25,517 miles on my 2104 FLHTK and the front wheel bearings went bad. WTH!!!!! Theses bearings shouldn't be going out with that mileage. Sounds like mother harley has crap for wheel bearings. Will call & complain. I know it won't do any good, but at least I will feel better.

 

Yeah, that blows, were they makin' some noise?

 

I put new tires on at 16,000 mi. And my front wheel bearings were shot. I wish Timken would make them for Harley's.

 

ABS side or NON ABS side?

 

There are many threads on this. The current single row bearings last around 20K and that is it. There are a few better made bearings but I just change them out when I change the front tire. A lot of my friends have had similar issues as have many forum members.

 

Keep an eye on the rubber seal at the bearing. If you don't feel or hear anything, this would be a sign the bearing is going.

 

Yeah, this is a common problem from everything I've read. I guess that's what happens when you buy your bearings for an "American-made" bike from China to save a couple bucks.

 

When you get new bearings, pop a seal off and check the grease. If it's clear, like vaseline, clean out all you can and use a quality synthetic grease. I think grease is the culprit most of the time, usually not enough of it. A thin line about 1/16th in diameter around one side of the bearing is common, and that's not near enough. I've even found a few bearings with no grease in them at all, though not from Harley... yet. You'll have to do it yourself, shops don't take the time to do it. Try to find bearings that aren't made in China, too. Most aftermarket bearing sets, like those sold by All ***** or Moose Racing, are just repackaged Chinese bearings, but at least All ***** are greased well. While checking the grease, make sure the bearing doesn't have a plastic ball cage; I've run into that, and just throw those away even if new.

 

Yep. The MOCO has never been able to design or procure wheel bearings that last like the "old, outdated" tapered rollers that they used to use.

Probably saves them all of one buck per bike to use those cheap Chinese-junk bearings (and to hell with the customers who have problems because of it).

That's what "Made in USA" means these days - assembled in a US factory using third-world-crap parts.

I love my Limited, but don't think much of the company that built it or its penny-pinching policies. Never have - never will.

 

Indefinitely, pretty common with the newer style bearings...bad manufacturing and almost no grease...
I had two failures on my bike from wheel bearings. Second one did 1200 bucks damage at 65 mph...not fun...
Do a search, lots of failures...on the new style.
All ***** and timken make replacements for about 25 bucks a front and rear set...cheap insurance...
I only run after market bearings on mine.
An hd mechanic, who fixed my bike last time told me in front of the dealer mgmt that they were junk and showed us the new bearings from the box with rust on it aleady...which he noted and mentioned that it would fail also and then went and installed it on my bike...nlol
Watch them carefully...unusual brake noise can be a warning sign...when in doubt, change them out...
Note first failure at 6k, next at 13 k, new bike, garaged always...