coaster brake hub bearing upgrade?

[mbmystery]

So I've got the heavy duty wheelset from one of the popular motor bike vendors. Front wheel with drum brake, rear with coaster brake. Nice wheels, wide rims, stout spokes... except was expecting the rear to have sealed bearings. Instead it has the failure prone caged bearings. Not really "Heavy Duty"

On a standard bicycle (bottom bracket application), the cage bearings often fail within a few miles. Hard to trust (and perhaps risky) on a motorized bike rear wheel, eh?

Question is, Can they be upgraded/replaced with sealed bearings or perhaps even loose balls? Or do you just get a new hub or wheel? Just wondering.

 

[HeadSmess]

ive got a bsa from 1930 with "caged bearings", standard old cup and cones, from front hub, headset to BB and good old bendix 2 speed kickback with coaster brake.

not one bearing failure.

i have bmx bikes that i have bent the cranks over 90 degrees, taking five metre or more high jumps, all with standard cup and cone bearings.

not one bearing failure.

el cheapo kmart huffy bikes with cup and cone bearings, and no bearing failures.

high speed, mass production machine spindles use, wait for it... caged cup and cone bearings and run for YEARS, constantly...with no bearing failures...

they do fail rapidly if run loose and are full of crud.

get cone spanners, learn how to tighten them correctly, and cup and cone bearings are perfectly adequate.

even better than sealed bearings (or should i say "deep groove bearings") as they dont have seals creating friction. (and also contain cages. strange, huh?)

the cages are in there for a reason. to space the balls and stop them rubbing each other. better to rub a cage at the rpm they spin at, rather than the adjacent ball at double the circumferential speed.

plus you can get fancy ceramic balls if you feel adventurous... not sure why... but the option is there.