All Balls 25mm wheel bearings compaired to stock.
#1
01-07-2016, 06:11 PM
All ***** 25mm wheel bearings compaired to stock.
I went to change my rear tire for the first time on my 2012 Ultra with a little over 13,000 miles on it. I found that one of the wheel bearings are bad. After looking around on the web, I ordered a set on All ***** wheel bearings. They are manufactured by KML for All *****. Unfortunately they are made in China and I try to buy American made products. Maybe I didn't look hard enough but these bearings had the best reviews of the few after market bearings I found.
I was curious about how much grease the bearings have in them as I've read that others have bought bearings and found little to no grease in them. The KML web site states they use Chevron SRI#2 high temp grease.
I popped the seal off of the failed OEM bearing and one of the All ***** bearings. The first thing I noticed was the OEM bearing has less grease in it and it's clear in color. The All ***** bearing appears to be well packed and the grease is blue in color. I smelled both bearings. The OEM bearing has little odor, were the All ***** bearing has a strong wheel bearing grease smell to it. Anyone who has ever packed a wheel bearing by hand knows the smell I'm talking about.
Hear are pictures of the two together (All ***** on the left and OEM on the right) as well as a picture of each individually.
I was curious about how much grease the bearings have in them as I've read that others have bought bearings and found little to no grease in them. The KML web site states they use Chevron SRI#2 high temp grease.
I popped the seal off of the failed OEM bearing and one of the All ***** bearings. The first thing I noticed was the OEM bearing has less grease in it and it's clear in color. The All ***** bearing appears to be well packed and the grease is blue in color. I smelled both bearings. The OEM bearing has little odor, were the All ***** bearing has a strong wheel bearing grease smell to it. Anyone who has ever packed a wheel bearing by hand knows the smell I'm talking about.
Hear are pictures of the two together (All ***** on the left and OEM on the right) as well as a picture of each individually.
#2
01-07-2016, 06:39 PM
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I think popping the seals and checking inside new bearings is a real good idea; I always do. Sometimes you get a surprise; I've even thrown new bearings in the trash, and not just Harley wheel bearings (one set); I've tossed what was supposed to be high quality bearings for jet aircraft. A lot of those are made in China now, too. 
Pulling the wheels on my used bikes for new tires is usually right up there with changing the oil when I get one, and I've found several bad bearings - but not on my older Harleys. Any bike can get a bad bearing. What surprises me about Japanese bikes, is that I've pulled some with under 10,000 miles that were real dirty inside. ??? Have seals like all the rest, don't know why that would be. Power washing maybe?
The green grease in All ***** is supposed to be Chevron synthetic, should be a good grease. The ones I've looked at had two seals on each side, probably overkill, but nothing wrong with that. I don't know what that clear stuff is I've seen on so many bearings, but when I find it, I always clean it out and replace it with a known quality grease. And it's in OEM Harley bearings now; haven't bought any, that's interesting to hear; probably why there are so many posts about failed bearings on newer Harelys.
Here's what I posted on another wheel/bearing thread today.
Pulling the wheels on my used bikes for new tires is usually right up there with changing the oil when I get one, and I've found several bad bearings - but not on my older Harleys. Any bike can get a bad bearing. What surprises me about Japanese bikes, is that I've pulled some with under 10,000 miles that were real dirty inside. ??? Have seals like all the rest, don't know why that would be. Power washing maybe?
The green grease in All ***** is supposed to be Chevron synthetic, should be a good grease. The ones I've looked at had two seals on each side, probably overkill, but nothing wrong with that. I don't know what that clear stuff is I've seen on so many bearings, but when I find it, I always clean it out and replace it with a known quality grease. And it's in OEM Harley bearings now; haven't bought any, that's interesting to hear; probably why there are so many posts about failed bearings on newer Harelys.
Here's what I posted on another wheel/bearing thread today.
I suspect the majority of problems are not with the bearings themselves, but the grease, or lack thereof. I haven't had any bearing failures on my motorcycles, but might have if I hadn't popped the seals and checked inside before using them. Many are packed well, but some have very little grease; I've seen several that had what looked like a "string" of clear grease? (looked like Vaseline) only about 1/16" thick on one side of the bearing race. The bearing would have had to spin up before any lube reached the *****, too. I wipe anything clear off and use a major name synthetic, like Shell or Mobile, and plenty of it. It's not just motorcycles, found the same on auto and jet airliners. I've even found a few with no grease at all.
Some bearings (even Timken!) come from the factory with a preservative coating, but NO grease. That's deliberate; the user or reseller is supposed to use a grease appropriate for the application. Some of the companies that package a bearing made elsewhere, like All *****, seem to do a good job with grease, but I wonder if some of these el cheapo repackaged bearings only have preservative. Another good reason to check.
Wheel bearings aren't really high rpm in the bearing world. A 21" wheel/tire spins the bearing close to 1000 rpm at 60 mph; just about any wheel bearing is rated at several times that speed. Wipe the grease off the outer side of the bearing after grease packing before pressing the seal back on, and this should leave enough space for a ball "tunnel" to avoid heat buildup from ***** churning through a solid layer of grease. At 10,000 rpm, this could be critical, but at street wheel bearing speeds, they handle plenty of grease. Tapered wheel bearings in cars, motorcycles, and aircraft have been packed solid since the beginning. I'm sure a lot of us old timers have done that plenty of times.
