Any properly sized ABEC5 or ABEC7 bearing should be fine.

 

Enduro Abec 5 is best bang for the buck IMO. manufactured to higher tolerances, minor bump in price, great quality, excellent value. they'll last you a lot more than one season. service them 1-2 times per year and they'll last a long time.

 

How do you service a sealed cartridge bearing?

 

Pry off seals, rinse, dry, relube, put seals back on.

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Like this.

 

I'd be worried about cutting up,the seal, creating more problems than you solve.

Nice video though.

 

Do they sell a nice set of inexpensive tools to dissassemble the dt 350 hub and remove the bearings from the hub body and free hub ? Haven't found any good videos online. The manual isn't all that clear either.

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I use a set of picks, pulled the seal off many times without any issues. Take your time and they pull right out.

 

A full set of Dt 350 bearings should be four 6902 and two 6802. You can get the full set of dt bearing tool set on ebay for about $60. Purchase a park tool vs-5 vice and you can do everything to the hub including the hard to remove ratchet gear to access the freehub bearings.

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The star ratchet tool is really the only one that is absolutely necessary. The other tools are just to help you seat bearings; you can do this with an appropriately sized socket pretty easily as well.

 

Yeah. The star ratchet tool is about $25. Figured for another 25 just get the entire set. I'd like to try some hybrid ceramic bearings even though my stock bearings are new, i can always keep them as backup. Dt hubs are really good bang for the nuch2, especially the dt350 if bling isnt important. Dt350 is kinda anti-bling

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I'd like to try some hybrid ceramic bearings even though my stock bearings are new

I would recommend skipping it. A lot of the ceramic bearings out there have less than optimal seals, partly because people want them to spin better in the hand, or when their bike is in the stand and unweighted/unloaded - which are both somewhat invalid tests for bearing friction.

 

All DT hubs are anti-bling. Even a 180 looks like nothing special.

Pure functionality, and nothing more.

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I just replaced my bearing from dt br2250 wheels with enduro angular bearings. Hubs are 350 fat. Been very happy with them.

 

Im not familiar with these hubs but do they have a preload mechanism? Otherwise the angular contact bearings aren't the right bearings, probably best to stick with radial bearings.

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"Sealed" bearing doesnt mean sealed like a vault, it means "contains a seal", as opposed to sealless. Pretty much all hubs use industrial bearings that have been repurposed for hubs, so we steal their terminology too. There are unsealed cartridge bearings. None of them are maintenance free.

Even in the pacnw, you can get many seasons out of a set of bearings on a hub like a DT 350 if you clean and service the bearings appropriately. If its really terrible out, twice a season should do it.

Luckily, that 3rd bearing behind the star drive lasts the longest. If you keep it cleaned and greased, you might not have to replace it for many years.

 

"Sealed" bearing doesnt mean sealed like a vault, it means "contains a seal", as opposed to sealless. Pretty much all hubs use industrial bearings that have been repurposed for hubs, so we steal their terminology too. There are unsealed cartridge bearings. None of them are maintenance free.

Even in the pacnw, you can get many seasons out of a set of bearings on a hub like a DT 350 if you clean and service the bearings appropriately. If its really terrible out, twice a season should do it.

Luckily, that 3rd bearing behind the star drive lasts the longest. If you keep it cleaned and greased, you might not have to replace it for many years.

I have a set of wheels that I bought used. DT 240s, CX-Rays, ENVE XC rims.

By my best estimate, the two hub shell bearings have 30,000 miles on them. I've flushed the NDS bearing and repacked it once (I had to knock it out to replace the axle with the "new" 142x12 compatible axle; thought I might as well do it while I had it out of the hub). Haven't touched the DS bearing. If I remove the XD freehub and spin the axle by hand in the hub/wheel, there is no play, no gritty feeling, nothing. Just two properly functioning bearings.

That's crazy. And reinforces my decision(s) re: DT Swiss hubs.

 

Bearings are sealed to prevent contaminates and such from entering the bearings. They're not sealed to prevent servicing.

I'm a strong proponent of ongoing, preventative bearing maintenance. This means being proactive in maintaining bearings before they become problems. However, if they are corroded and rusted, these bearings have exceeded their service life and prolly need replacement.

Regular servicing will prevent the necessity for ongoing replacement and add years and miles to your bearings. Some argue replacement because bearings are cheap is fine argument for only willing to spend a few dollars for cheap bearings. Additionally, my experience has shown the inexpensive bearings exhibit a shorter service life and have to be replaced on an increased frequency. I do not compromise on cheap bearings and as such, prefer to maintain them appropriately.

 

Does anyone know if the dt swiss 12mm axles are the same for both 142 and 148? Or are they different lengths? Having a hard time finding a replacement 148 axle.

