08 Crank Bearings

[PEB]

Why do the main bearings in this engine I am working on have seals? The replacement that came have them as well. How do they get lubricated with seals on them?

[GasGas]

They are trying to run lower premix ratio's in Europe for emissions. I forgot all about this. That means they are probably in my bike as well. I wonder if you can just remove the seals.

[PEB]

Any reason to not remove the inside seal on the replacements?

[PEB]

I won 't be putting it back together till this weekend or early next week so it will be fun to gather some opinions on this. I hope they are not in my 07.

[GasGas]

I can't see why not. Would one not want to remove both seals so that the crank seals are lubricated?

[GMP]

'08+ went with sealed crank bearings, grease inside. Personally, I like the old school stuff, just feel better about it knowing I use plenty of good oil and its one less thing to fail. There were a couple failures reported here but nothing widespread. From what I heard you can just use the '07 bearings as the cases are the same, but I have not verified this. The open roller/ball combo was sound. I'd like to know of a significant population of high hour '08+ bikes with original bearings. My issue with the seals is what does all the fuel additives do to them overtime?

[PEB]

I already have the bearings. Hate to return these to get new ones if I could just pry the seals out. Any thoughts Dusty?