While I completely agree with your assessment regarding maintenance and what a bearing will and wont take etc...

I stand by what I said.. a friend of mine has 2013 Fatboy and he is having bearing problems with his at 4400.. my other buddy who also rides a 2012 Dyna hasnt said anything yet.. but he is not the most mechanically inclined or "in-tune" with the bike kinda guy either.. I have told him to have them checked on his next service.. another buddy has a 2012 sporty and his rear bearings were bad and had to be replaced under warranty at 5200 miles..

After owning 3 HDs' a 97, a 2000 and an 06 with 0 bearing issues.. to the one I have now.. to what my friends are reporting on theirs... to what I am reading on this and other places.. etc.. there IS a problem of some sort.. how widespread, conditionally related model related etc etc... remains to be seen as there is very little actual research or hard data that I can find... or any kind of acknowledgement from the MoCo either..

But.. they DID change the bearings, their suppliers etc.. in an effort to cut costs.. all businesses do it.. sometimes to their detriment..

However, people shouldnt be possibly getting hurt, getting hurt or owrse or worrying (like me) while riding down the road wondering if the stupid thing is gonna go kaput..

In the end... it is the decision of the individual as if to whether to have them changed.. (unless that person has no choice and they fail like they did on the OP and they have to be changed) Moreover, alot of people are not tech savy and or own a shop or are a weekend tuner wrench bender like alot of us are here..

Lastly it is my contention that the onus of safety lies with the MoCo on this one.. and they chose a poor place to save a few cents in production..

Knowledge is power... do a google search for HD wheel bearing failures.. the one I just did showed the oldest thread at 2009.. the rest are ALL newer.. coincidence?

My .02 cents

 

I've seen all the failure threads as well. I wish there was some hard data on causes. It has been my experience, reading those threads, that people who have problems, continue to have problems, and others will never have an issue.

Which leads me to believe there's an improper stackup somewhere, or the installers are doing a bad job. I believe HD bearings are sourced from reputable suppliers. .think I saw someone bought a few at the dealer they got a few SKF and a few Fafnir, but there isn't really a guarantee where they'll come from. Unless they're ABS, those are made up in Canada.

If I were having a lot of problems I know I'd be checking the wheel hub length versus the bearing spacer to make sure that spacer is longer than the hub. .but like you said most aren't that in tune with their bikes so lack of information is probably a culprit to all the bearing failures.

Matt

 

I could be wrong, but if people install the rear wheel/axle improperly (not aligned) after a good amount of riding I could imagine the excessive side load could definitely be a culprit in bearing failure. I could be wrong but I always spend a good 20 minutes measuring and taking my time to make sure everything is perfect.

 

The first time I removed the wheel bearings they were stubborn to say the least. long story short drove a 3/4 inch pipe into the wheel gearing itself. then welded the pipe to the inner race of the bearing. this give me a lip to drive the bearing out from the inside of the bearing. After that cut some slots into the spacer to drive the old bearing next time with a long punch. any time my wheels come off the bike these bearing get a through inspection and replacement at the slightest hint of a problem. fk road rash

 

Hi,

Yeah mattVA, i at 36000kms on my oem wheel bearings front and back, i check them when i change my tires, never torque my axle nuts higher than the spec and everything good

Its an odd one
Thanks
Mirrmu