As someone that has worked in the industry for 40 years it is just habit. If a customer asks for a specific type bearings and does not under terminology they will get the wrong thing! Important to me and if others are like me they like to learn and be accurate.

Yes load capacity and thrust loading values are considerably higher with tapered roller bearings vs. radial ball bearings. Anyone old enough to remember ball bearing in the 1950's Chevy front hubs know why the conversations to tapers were so successful.

From an actual load rating based on rpm the ball bearings are good on paper for this application. In my world the main causes of failure are improper installation, improper lubrication and contamination.

I see failed bearings of all types on a daily basis. We can almost always find the reason for failure and help our customer solve their issues. Bearing quality has improved so much over the last 25 to 30 years. The quality of the steel, machining etc is much better. Yes there are defects but I can tell you they are extremely rare. Yes there are companies especially from the Asian rim that do make junk for price only. It blows my mind why there is a new thread on this sight daily regarding wheel bearings on Harley's. Hard for me to believe that the MoCo is putting low quality bearings in with it being such a crital safety item. I have never had a bearing failure with four bikes and almost total 120k miles. But I did have a buddy lose a front baring around 20k miles.

Would love to see some failed bearings for analysis.

Thanks

 

1999-earlier Tapered Roller (mostly)
2000-later Sealed Ball


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If you have the background isn't hard to get a fair idea what's happening, suspect you have a few well founded opinions on this also.

 

Okay, I am very glad that you are getting new tires. You needed to. Over the hill tires are dangerous.

 

I suspect it is a dollars and cents problem $$$$ from what I am reading. Buy cheap to improve the bottom line. I plan to ask the dealership to see let me see some new bearings the next time I stop in. I want to see first hand what they are selling.

The one thing we as riders do have control over is not washing our bikes with a high pressure sprayer or at a car wash with high pressure. At least NOT directly spraying on the wheel hubs. Water will pass through even the best of seals under pressure and take dirt in with it.

 

Mrfreeze57 , for what bike have you purchased the USA Timkin bearings for on Ebay, I am aware Timken makes the tappered rollers but have not been able to find a good replacement for the newer sealed radial ball bearings for the touring bikes other than All ***** which are KML. Any info , seller, part# etc would be appreciated . Thanks

 

Timken/Fafnir 205pp

But any quality bearing manufacturer offers the equivalent...it's STD bearing# 6205-2rs. Although some manufacturers may have their own part numbering scheme, but still equivalent to the 6205-2rs


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I have been riding since '69, have owned many bikes, H-D's since late '74, and I have no idea how many miles I may have ridden but my last bike had 77,000+ miles on it when I sold it and I have never had to replace a wheel bearing....yet.

My '13 CVO Ultra is about ready to roll over 31,000 miles and I will probably end this season near the 35,000 mile mark, provided there are no issues by then.

Looks like a second set of tires may be on the agenda early next year since my front tread reading was 4/32nds at the service department recently so I'll make sure they inspect/replace any suspected bad bearings at that time.

 

for a 2014 low rider, they come in a timken box, the bearings have fafnir typed on them p/n 205PP.
do say made in USA on box. looked at the new HD ones first, only difference can see is the HD ones have metal shields on each side, the timkens have rubber shields/seals.
they do seem awful small for a heavy bike, should be at least a 3/4" wide bearing instead of a 15mm width. this was my first time wheel bearing failure on a street bike. when re installing, make sure the inner races contact the spacer between, service manual says press in the primary side one first until contacts shoulder, then the R.H. side until contacts spacer for proper preload.
the one that failed is the sprocket side, had always set belt the looser end of the range, this time went from 5/16 deflection to 7/16, am goint to try running the belt a bit looser as on cars years ago, the primary reason for failed alternators and water pumps was over tightened belts.

 

Also, an unsuitable bearing for the application.

Here's my left rear wheel bearing after 6,000 easy miles...