Yeti SB 5.5 Switch Infinity & Dog bone Frame service for Beginners. DON'T ignore your frame bearings

This video goes over fully servicing a Yeti Bikes Switch Infinity frame with dog bone linkage. We fully disassemble the frame, clean everything, replace all the bearings, re-grease, and reassemble. A subscriber pointed out that the bearing might not always need to be replaced. Aa long as they are in good condition, they can be re-packed, which is cleaning out all the old grease and applying a fresh coat. I didn't realize that I never mentioned this point until he pointed it out, which is a surprising because I have posted a few videos that involved bearings in the past and typically makes it a point to mention this. Apologies in is this caused any confusion
If you have a yeti frame with the Switch Infinity linkages, you absolutely want to check the bearings once a year. Yeti Bikes make very nice frames, but the parts that make them efficient are VERY costly to replace. The only way to avoid replacing them is through preventive maintenance. Make sure to regularly grease the Switch Infinity bushings ever 20 - 30 hours and check all linkage bearings once a year.
Bike shops will charge a good amount for this service, as they should, IMO. The job is time-consuming, considering there are at most 6 bearings to replace. Learning to perform this service on your own will save you considerable money over time.
The special tools needed are minimal, as seen in the tools section. I HIGHLY recommend using a bearing press for installing the bearing. It's not worth the chance of damaging the bearing seats to save a few bucks, imo. Bearing presses can be very cost-effective if you buy a press with drift specific to your bike's bearing size, OR, if you make your own press with a threaded rod and buy drift specific to your bike's bearing size. This will work just as effectively at a much lower cost.
As for bearing removal, at a minimum, I would purchase a bearing extractor. This can be a one time purchase that works for the most popular bearings typically seen in bike frames. You can use a punch, but be VERY careful to remove the bearing evenly, as you can damage the bearing seat otherwise.
As always, feel free to ask any questions, and I'll respond the first chance I get.
Chapters
00:00 - intro, tools, and parts needed
06:50 - Frame Disassembly
20:56 - Bearing service
59:09 - Frame Reassembly

[@alasadym]

Could you do a video on replacing brakes, cables, gears and derailleur? Your videos are clear and easy to follow

[@zoubtube]

Apologies for the late response. Thanks for the thoughtful comment, and I'm glad to hear you found the videos helpful. The videos you're asking for are coming VERY soon. I've recorded a new bike build series and will be posting videos from the frame-up and swapping most parts from one bike to another. I believe the first video is scheduled to be viewable in two or three weeks. Stay tuned 👍

[@bicifix]

Great content mate. And thumbs up on the AltAlt kit. Love the speedkar99 joke ;-)

[@zoubtube]

Thank you very much for the comment myman. more vids to come now that things are sort of settling down

[@mm-levo]

Buen trabajo! 👏🏼👏🏼

[@zoubtube]

Muchas gracias. Espero que haya sido útil

[@ThunderStruckMTB]

Holy moly! This is why I ride a hardtail!

[@zoubtube]

You my friend, are the smart one for doing so, and don't let any convince you otherwise. Life is a TON simpler on a Hardtail! 😉

[@norcoteamti395]

@@zoubtube But more wrenching is more fun!! I really enjoy working on my bikes, working on other folks bikes can be a chore.

[@zoubtube]

​@@norcoteamti395 Yup! Wrenching has been a passion for me since a very young age, but then again my dad was a mechanic. My high school had a full blown mechanic shop with multiple lifts and never ending tools, which we could use for hours at a time. It's always felt like therapy for me. but I totally understand that it's not for everyone.🙂

[@Trade2Invest-]

In case no one knows, you can repack your bearings. You just need the right size of the "ball". Most of the time, you just need to clean them and put grease in.

[@zoubtube]

Holy S#!T What a BIG miss on my part, especially when considering how many times I've mentioned this point in other videos involving bearings. thank you SO much for pointing this out for everyone. 👍

[@armanito3134]

yeti also sells the exact parts and bearings hes taking apart on their official website.

[@norcoteamti395]

Love the altalt stuff!! Used the suspension kit, used it to replace the suspension bearing on my ibis mojo3. Ibis doesn’t recommend replacing the bearings instead sells the linkages. I had to modify some of the altalt parts to get them to sit flat.

[@zoubtube]

I have to admit, the kit has been super flexible so far, and the Alt drift is such a simple and effective solution. I really hope they make it work with smaller bearings. I have a ripley v4 link sitting in a box for months with the plan to put some time into developing a solution that will make it safe and easy to remove and install bearings on it. Feel free to share your experience. I probably won't get around to it until winter time considering how many things I have going on right now

[@norcoteamti395]

@@zoubtube For the Mojo3 the sleeves need to be modified to allow it to sit flat. The upper link has a ramped surface that prevents the sleeve from sitting flat, I filed a chamfer into the sleeve. The lower link has 2 ribs that don’t allow the sleeve to sit flat, cut 2 slots in the sleeve to allow it to sit flat. Since the parts are made from acetal, it’s super simple to file or use a dremel. Bonus: you can fit aftermarket “max” bearings which are better than the “caged” bearings that Ibis uses. Cheers!!

[@zoubtube]

@@norcoteamti395 Now that's an awesome tip! Thanks for sharing. I wish frame designers would take stuff like this into consideration. Unlike older bikes, modern bikes really do require regular maintenance; they just about demand it. I fundamentally believe that the easier the service experience, the more likely people will want to service their bikes, which in turn provides a better overall experience when riding them. Ultimately leading to higher overall customer satisfaction, which translates to sales. 👍

[@davidlopez889]

Great video ! thanks, any idea what could've caused the scratch on your dog bone (you show us on minute 22:08) , mine came back exactly the same as yours after I send it to a frame service... and previously was like new... also in min 44:54 you see a fine line mark at the top of the same piece... mine also got it... this one I believe that is from the shock hammering the dogbone when removing the shock.... but the other scratch makes me wonder what happened, as mine is now exactly as yours...

[@zoubtube]

Thanks for the comment. I can't really say. this was a friends bike. He had no idea how it happened when I showed him (actually, there were many things messed up with his bike that he was unaware of). If I was to guess, I would say that something got trapped between the dogbone and between the upper mounts on the seat tube that caused the damage as the dogbone moves when riding. but again, it's a guess. wish I had a better answer 😔

[@nickanthonycustodio8182]

sir may I know the sizes or the actual bearing numbers of what you used as replacement bearings

[@zoubtube]

The small bearings are the 6900 bearings. Very common bearing that can be easily found online. The larger ones are the 6902, but they have a lip on them. you need to make sure you buy them with the lip. best bet is to buy those from Yeti

[@alessio8049]

Hey which brand and model is your vise? thanks

[@zoubtube]

Yost 750 DI. Its a large heavy vise. On top of normal tasks it works great for pipe cutting. unfortunately prices have increased during the last 3 years, but then again what hasn't, right

[@alessio8049]

Thanks, i'm looking for a good quality vise mainly for suspensions services, i'll check it out@@zoubtube

[@Bangbangboom51]

I thought Yeti's "Infinity system" is guaranteed for life??

[@zoubtube]

I'm pretty sure the mechanism isn't. The stanchions' wear over time and if not maintained properly they will wear quick. If anyone has an absolute answer to this please share

[@motorboy1966]

Great engineering Yeti! Not 🤔

[@zoubtube]

even though switch infinity does have a nice ride to it, I can't think of a bigger PITA suspension system to maintain. and if there is one, I don't want to know about it 😉