How I hate repacking my bearings on my 1988. Friggin taking off that rear whell on the bagger is a PAIN IN THE ****. Every griggin year I do the same old ****.I'll take the new sealed bearings any day of the week.

 

Uh....Ya gotta take the wheels offto do a tire change.Service the bearingsat that time (I normally change both tires at the same time). There's no reason that I can think of (other than 'extreme' riding conditions)where you'd need to service properly packed bearings between tire changes, inspite ofwhatThe MoCo recommends.

However, I understand that people would rather not deal with the mess of properly cleaning and repacking the bearings.

 

as a longtime bearing guy(and not a harley owner-yet), i cannot imagine a change from a tapered roller bearing to a sealed bearing without there being some kind of adaptation kit to change either the bore,o.d., or both. the reason is tapered roller bearings typically used in harleys or other u.s. products are in sae dimensions, whereas sealed ball bearings are metric. there are metric tapers and there are sae ball bearings but finding a dimensional "interchange" from one to the other is not feasible. there are some "sealed" tapered roller bearings such as Timken LM11900LA...i cannot recall the exact number but the "seal" is nothing more than a vulcanized rubber piece that has to come into contact with the outer race(usually LM11910). this is still a cone/cup assembly that requires the cup to be pressed into the wheel hub and the bearing mounted to the axle. if there were a "sealed " bearing, it would require a completely different dimensional setup to make it work. all that being said, i'm sure there are special kits to make the change(without knowing anything about the wheel setup) but i can tell you, there is nothing better as far as reliability and maintenance ability for wheel bearings than tapered roller bearings. yeah, they may be a pain when it comes time to do the maintenance but i would never consider changing the oem system to sealed ball bearings just because of maintenance issues. if there is a special bearing kit there, someone enlighten me please! i joined this site to learn about the hd's and any feedback is appreciated. if you folks have bearing questions, i would be happy to try to help.......

 

Here's the double-row angular contact retro-fit kit. They USED to be available. They did have the same ID and OD as the stock tapered roller bearings...maybe the width was a bit different hence the need for the spacers in the kit.

I'm wondering if one of the bearing companies did a custom run of them for someone but they were so expensive that they were never made again.

 

Welcome from INDY

 

If I were guessing, these were made by a Chinese company. There are plenty of "double row angular contact" bearings around...I sell them every day. They have their place in industry(pumps, gearing applications, etc.) but the smallest sizes available from high quality manufacturers such as SKF put together with all the spacers and such you need to convert would put them over the pricing shown in the Drag Specialties ad. The Chinese will take small market parts and produce them cheaply..and they will fit most of the time but the Chinese typically do not produce good metal. The steel listed on the ad is 52100 bearing steel...the most common steel used in bearings, and anyone can buy rough stock 52100 bearing steel.What matters is what is done with the steel when producing the parts. That is where a lot of Chinese bearings fall short of manufacturers such as SKF and Timken. I would stick with Timken in the wheels and any other tapered roller bearing application because they case carburize their parts...this allows them to be more durable. Your wheels absorb a lot of shock with all the road conditions you encounter and I wouldn't compromise on the critical parts like wheel bearings. Is anyone bored yet???

 

No...not bored...I don't sell bearings...but I do spec them (not quite daily though).

 

Good discussion. I thought of going with the sealed 100,000 mile sealed bearings a while back and after this post I think I'll stay with the time proven OEM bearings.

 

...Yawn......[sm=gobble.gif]

Kidding...that's good stuff. Thanks.

 

Quite a waste of money to change both tires at the same time, isn't it? I get a lot more miles out of my front tire than my rear one, and I bet everybody with a bagger does.

As for the bearings, have you ever had one go out? If you have, you can understand why I do them every year. I had my front bearings go out on me while on an Interstate, and when they go, they go fast at that speed. by time I pulled over to the shoulder, they were completely seized up. Not fun at all. I don't wait untill my tire is ready for changing, the bearings get greased every year. I have no problem with the mess.......I've done tons of wrenching on my bike over the years. Cams...heads.....exhaust systems......belts....clutches....primary bearings....trans seals.....it's all messy. I got no problems with messy....I do have a problem with taking off that front & rear tire just to pack my bearings when a sealed bearing would save me a couple hours wrenching that I could be spending drinking, chasing skirts, lighting up my farts., or picking my nose.

I have had 2 Harleys with sealed wheel bearings. Never had to pack them, they never gave me any problems. I like that. If you like repackable bearings, why wait untill your tire needs changing? As for your argument about how do you know if a sealed wheel bearing is going bad because you cant see it during routine maintenance, how do you know that your bearings are ok right now at this instant? You don't. They might be about to seize up, you really have no idea. They may have looked good last time you changed your tire, but did you repack them correctly? Do you know that too much grease is bad? How do you know how much gease you are putting in the bearing? If you are not going to look at them untill the next tire change it might be too late. So your same argument can be also used against repackable bearings.

FYI...Torrington reccommends that you pack your bearings 1/3 to 1/2 full of lubricant. Read for yourself....page 19.
http://www.applied.com/apps/commerce/pdf.do?id=61