Given how noisy these machines are, I don't know how you could hear a bearing noise when accelerating or cruising, unless it was very, very worn out.
Have you jacked up the rear yet and just spun the tire over by hand? If it is a bearing, you should be able to hear or feel a "coarseness". Best test would be to first check with the belt installed, then slacken and remove the drive belt to remove the bevel box from the mix for test 2.
Steve, I appreciate your help. A couple of things:
- I have not jacked it up yet; I have pushed it along and let it come to a stop, to see if I could reproduce it with the tray out (so I could hear where it was coming from ). Didn’t hear it. Would unloading the weight off the rear wheel help isolate the bearings, if that were the problem?
- others are mentioning the belt; mine is fairly tight. Up and down deflection is tough, but rotation gives me about 45 degrees of movement.
