Stella 4T front wheel bearing/axle assembly

Crew · Post by **Crew** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 5:28 pm

I was out riding and cruising about 60km/hr when it felt like my front wheel went over something. I heard a crunch and then the front end began to wobble like it was a flat tire. After inspecting the wheel I could see nothing wrong. On the way home the wheel began to wobble periodically. At home I found about 3mm play in the hub buy holding the wheel at the top and bottom and applying force laterally. Pulled the assembly apart but saw no unusual signs in the bearings or axle and the main nut was torqued properly.
This has me puzzled, has anyone else had any problems with the front bearings or axle on their Stella?

Lokky · Post by **Lokky** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:24 pm

If the bearings are fine then the only thing I can think of is that your fork was weakened and it finally got bent by hitting something. I hear that even a very slight bend can cause a very noticeable wobble. Noticing a bent fork without measuring can be very challenging.

Crew · Post by **Crew** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:13 am

I haven't hit anything or gone into any pot holes. This is a loose wheel between the hub and axle by about 3 mm but I can't see any wear or fragments from the bearings.

Crew · Post by **Crew** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 7:53 pm

OK, so I took the scooter to the shop and the guys at Tuff City took the front hub off and removed the bearings. What they found was the inner needle bearing cage was cracked and this was causing the lateral play in the front wheel. Also noted was a lack of bearing grease around the inner and outer bearings. If your scooter is new then it might be a good idea to visually inspect your front wheel bearings to see that there is enough lubrication.

Crew · Post by **Crew** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:41 am

Here is an update for the bearing which broke on my Stella in December.
The problem occurred in the last week of December and the scooter shop was closed until the end of the first week in January for the holidays ( don't know why as we ride all year round out here ) so I was not able to do anything till a few weeks ago. But here I am still without my scooter because the part was not in stock at the Canadian distributor. So they had to order it from Chicago. It then went to Toronto and then it is supposed to be shipped to British Columbia. I was hoping it would be here last week but it didn't show up. So it has been 5 weeks waiting because of a 3 dollar part. Now the warranty is good and the company does back it up faithfully but it has been an extra expense form having to put gas in the car and insure a scooter which I don't have at the moment. So to date in the last six months since I bought the scooter it has been out of commission for approximately 1/3 of that time. As much as I love the Stella and when all is well it really is a blast to ride but if it develops any more problems that can not be rectified in a reasonable time I will consider it strike three and look for a more dependable substitute. sigh!

stephenmarklay · Post by **stephenmarklay** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 9:37 pm

That is too bad. If these things had a better track record I would be all in.

stASH · Post by **stASH** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:31 pm

stephenmarklay wrote:That is too bad. If these things had a better track record I would be all in.

They do have a better track record. The forum here is not a good sample of the entire Stella riding population and people typically don't post about their Stellas running fine. I ride mine almost daily as my primary commuting vehicle and have had zero problems. Maybe we should start a thread where people post each time their bike worked fine.

stASH wrote:1/30/2013 - Rode Stella to and from work today. Started and ran fine."

I do have to say that having a good local dealer who knows Stellas really well and does a proper job with the dealer prep probably has a lot to do with their reliability. I am lucky in that respect.

Crew · Post by **Crew** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 5:28 pm

The problems that I have had were from substandard materials and assembly practices. A flawed bearing which is specific to the Stella's front axle and a replacement could not be found, oh and I still don't have my scooter as of this post. If I look at the things that have gone wrong then the dealer would have had to re engineer and rebuild the scooter using higher quality materials. For example: The wiring running through the steering column had no main sheathing, just individual wires twisted together. The constant turning of the column finally a braided the wires till they shorted and caused burning and melting. The wiring appeared to have a properly shielded harness where you could see the cable in the top and bottom of the column but where things were out of sight the wires were unprotected. Wire terminal ends in the headset that are so thin , wafer thin, that the vibration snaps them off where the wire is crimped on. Yes we are dealing with a 40 year old design but that doesn't mean they can't use better modern materials and better assembly practices. No I believe that a lot of these problems have nothing to do with dealer prep but poor materials and workmanship right from the origin. The dealers check for proper running and safety but we can't expect them to rebuild the bikes. I mean it's nice to have a warranty and all but if the customer feed back doesn't lead to improvement then it's nothing more than "it's cheaper to pay the fine that to clean up the environment" kind of deal to me.
Well here I go starting to point fingers at the manufacturer but then also to defend my local shop. Hey I really like my Stella and sure things go wrong. But no matter what it is whether big "Wiring problem" or small "wheel bearing" it seems to always take a month and a half to get things rectified. Couldn't Genuine just thrown a little bearing in a envelope and mail it to my local shop and get me up and running, like 3 weeks ago? No, they ship from Chicago to Toronto then Toronto ships to Vancouver then it gets shipped to the Island, then after 5 weeks I am already looking for a replacement bike. If it was a toy as opposed to my main transportation then I would live with it but each time this warranty is honored it cost me money, which is an oxymoron, right?
Hey, thanks for listening,
I feel much better now, no really, I do.