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I would not bother doing that. If the bearing feels rough, the balls and races are toast. Washing out the old grease and replacing it will not fix anything.

 

11 years on MTBR and this all that you have to say for your first post?

 

^^^^ My assumption is that you were doing all of this to replace the bearings?

 

I would use factory DT 240 bearings in your 350. The spacer preloads the bearings, its necessary!

They also fit bitex hubs, I used them in that too.

 

I'm with Taroroot that Enduro bearings don't seem to be anything special. I haven't gotten any extra life out of them.

Whenever I need bearings I just search online for SKF or F-A-G (without the -) bearings. There will be four digits on the seal of your bearings. They are the exact dimensions of the bearing so just find a matching size.

 

I managed to somehow damage by drive side bearing in my 240 hub, now I have a high pitched noise spinning the axle, this happened right after I clear and regrease my ratchets, not sure if I somehow pushed dirt past the seal or what... can't tell how this happned since no degreaser came into contact with the hub or freehub. Anyway, I got a ring nut removal tool so I can clean and regrease the bearing...

if problem doesn't go away, should I just get a replacement dt bearing, phil wood, ezo, etc... is it worth upgrading to ceramic bearings something like kogel?

does anyone know the correct part number for the dt stainless steel bearing? is this the one

https://www.amazon.com/DT-Swiss-Bea.../dp/B07VMBSZK5/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dt+swiss+6902&qid=1595438343&sr=8-1

assuming mine are ss bearings, I believe noise is gonna go away as soon as I service the bearings since I only have about 500 mi on them...

 

I'm not sure that bearing is your issue, but I'm internet troubleshooting here. Do you really need to remove the drive ring just service the bearing? I didn't think you were restricted from removing the bearing seal to service with ring drive as a restriction. I think you do have to remove the drive ring to replace them though.

Servicing the freehub is so easy, why not just pull it off and step back through your service process to try and correct your issue. At 500 miles, you should not be having issues with the bearings.

 

I've done again, wiped everything clean, regressed the seals and bearing faces, if I remove my freehub body and spin the axle quickly I can reproduce the high pitched sound consistently at the same spot (angle) when spinning the axle, not easy to get it to happen but once it does and I find the spot it's pretty easy. I'm guessing there are other things into play with the wheel on the bike and riding more load or whatever that make the noise louder and reproducible pushing the bike backwards, so I can't think of anything else other than the bearing itself, caps are off the hub as well as freehub body, unless it's the axle itself against the hub shell which I doubt, no noise on the bike with another set of wheels I have same dt240 hubs.

to regrease the bearing the issue is the washer that goes under the ring nut, it blocks most of the seal, I can't really remove and if I remove I doubt I'm gonna be able to put it back under the washer.

 

Geezzz...having to remove the ring just to service the bearing can be a serious endeavor. Good luck and you might need the force to be with you.

 

I've read your "how-to-service-bearing" through another thread, really helpful.
But even there is no wash/seal on top of the bearing, with the axle there, it's hard to perform the service with the confined space.
If you knock the axle out, the NDS bearing would be damaged.
I got the old DT hugi titanium hub and face the same problem, the NDS has a steel seal in the hub body, you even could not get access to the bearing😬

 

so rebuilding the bearings fixed the problem. the grease wasn't dirty but it was somewhat dry and like a dense lotion, definitely not the consistency I'd expect for grease. I will ended up rebuilding my front wheel as well since it was also squeaking after the couple of weeks out of the bike.

 

Does anyone know if the HSBXXX00N1468S 6902 bearings are the Japanese IJK or the Taiwanese TPI? I had the TPI 6902 in a 5-yr old M1700 Spline 2 DT wheelset (which basically has the straight-pull 350 hubs) and would like to replace them with the Japan-made IJK ones. There are many webshops selling the HSBXXX00N1468S, and most stock pictures on these sites show the Japanese IJK, but I'm not quite sure. The TPI that come stock on these 350 hubs, according to DT, have a different part nr. (HSBXXX00N2336S). BUT, when you check the prices for these 2 different part nr.'s, they are pretty similar, so I'm wondering if the HSBXXX00N1468S might also be TPI Taiwanese bearings.

 

In my experience our bicycle bearings go bad mostly from water ingress bringing small particles of dirt with it and sometimes corrosion. Simply cleaning a bearing out and using a quality fresh grease before any damage is done to the balls and race will make your bearings last practically forever. I just remove the outer seal to check once every 6 months and spin by hand to feel for any grittyness once and a while.

Once they get gritty and have been used that way even for a pretty short time you my as well replace the bearings. Which is much quicker and easier than cleaning and regressing anyway. You can squeeze a little more life out of them with fresh grease but it won't reverse damage.