under warranty. The ABS bearings on on backorder from the factory. I'm thinking that they are having a lot of failures.

 

what symptoms was it showing? I think I may be having an issue too and need to take it to the dealer to have it checked. When I apply the breaks, either front and back together or one or the other by themselves, I will intermittently hear a sound coming from the front.

 

I knew they were bad when I started seeing rust colored stains on the wheel hub around the bearings any time I washed the bike or rode in the rain. By the time you see those stains the bearings are bad. I pulled the front wheel and both the bearings are definitely bad. On the front wheel one of the bearings had already been replaced under warranty just 6000 miles ago. The other one (ABS side) has 21000 miles on it. I'm not sure how the bearings in the rear wheel are. The two in the belt pulley felt a little rough to me when I had the wheel off 6000 miles ago, the two in the wheel hub felt fine then. The service writer said they'd check them for me because there have been a lot of failures.

 

Power wash is the biggest enemy of HD wheel bearings that's why I rarely wash our bikes and always tell the shop not wash our bikes during service.Went thru few set on our 07 and 08 UCs but it all stopped after stop using the power wash and stopped spraying the wheels with a hose.

 

So, if I see some rust colored stains around the wheel hub (Which I do), my bearings are going ?

 

No worries ... they all do that, soon as they get their next shipment of bearings from China you'll be good to go .... at least til you have to put new rubber on again.

 

+1 on this my bike gets bucket no pressure washed once or twice a season and gets cleaned with Original Bike Spirits the rest of the year. Pressurized water of any time is a no no for just about any part of the bike.

 

I have washed my 2003 for 5 years with a hose (not a pressure washer). No problems. Pretty sure that that was before they cheaped out on bearings.

I think it's despicable what they charge for new Harleys. They should be able to provide reliable OEM bearings, made in USA.

 

my 16 road king had to have the front bearings replaced with a little over 2000 miles on it.
They were making a grinding sound.

 

I never power wash...ever. The hose nozzle I use is a high flow low pressure style and even then I don't direct it on the wheel bearings. I do ride in the rain.