Looks like grease is coming out of rear axle, there are streaks on hub and wheel of rear tire. Could this be wheel bearings going bad?

 

yep ! if you have the 25mm bearings better get it checked out quickly, they are junk. how many miles ? mine were bad at 2500. know lots of folks that have bearing problems with the new bikes. seems like they have a bad habit of going bad while on a trip.

 

It's probably just excess chilly mac.

In all seriousness though, are the bearings sealed or serviceable like tapered timkens?

 

Wheels need to be sponge washed only with a light rinse or you'll need new bearings .
I've driven 100's of thousands of miles with no bearing failure on my Harley Electra's by sponge bathing my hubs.
An old mans thoughts. Bud

 

07 Fatboy 29,000 miles pretty sure they are sealed bearing

 

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/softa...s-trash-2.html

Many of the factory installed wheel bearings are low grade cheap Chinese.

The All ***** that I have installed now are going good, ..... I believe they're also Chinese, just not the lowest grade.

 

I don't "sponge wash" the hubs on any of our bikes but I do use the garden hose and very low pressure water spray.
I have never used a high pressure wash directly on the hubs but I have on the rims and spokes.


From the posts, it appears that the '09 model year is about where all of this inferior bearing issue started.


I've been riding since '69 and I've owned many motorcycles but I have NEVER had to replace a wheel bearing.


I just replaced both tires on my '13 CVO Ultra at about 21,000 miles but the new wheel bearings cannot be re-packed (as some older models were) so IF my bearings last until I need another set of tires I'll consider replacing all of the bearings while the wheels are off of the bike.
Wish me luck!

 

my bike has never been to car wash or any pressure washer, the front bearing were replaced at 18000 by dealer when tire was replaced ,but never saw any grease

 

If the grease is coming out of your sealed bearing it probably is shot... replace them.

 

If the grease is "coming out" of the bearing, then the grease itself is of suspect quality. Good grease stays put. (Even during salt water spray wash off.)