18K miles and the right front wheel bearing failed! I heard one bearing come out thought it was a rock. Couple miles and second one then the front started to feel like a flat. Reach for front brakes and no brakes. Had to pump them to get brakes, wobble most have pushed the pads in. Got it stop called a friend with a trailer and brought it home. Will change them all this weekend front and rear.......Brake Pads ......Bearings and tires. Will make it ready for my trip to Maggie Valley in late June.

Shaun

 

That stinks. Glad you realized what was happening and handled it like a pro.

 

I wrote this so people would watch out......I think there is a problem with these wheel bearings.

 

Mine went at about 17k. Not a catastrophic failure, changed out anyway.

 

You did better than I did. I got about 5K out of my first set. I did catch them before they fragged though.

 

When ya get your new set of bearings, open them up and check the grease. You might not be getting the durable stuff and very little grease at that.

 

I have 2 complete bearing sets sitting on my bench. They will go in when I change tires in a month or so. I have 17k miles on my ride and no problem "yet" with my OEM bearings but I've read enough posts like this one to convince me these have a 20k life at best. BTW, the Moco's replacement sets are different from previous OEM ones and should be more reliable according to my HD tech. No matter, from here on I change bearing sets before they have 20k on em. Its a cheap alternative to some other possibilities IMHO.


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I hope so because those are the ones I used when I replaced my bearings.

 

Yep, because I have ABS I thought it wise to stick with MoCo replacements too. Perhaps this wasn't necessary. Maybe someone with the requisite technical savvy can shed some light for us on other possibilities,,, ?


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Do bearings just commit suicide though? Would there have been some play in them for a while before the total failure?

When I was told about the front bearings on my partners bike the movement at the rim of the wheel was only very slight but there nonetheless and so I changed the bearings immediately.