2009-2011 Diamond Drive Bearing Failure

Rprecision · Oct 15, 2009

With the growing number of folks with failures I bought a bearing from Ray. Better safe then sorry.

Are most of you pulling the DD or just poping the cover off ? Not sure which route to take ?

Rms Rydning · Oct 15, 2009

sledr900 said:
There is a spacer that sits behind the stock 6203 bearing that you remove and the 5203 bearing fits perfectly. Almost, seems like it was machined like this so that when the single row bearings started to fail the double row would fit right on?

That spacer is only 1-2 mm? Anyhow I will take a look on my spare gearbox..

1M800 · Oct 15, 2009

Rprecision said:
With the growing number of folks with failures I bought a bearing from Ray. Better safe then sorry.

Are most of you pulling the DD or just poping the cover off ? Not sure which route to take ?

Are you guys pulling the cover off in the sled, or taking the whole DD out? Do these pieces come right apart to get at the bearing? I have a 5203 bearing coming from my local auto parts store. Just to be clear I want to remove the spacer (if it has one) when I replace the bearing? Thanks.

JHG · Oct 15, 2009

1M800 said:
Are you guys pulling the cover off in the sled, or taking the whole DD out? Do these pieces come right apart to get at the bearing? I have a 5203 bearing coming from my local auto parts store. Just to be clear I want to remove the spacer (if it has one) when I replace the bearing? Thanks.

You can probably just pull the cover off if you are just replacing the bearing. When you see the inside it will all make sense, bearing is on the inside of the lower gear, just pull the lower gear out by hand.

BacknBlack · Oct 15, 2009

I was able to just pull the cover off and get at it. Everything should come out easily, you will just have to wiggle the gear out of the planetary ring. Look at the back side to see if you have the bad bearing and spacer. The planetary will come out with the removal of keeper (snap) rings if you want to do a better job of cleaning out the gear case.

1M800 · Oct 15, 2009

Thanks for the info guys! I hate having to do this stuff on a new sled! It would be nice to have something for atleast a year before you have to fix manufacturing problems!

RickM · Oct 15, 2009

1m800

you can service your diamond drive bearing problem easily by just removing the cover, Upon removing the cover the gear with the problem bearing will pull out of the main housing easily. The 6203 was originally sealed on both sides. but usually the seal facing the gear seperates from the bearing. My bearing cage actually was failing and let bearing pieces fall to the bottom of the case. If you notice any indication of bearing failure, I would strongly suggest to pull the large snap ring and remove the planitary for further inspection and cleaning. When i pulled mine, i found additional bearing pieces laying clear back in the diamond drive. It is not hard to do, like other's have mentioned. I believe the bearing failure is due to side load, and the double row bearing should solve the problem. I will continue to check mine about every 500 miles just to get bench mark on wear. Hope this helps.

1M800 · Oct 15, 2009

Thanks for more info! I tore a DD all apart on my 06 M7 but never had to put it back together because it was junk. I am just a little more nervous to tear apart one with 500 miles on it! Hopefully it still works when I am done with it.

Rms Rydning · Oct 15, 2009

RickM said:
you can service your diamond drive bearing problem easily by just removing the cover, Upon removing the cover the gear with the problem bearing will pull out of the main housing easily. The 6203 was originally sealed on both sides. but usually the seal facing the gear seperates from the bearing. My bearing cage actually was failing and let bearing pieces fall to the bottom of the case. If you notice any indication of bearing failure, I would strongly suggest to pull the large snap ring and remove the planitary for further inspection and cleaning. When i pulled mine, i found additional bearing pieces laying clear back in the diamond drive. It is not hard to do, like other's have mentioned. I believe the bearing failure is due to side load, and the double row bearing should solve the problem. I will continue to check mine about every 500 miles just to get bench mark on wear. Hope this helps.

My indications says its because of heavy torque.I have find the bearing to fail after hard use, specialty when jumping and landing with some trottle...I have changed 3 of the stock bearing to now..

mezz250x · Oct 15, 2009

I took my DD cover of today to check things out. Everything looked really good in there, no metal flakes anywhere. Bearing felt like new still also. But im gonna put the wider bearing in anyways as long as its apart.

