Kawasaki Samurai and Avenger crank bearing replacements
Info kindly supplied by Gerrit on the KTW board… This is priceless!
“NTN still list their EC bearings as available- these have two orange plastic rings in their outer races which took up any difference in expansion between bearing outer race and crankcase. Kawasaki used them for their road racers such as H1-R, H2-R and KR750. H1-R cranks used all-roller main bearings, and later apparently switched to cranks with small main roller bearings and large main ball bearings; I have seen one such crank brand-new in the original box.
For the H1, you would require three EC6205/C3, two EC6305/C3 and one EC6305N/C3.
For the H2, three EC6206/C3, two EC6306/C3 and one EC6306N/C3.
For S series, three or five (depending on whether you have a four-bearing or six-bearing crank) EC6305/C3 and one EC6305N/C3.
For the A1/A7, three EC6305/C3 and one EC6305N/C3.
ONLY NTN make these bearings, so be sure to specify NTN when ordering from your friendly bearing supplier.
EC, by the way, stands for “Expansion Compensation”.
The roller bearings for the H1-R are the NTN ECNJ205G1/C3 and ECNJ305G1/C3, and these may also be available, but these are FILTHY expensive………”
This solves my problem of finding good enough bearings for the A1R… now where to get them?
