At what mileage is it advisable to replace your primary (inner and outer) bearings?

 

Why would you want to replace them before they go bad?

 

Those bearings don't normally go bad. I did replace them on a bike I was completely rebuilding that had about 20,000 miles on it. The old ones were in good shape but I figured since everything else was new why not. Normally the seal goes bad long before the bearings.

 

I feel just a little roughness. Could just be chain too tight, but some have told me to replace them before they go bad. Got 26k miles on my 07 Heritage.

 

Did you have an issue with your primary chain??

Did you find the auto tensioner made your primary chain too tight...?

2007 was the start of the new compensators and new auto primary chain tensioners.... both were problematic the first few years. The auto tensioners were known to make the primary chain too tight, which would in turn put extra stresses on the bearings and cause some issues....

Impossible to diagnose from a forum post, but if you found your tensioner had your belt too tight, you may need to address the bearings. If you've never had an issue with your primary chain being too tight, your bearings should last a long time...

The newest version of the auto tensioner (2010+ I believe) has been much less problematic than the initial years...

 

Checked the chain and it's a little tight.

 

I never owned one of the problem years, so I didn't have to deal with that issue.... from what I've read, the problems were on bikes that found the primary chain "banjo string tight", to the point of the primary chain making noise...

Maybe do a search on this forum, there should be a bunch of threads about it...

 

It's banjo tight, makes noise and I did a search and got nothing but non-related stuff.

 

I am on my 3rd set on 07. If i had primaries off in 20ks I would replace. I think issue is 6 speed tensioner maybe bearing. I went to baker 1 piece this time.

my 01 I repkav3d at 34k, was ok, 80k still good. I put in whatever cosmetic was selling.

I dont understand why people 3ait until something fails to replace. You like being on side of road or fixing at a bad time? It's a cheap bearing.

 

Taking it over to the dealer next week to see if the chain is too tight. I don't like the wheezing sound.