I have 46K on my 07 FXD last time I had it up on the jack this summer I checked for play in them and they were ok.... Over the winter I'm doing some PM on it and was wondering if I should just replace them now... Next summer planning some long trips and I really don't want to deal with a failure... How long are most going before requiring replacement?

 

I would..

For the very serious and obvious job they do.. and their role in keeping you upright.. vs.. having a catastrophic failure.. its cheap insurance. Besides a good set of bearings will run you a hundred bucks.. well worth it for the safety factor alone.

 

I got my bike second hand with 15K, it needed tires last year at 17K, I swapped out the rear bearings when I did the tire change, they weren't bad but now I know what condition they're in.
If I had your bike, and planning some long trips, I'd change'm without a second thought.

 

Question 2 what bearing are you using and where did you get them? I don't want to go to the dealer and get the latest low bidder from china replacements... Got a friend with a machine shop that will change them I just have to drop off the wheels..

 

To me, this changing bearings for the sake of changing bearings is bs. If your bearings are smooth and nice, leave them alone. The trash they make nowadays probably isn't as good as what you already have, even with the miles on them. I have almost 120k on my 02 wg and the rears are still original, and still smooth as glass when checking while the wheel is off for tire change. If it ain't broke, don't fix it." My two cents"

 

I'm going to jack it up and recheck them.. I agree I don't want to replace them with something that's inferior to what I already have... Have a friend with a 09 Street Bob and his failed at just over 20k, but the bearings on that bike are different from what I have...

 

^ THIS.

just clean and repack them with some good grease, if they are in good shape.

with my 2014 street bob, I'm glad I bought new bearings to install when I put new wheels on with ~10k mi on the bike, The OEM bearings had a very tiny amount of play in them but where still fairly smooth but no where near perfect. I opened them up just out of curiosity and they had a little rusty grit in them.

 

How in the world are you repacking sealed bearings?

 

Take a little pick, and the seals pull right out. very easy, and you can put the seals back in undamaged.

 

Cool. Never knew that