Wheel Bearing Failure 2 miles above sea level
 

The wife and I took the 09 Ultra on a day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park Colorado on Sunday. We took the Trail Ridge Road which has an elevation of over 2 miles above sea level, photo attached. Riding down the switch backs on the west side we heard the sound of somthing bad from the front end. Pulled over in a safe spot and tried to find the problem. I did notice the wheel bearing seal on the right side sticking out from the hub, took my pocket knife to pull it back on the spacer and a ball fell out of the bearing, it was dry with no grease at all. Had no cell service in that part of the park so nursed it for an hour in first gear out of the park to Grand Lake, left several more balls in the park along the way. I have 32K on the bike and it has never seen a pressure washer once. Ended up having a friend trailer 150 miles home that night.

Took the tire off yesterday and took it to the dealer to have new bearings installed. The new ones are made in Korea according to the package. I took the tire home went to install it and heard something inside the hub when you turned the tire on the axle. Returned to the dealer to see if some of the old bearing parts are still in the hub. They pulled the bearing took out the spacer and found two pieces of casting material, photo attached. It looks like concrete and I am sure after so many miles it turns back to sand. I know the bearings are sealed but know I understand how sand ends up in the wheel hubs. Thought you would like to see it. The guys at the dealership said they have never seen castings like this, I think it may have come loose when they pulled the old bearings, or I hit a large bump in the road. Yes they did replace the pulled bearing with a new one and checked the wheel balance.

Sorry our trip got screwed, I know that feeling. It seems like I have been hearing about a lot of front wheel bearings going bad lately.

If you've got the 25 mm axle, ( 08 and up,) you've got the cheap single row bearing Wheel bearings, and they are junk.

So what is the answer? I am going to change mine this winter and don't want to put Korea or China bearings in. Anyone have suggestion for a good brand cross-over to use. I am riding to Alaska next year and don't want to risk junk bearings.

I don't think the country of origin is the issue. The problem is that the earlier bearings ( 2000-2007,) are double row bearings, 21mm widw vs the newer single row 15mm wide.

I suppose any good bearing house can sell you a high quality bearing, but it will still be single row. That's the direction I'd take.

(The double row bearings I'm about to replace on my bike next tire change are made in China, and the bike has 94,000 miles on it.)

I have brought this up several times during the past two years. Casting material was/is being left in the wheels after manufacturing and not being cleaned out prior to bearing installation. Which like the OP stated, turns to sand which kills your bearings. I had the same issue with my 09 SG over two years ago. Quality control is non existent anymore in some companies and we the consumer pay the price.

I know I will change my own wheel bearings at least every 20K miles from now on, it does not look like we have a quick fix for it now. Double row bearings will not fit the wheel and I don't want a bearing going out at high speeds on the interstate with the wife on the back.

Same thing happend to me on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Smoky Mountains last week.
Broke down last year about the same place, clutch cable went bad. Only 18,000 miles on
my bike. The dealer that fixed the wheel bearing said that they had changed all the front
wheel bearings in their rental bikes because there were so many going out.

sorry to hear you had problems.....thanks for sharing so we all can think about replacing these bearings ahead of failure.

I was thinking of drilling a hole in my hubs and installing a grease fitting to pump some grease thru the bearings. They do sound dry and totaly change if you shoot them with white lithum grease spray can.

52K on my 08 RG and no problem with wheel bearings.