Greases to avoid using:
Moly, the black stuff. It's long fibered clay based, oil seeps out, and best for sliding surfaces, not ball bearings.
Hydroscopic grease. That means it absorbs water. Mobil 28 (it's red) is one of these. I've seen this special purpose grease used wrong, it ain't pretty.
Timken has some good info on grease, what to use, how to use, and what happens when you don't do it right. Pages -
http://www.timken.com/EN-US/products...ages/info.aspx
http://www.timken.com/EN-US/products...Pages/faq.aspx
I really think the Harley community (including dealers) would experience far less bearing problems by just insuring the bearings they use are properly lubricated.
Some bearings (even Timken!) come from the factory with a preservative coating, but NO grease. That's deliberate; the user or reseller is supposed to use a grease appropriate for the application. Some of the companies that package a bearing made elsewhere, like All *****, seem to do a good job with grease, but I wonder if some of these el cheapo repackaged bearings only have preservative. Another good reason to check.
Wheel bearings aren't really high rpm in the bearing world. A 21" wheel/tire spins the bearing close to 1000 rpm at 60 mph; just about any wheel bearing is rated at several times that speed. Wipe the grease off the outer side of the bearing after grease packing before pressing the seal back on, and this should leave enough space for a ball "tunnel" to avoid heat buildup from ***** churning through a solid layer of grease. At 10,000 rpm, this could be critical, but at street wheel bearing speeds, they handle plenty of grease. Tapered wheel bearings in cars, motorcycles, and aircraft have been packed solid since the beginning. I'm sure a lot of us old timers have done that plenty of times.
Greases to avoid using:
Moly, the black stuff. It's long fibered clay based, oil seeps out, and best for sliding surfaces, not ball bearings.
Hydroscopic grease. That means it absorbs water. Mobil 28 (it's red) is one of these. I've seen this special purpose grease used wrong, it ain't pretty.
Timken has some good info on grease, what to use, how to use, and what happens when you don't do it right. Pages -
http://www.timken.com/EN-US/products...ages/info.aspx
http://www.timken.com/EN-US/products...Pages/faq.aspx
I really think the Harley community (including dealers) would experience far less bearing problems by just insuring the bearings they use are properly lubricated.
#3
01-07-2016, 06:44 PM
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01-07-2016, 07:26 PM
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#5
01-07-2016, 10:27 PM
#6
01-07-2016, 10:52 PM
I went to change my rear tire for the first time on my 2012 Ultra with a little over 13,000 miles on it. I found that one of the wheel bearings are bad. After looking around on the web, I ordered a set on All ***** wheel bearings. They are manufactured by KML for All *****. Unfortunately they are made in China and I try to buy American made products. Maybe I didn't look hard enough but these bearings had the best reviews of the few after market bearings I found.
I was curious about how much grease the bearings have in them as I've read that others have bought bearings and found little to no grease in them. The KML web site states they use Chevron SRI#2 high temp grease.
I popped the seal off of the failed OEM bearing and one of the All ***** bearings. The first thing I noticed was the OEM bearing has less grease in it and it's clear in color. The All ***** bearing appears to be well packed and the grease is blue in color. I smelled both bearings. The OEM bearing has little odor, were the All ***** bearing has a strong wheel bearing grease smell to it. Anyone who has ever packed a wheel bearing by hand knows the smell I'm talking about.
Hear are pictures of the two together (All ***** on the left and OEM on the right) as well as a picture of each individually.
I was curious about how much grease the bearings have in them as I've read that others have bought bearings and found little to no grease in them. The KML web site states they use Chevron SRI#2 high temp grease.
I popped the seal off of the failed OEM bearing and one of the All ***** bearings. The first thing I noticed was the OEM bearing has less grease in it and it's clear in color. The All ***** bearing appears to be well packed and the grease is blue in color. I smelled both bearings. The OEM bearing has little odor, were the All ***** bearing has a strong wheel bearing grease smell to it. Anyone who has ever packed a wheel bearing by hand knows the smell I'm talking about.
Hear are pictures of the two together (All ***** on the left and OEM on the right) as well as a picture of each individually.
What part#'s did you use, and where did you buy them? I've got a 2012 Limited so should be the same as yours for the non ABS bearings.
#7
01-07-2016, 11:49 PM
Join Date: Jul 2011
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before:
small tool (actually, this one's on the large size, smaller is better), scrape against the inner bearing, slide under the edge of the seal carefully, try not to put much bend into it, slide the tool around the inner race and gently lift till the seal comes free from the outer race
and it's off. Some seals have a metal backing inside; this one did. Avoid putting a bend in it, can be difficult to get flat again.
to re-install, just press on; push down, run your fingertip around it, it'll usually snap right into place
and you can't tell it was ever off.
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#9
01-08-2016, 05:29 AM
http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/311512148283
Here's the link for the front bearings which are the same but with a black seal.
http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/311508928418
The pictures in the listings are not an exact match to the bearing sets.
Last edited by skydude426; 01-08-2016 at 08:08 AM.
#10
01-08-2016, 08:05 AM