Do any auto parts stores or anything like that carry the 5203 bearing? Id rather just drive to the store and get one instead of ordering one from somewhere. Also can i just use any gear oil in there? I have alot of that laying around

STRAYPUSSY · Oct 15, 2009

so i went to my bearing shop today and bought a 5203 it was like $30 can..
I took my DD apart to find the sealed bearing so i pulled it off and like you guys were saying its alot wider so here is my question..
The 5203 is like 5.5mm wider and the spacer in the back is like 1 or 2 mm, so do i just take the spacer out and press on the new bearing?

Should a guy worry about the other bearings in the DD? like your already in there wouldnt it make sense to put all new bearings?
Thanks for the great post... Troy

Destroyer · Oct 15, 2009

I jump a **** load. Maybe I shouldn't have bought a cat? I would hate like hell to have to replace the DD on my 2010

ripsass · Oct 15, 2009

Destroyer said:
I jump a **** load. Maybe I shouldn't have bought a cat? I would hate like hell to have to replace the DD on my 2010

Better than riding a Rev... I met a dude last season that was complaining about the weight of his back pack, so I asked why it was so heavy?

He said "cause I've got a spare chaincase, and two chains in there". Thats how he rolled. Everywhere!

sledstormed · Oct 15, 2009

STRAY***** said:
so i went to my bearing shop today and bought a 5203 it was like $30 can..
I took my DD apart to find the sealed bearing so i pulled it off and like you guys were saying its alot wider so here is my question..
The 5203 is like 5.5mm wider and the spacer in the back is like 1 or 2 mm, so do i just take the spacer out and press on the new bearing?

Should a guy worry about the other bearings in the DD? like your already in there wouldnt it make sense to put all new bearings?
Thanks for the great post... Troy

When I bought my bearing from BDX they said to remove the spacer and insert the new bearing only.. I also replaced one of the open (thin) bearings on the back of one of my gears. It was hanging up.. very cheap insurance when it comes the alternative.

websledder · Oct 15, 2009

Rick,
I am a bit confused. On your first post you indicated:

"Upon further inspection, I found that the gear transfer (#12 on parts manual ) had a bad bearing (#11) which goes into the planetary assy(#5). This is a sealed bearing and one side of the bearing seal had came loose from the bearing. This let all the grease out of the bearing. The cage had just begun to come apart, and the small peices were laying in the corner of the case. This bearing is a common bearing which can be purchase at local parts store. the part number on the bearing is a 6203. You can purchase at NAPA."

On a later post you said:
"You are correct in noticing that Item # 11 are actually two different bearings.
I will post what i have found when i did the original findings on my bearing failure.

Under the parts breakdown, group # 10 lists it as a shaft input ( correct )
# 11 bearing is NOT part number 1602-981, it is a 6203 bearing.

Under the parts breakdown, group # 12 lists it as a gear transfer ( correct)
#11 bearing is correct as 1602-981, it is aprox. 1 13/16 OD. x 1 " ID.

The 6203 sealed bearing is the one that fails. My 6203 bearing was sealed on both sides, I cant believe they put a non-sealed bearing in yours. maybe they tried to make a change in production. Hope this helps you out. "

So is it the #11 bearing associated with the Shaft Input (10)
or
the # 11 bearing associated with the Transfer Gear (12)

that is the sealed bearing that failed?

Regards,

RickM · Oct 16, 2009

Websledder

the bearing that fails is on the shaft input (group 10) item 11, as posted in my earlier post, when you pull the group 10 shaft input out of the case you will see the bearing on the end of the shaft. It will be a 6203 bearing with a spacer between the bearing and gear. Remove the bearing and spacer, and replace with a 5203 bearing,( the 5203 is a double row wider bearing that is sealed on both sides) hope this helps you out.

RickM · Oct 17, 2009

madmat · Oct 17, 2009

I'm adding this to my list of things to do before the season starts.

Rms Rydning · Oct 17, 2009

Here in Norway we ride at mostly 0-3000ft so even stock M1000 boxes fails.But havent heard about any problems with the M8 or M6.

So I gess you gays that rides M8 at altitude shouldnt worry to much.

M.M. 700 · Oct 17, 2009

Rydning said:
So I gess you gays that rides M8 at altitude shouldnt worry to much.

Hey hey, no need for name calling.

2009-2011 Diamond Drive Bearing Failure

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