So the front wheel of my 1994 gs500 has become progressively more difficult to spin - culminating today with it not moving at all. The brake doesn't appear to be binding the wheel, so am I correct in assuming that I need to replace the bearings? I drove my truck into work and can drop by the motorcycle dealer and pick up new bearings. Is it difficult to change the bearings?

Thanks,
Scott

I would guess the bearings are bad. But loosen the axle and see how it spins, maybe something is binding. Bearings are not that expensive and fairly easy to change. Just need a drift punch, hammer and something the almost the same size as the outer race (a socket works for me) to tap them in. Put the bearings in the freezer over night. This will shrink them a little making it easier to install.

what is the drift punch used for?

brake doesn't appear to be binding the wheel>>>

Make sure first, that's the most common reason for wheel binding.  Just remove the two bolts holding the brake caliper to the fork leg and lift the caliper off the rotor and see if wheel is still binding.  Wheel bearing failure is rare but can happen.  The drift punch is to remove the present bearings which are pressed into the wheel, you need something long and thin to reach thru one brg and drive out the opposite one.

If it is bearings, make sure the spacer between the bearings is there, it sets the bearing preload correctly when you tighten down the axle nut.  I recently had a rear wheel bearing fail because of a missing spacer causing the brgs to be overloaded.  First brg failure for me in over 350k miles with 80k miles on a couple bikes and 100k on another. 

Yeah, I am with Jack, check the caliper first. Wheel bearings tend to  progressively wear out rather than just sieze up. I would have thought you will have noticed noise and vibration coming from the front end beforehand if the bearings were on the way out.

I've actually never had a set of bearings "sieze".  When they start going to get wobble/slack in the wheel, they makes really horrible noises, and the wheel will spin "rough".  If everything is still solid and you're not really getting any odd noises, I'd bet one of rvertigo's testicles it's the caliper.

yep....second the calipar ... bad bearings would tend to squeal and get very HOT to the touch after a short ride...

Ok - you guys hit it right on the head. I removed the front brake and that was definately the problem. had a witch of a time getting it off, but when I did the front wheel now spins freely.

So what do I need to do to fix this?

Thanks

Pop the pistons out, clean up the pistons, put them back in and bleed after reassembly on bike.  I do this every time I replace pads now due to too many cases of piston binding over the years from pushing dirty pistons back into seals.  I never take brake line loose to do it.

Pump the brake lever slowly to push pistons out and when one is almost out hold it to push the other out.  I clean pistons with those green Scotchbrite type pads.  Hold caliper with piston bores facing up and fill with brake fluid after cracking bleeder open while pushing pistons back in and much time will be saved bleeding.

ok - took care of it. I think i should replace the upper seals next time i'm doing brake work - but so far everything seems to be good!