[DannoXYZ]

SKF, NSK, etc. all make good bearings. Not sure which one supplies Honda OEM, they're decent and last long time with regular maintenance. I prefer to pop off outer seal, solvent-spray out all old grease and re-pack with Mobil-1 synthetic grease every 50K-miles or so.

Nice thing is deep-groove bearings and can take some lateral loading too. Such as when spacers aren't installed correctly and require bearing to push themselves into place.

I don't like manual's procedure of hammering in bearings. I prefer to use bearing press-cups with long bolt to gently install them. Gives time to make sure nothing's crooked. Many people have reported that replacement bearings fit loosely, probably from previous bangings with hammer causing damage to seating surfaces.

 

[DannoXYZ]

Definitely need spacer between bearings. Otherwise when you tighten axle, bearings' inner-races will be compressed towards each other. This loads bearing races and balls laterally and increases wear tremendously. Remove wheel, remove outer seal and push inner-race of each bearing laterally. Should not have any lateral play. Otherwise, they have been damaged by being squeezed without spacer. Will need new bearings if that happened.