Lokky · Post by **Lokky** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 7:18 pm

Honestly to me it sounds like you are in a location where running a distribution network for something so specialized is rather tricky.

Yes, the Stella comes with lower material quality for certain components, its just part of buying a bike from India. The alternative is to buy the much more expensive PX.

When replacing things on my Stella I prefer to use Italian parts. Why replace the failed bearing with another Italian one when the Vespa bearing is higher quality and should fit just fine?

Crew · Post by **Crew** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 8:59 pm

That is a very good idea and I will talk to the guys at the shop about that. Oh ya, after my last post the shop called. Stella is ready for pickup, yahoo.
I believe your right about my location and being that I am at the end of the known Canadian world. If I were in Toronto the scoot would have been ready almost 2 weeks ago. Mine was the first Stella brought into Nanaimo by this dealer and I've only seen one other out and about. Hopefully as they become more popular out here the dealers can justify stocking parts. Well now that I'm back on the road all the aggravation and waiting is but a distant memory, what was this thread about again?
Cheers

RoaringTodd · Post by **RoaringTodd** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 1:26 am

Lokky wrote:Why replace the failed bearing with another Italian one when the Vespa bearing is higher quality and should fit just fine?

Did you mean to say "with another Indian one when the..."

Aren't Vespa parts supposedly Italian?

Lokky · Post by **Lokky** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 2:55 am

RoaringTodd wrote:
Lokky wrote:Why replace the failed bearing with another Italian one when the Vespa bearing is higher quality and should fit just fine?
Did you mean to say "with another Indian one when the..."

Aren't Vespa parts supposedly Italian?

yes yes, slip of the tongue. (Vespa parts are made in china nowadays I think? Not that it matters much, their bearings are definitely better)

Crew · Post by **Crew** » Sun Apr 28, 2013 1:35 am

Here is an update to the inner bearing problem I had back in January. The bearing cage was cracked and then replaced and here it is 3 months later and the same thing has happened again, front wheel has substantial side play. I believe the bearing cage has broken again. I'll be taking the scooter back to the shop. The guys at the shop haven't heard of this as being a common problem so we're not sure whats going on.

Lokky · Post by **Lokky** » Sun Apr 28, 2013 3:18 am

out of curiosity was it replaced with an Italian bearing or an Indian one?

Crew · Post by **Crew** » Sun Apr 28, 2013 4:28 pm

I believe it was a bearing from Genuine in the USA

Crew · Post by **Crew** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:09 pm

After discussing the matter of the bearing with the shop and another bike mechanic for an opinion it seems the belief is that the hub could have a problem in that the seat for the bearing might be misshaped or out of round. For two bearings to fail inside of three months and no other reports on the web that I could find it is most likely not a bearing issue but possibly the hub itself. We'll have a better look once the parts arrive.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 10:50 pm

Crew wrote:After discussing the matter of the bearing with the shop and another bike mechanic for an opinion it seems the belief is that the hub could have a problem in that the seat for the bearing might be misshaped or out of round. For two bearings to fail inside of three months and no other reports on the web that I could find it is most likely not a bearing issue but possibly the hub itself. We'll have a better look once the parts arrive.

I am in full agreement with this mindset......two failures, same machine, no history of these commonly failing.........
I would have done the same as your dealer.....first failure, replace bearings......second failure, hub and bearings.

Rob

Crew · Post by **Crew** » Sat May 04, 2013 2:06 am

The hub and bearing is on it's way. A thanks for the support goes out to Genuine. I think once the parts are here it would be a good time to throw the new rubber on it along with Dyna Beads for continued balance.