold seems to toast everything. 800 hrs, not here and in these conditions for sure. I have 360 hrs on my machine and I have changed all the bearing once and most twice. Interestingly, I have a friend that has a newer avenger (non HDI bearings), and he has 150 hrs on his machine and his outer bearings are all starting to go.

But I definately give it alot more than "one squirt" every 50 hrs. More like 10 pumps every 50 hrs. Maybe that is why my bearings are going. hmmmm.

[AlaskaGrizzly]

DerekF - What kind of grease are you using? Maybe you should get grease rated for the temps? I have used a needle greaser on snowmachine slide rail bearings with good luck. That snowmachine has 6000 miles. Bearings are not like new but the are holding up. I have greased them like this twice now. Anyways, this is something to think about.

Ond of my Conquests has 330 hrs and has yet to get a bad outer bearing. I use marine grease and little cold (below 0 F) running.

[North Country Tough]

Must be blessed, 'cause I don't think I've EVER gotten 800hrs out of an Outer Axle Bearing. Might have come close a couple times. Inner bearings and Idler Bearings, yes, but not Outers.
So far I'm having good luck with the HDI Outers that I put in the Conquest. We'll see how they last.

RD

RD I track hours and failed parts and Iam proactive on replacement of parts nearing their life span,I do nothing special marine grade grease and the machine is kept in heated storage,the chain gallery is kept clean and dry,grease the outers every trip (unless its just a few hours)the inners every third time I do the outers and have never replaced a inner,the machine spends the winter on tracks but gets less than 30 hrs of use,spends the summer on duals,gets used for firewood haul,snow plowing, accessing the cottage year round,spends alot of time in the water,replace the outer flange seals at 300 to 350 hrs mostly because of the tin plates egging for lack of a better word usually some not all,this causes premature outer seal wear,I did not find this outer brg life unusual,but had no one to compare it too,other than my past machines,my biggest reason for ordering the HDI upgrade was for brg support this is what I have issues with(Iam sure self inflicted with the use of dual wheels)the axles are a bonus.The track use up till this year has been with plastic,I run my tires down low on air pressure,I tighten outer brg flanges from time to time, like I say nothing I consider out of the ordinary as far as maintenance,this is why I was shocked at bearing life when reading these posts,not since the early to mid eightys have I seen brg issues,the single seal flanges gave me fits and I would lose brgs quicker,but once the dual seal came along its been great.My HDI upgrade will stay in the box till spring I will follow along and see what I see not sure what to think,this is my experience with my last 5 machines like I say I just thought it was normal,keep a brg tight,clean,greased and they should last.N.C.T

[Rock Doctor]

RD I track hours and failed parts and Iam proactive on replacement of parts nearing their life span,I do nothing special marine grade grease and the machine is kept in heated storage,the chain gallery is kept clean and dry,grease the outers every trip (unless its just a few hours)the inners every third time I do the outers and have never replaced a inner,the machine spends the winter on tracks but gets less than 30 hrs of use,spends the summer on duals,gets used for firewood haul,snow plowing, accessing the cottage year round,spends alot of time in the water,replace the outer flange seals at 300 to 350 hrs mostly because of the tin plates egging for lack of a better word usually some not all,this causes premature outer seal wear,I did not find this outer brg life unusual,but had no one to compare it too,other than my past machines,my biggest reason for ordering the HDI upgrade was for brg support this is what I have issues with(Iam sure self inflicted with the use of dual wheels)the axles are a bonus.The track use up till this year has been with plastic,I run my tires down low on air pressure,I tighten outer brg flanges from time to time, like I say nothing I consider out of the ordinary as far as maintenance,this is why I was shocked at bearing life when reading these posts,not since the early to mid eightys have I seen brg issues,the single seal flanges gave me fits and I would lose brgs quicker,but once the dual seal came along its been great.My HDI upgrade will stay in the box till spring I will follow along and see what I see not sure what to think,this is my experience with my last 5 machines like I say I just thought it was normal,keep a brg tight,clean,greased and they should last.N.C.T

Maybe I should have put a smiley thing in my last post, cause I'm not calling you out on it. I truly do think your blessed if you get that many hours on outer bearings. It sounds like you have a very similar maint schedule as we have at work, and I have at home with regards to servicing. I'm thinking we should hire you, because out of the 40-60 Argo's that I've had anything to do with, I would put money on the fact that none have made 800hrs without having all outer axle bearings replaced, EXCEPT some of the new HDI's and it's hard to say on those cause we can't keep trannies in them long enough to put any hours on the bearings, .
Admitadly we load them heavy and abuse them to no end, but they do get their regular services (Daily for some of the high use machines).

Whatever you are doing, KEEP doing it.

RD

[North Country Tough]

No worrys RD, abuse my machine never sees only use,and if I ever get it past 10 mph it would only be in the winter,but keep us posted on your upgrades.Cheers N.C.T