So I did it again!!!!

I managed to **** up the bearings in my front wheel. I did the same thing last time I had the front wheel off last year. Last year when I put the wheel back on the bike I didn't tighten the front axle bolt enough and I guess that led to the bearing getting screwed.

So now this week I replaced my front and rear rotors. Everything went off without a hitch. I went for a short test ride yesterday and everything seemed fine.

I get on it today, go for a 20 mile blast and half way through the ride I start hearing a clanking sound coming from the front end (same sound it made last year when the bearing went bad).

I know the book calls for 60-65 foot pounds of torque on the front axle bolt. I don't have anyway of checking the torque on that bolt cause the bolt is huge.

So keeping in mind that last year I didn't tighten it enough and that led to the bearing going bad I went ahead and cranked on the bolt as hard as I could.

I put the bike on the lift and took the brake caliper off. When I spin the wheel it spins freely but you can hear the clanking noise coming from the bearing. When the front caliper is on the wheel doesn't spin as freely. I know that's because the brake pads are dragging on the rotor and that's normal but at a certain part of the motion it seems like the wheel is bounding.

What the hell am I doing wrong here ?!? Is there such a thing as over tightening that bolt and causing the bearing to fail?

So freaking aggravated to be dealing with this issue again !!!!!

If it matters, my bike is a 08 Rocker.

 

Can't imagine over or under tightening a bit causing a problem. Maybe some kind of misalignment? I have friends that do this all the time without a torque wrench and they've not had any problems. As far as the torque wrench, you can rent one cheaply from a number of auto parts stores. I don't know how much you tightened it, but way over doing it may damage the bearings. Just imagine 60-65 pounds of force applied to the end of a 12 inch wrench handle. That's 60-65 foot pounds..

 

Not trying to be mean....but maybe get or borrow a torque wrench? I think auto zone loans them. I bought a set of cheap, like $25, 1/2 inch drive impact sockets from Harbor Freight that work great. If you reefed as hard as you could on that, you probably put like 100-150 pounds on that. Way too much.

 

I've seen a lot of wheel bearing Prematurely fail due to over torquing the axle but not as quickly as yours did. Suggest you visit sears and pick up the proper size tools and or adapters allowing you to use your torque wrench.

I noticed you have aftermarket wheels. Investigate the possibility that the bearings are not seating in the wheels correctly.

 

Additional thought. I once worked on a fellow riders (Stock) Rocker. We discovered that the brake caliper was not centered over the rotor. Had to fabricate spacers between the caliper and fork leg to center the caliper. This situation should not affect your wheel bearings but you should look at it anyway.

 

Thanks for the input boys. I have a torque wrench, matter of fact I have two. One is foot pounds and the other one is inch pounds.

I just don't have an adapter to make a bit the size that is required work with my torque wrench.

I have had those wheels for 6 years now and those bearings were installed by HD last year when I screwed them up.

Looks like I'm gonna have to do the same thing I did last year, ride it to the dealership and have them replace the bearings.

I absolutely put like 100 lbs of pressure on that ****er. I should have known cranking on them that hard would be a problem.

Live and learn.

Gotta find and get me whatever bit it is that is used to mount that axle bolt. This way I can check the torque next time.

 

I know it is chinese crap but for tools that are used infrequently Harbor Freight tools are good to do the job. Most other name brand tools that are "cheaper" are also made in China.

 

The tools I have now to remove the axle nuts are these two giant Allen keys (I wish I could remember their size).

 

It shouldn't really matter how much torque you put on the axle. There is an inner spacer that fits between the bearings inner races inside the hub. When the axle nut tightens it squeezes the forks, outer spacers, inner bearing races and inner spacer together. When the bearings are installed the inner spacer should be snug between the bearings, with no movement. If the inner spacer can be moved around then you will be side loading the bearings when you tighten the axle. Which will cause premature bearing failure and if bad enough, binding.

 

That is exactly my thinking when I was cranking on that axle bolt. I know there is a spacer in between the bearings so I figured there was no way I was gonna damage the bearings by cranking on the axle bolt.

Last year I left the axle bolt too loose and that created side load on the bearings which is what caused them to fail.

For the life of me I can't figure out what happened this time!! I should have checked the spacer between the bearings before I mounted the wheel again.

I know I'm gonna probably have to get the bearings replaced.