front wheel bearings

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Jan 11, 2013 | 04:28 PM

#21

Fat King

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Joined: Sep 2012

Posts: 90

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From: Oregon

Quote:

Originally Posted by hardheaded

the newer 25mm bearing are junk, don't worry about the bearing bores,more worried about my life going down the road on defective wheel bearings. harley needs to come up with a good replacement for this crap their putting in these bikes.

That's a fact. They are crap. 20k on. Imy 2011 sg and the front bearings were shot. Never had a wheel bearing fail until I bought a new bike. Very unhappy. What do you want for 20 grand.

Jan 11, 2013 | 04:35 PM

#22

Stiggy

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From: Oxford, Nc

Quote:

Originally Posted by DTTJGlide

The newer 25mm bearings, 08-up, are single row & have been a problem, the 00-07 are double row & most will go 100K+, just check them at every tire replacement.

Changed mine out just for good measure at 100,000 miles and they still appeared fine. New replacements at 23,000 now and no issues.

But these are the '00 to '07 double row bearings, not the '08 and later cheapies.

Jan 11, 2013 | 04:45 PM

#23

NPW

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Joined: Nov 2011

Posts: 134

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From: Gainesville, Fl

So... is there a quality alternative to replace the stock ones with?

Jan 11, 2013 | 10:43 PM

#24

Wv7o

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Joined: Oct 2011

Posts: 257

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From: Auburn, WA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wv7o

Bearings for my bike cost between $20.00 and $25.00 depending on where you look even the dealer falls in this range.

I choose to just change them with the tires.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2black1s

That sounds like an overly aggressive course of action to me.

The front wheel has 2 bearings, the rear has 4 (all 6 are the same part #) I have not read about anyone with a failed rear bearing or bearings, it is always the front.

I also realize that not everyone experiance's front wheel bearing failure, in fact it is probably a very small percent that do.

For a few extra $$ when I replace the front tire I get new wheel bearings and
don't have to wonder if the bearings will last until the next tire change, in short it is just a personal choice JMO.

Last edited by Wv7o; Jan 11, 2013 at 10:45 PM.

Jan 12, 2013 | 06:01 AM

#25

grbrown

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From: Bedford UK

I guess these bearings are a stock size. The original ones will be engraved with a variety of numbers and these tend to be common through the bearing industry, so any bearing supplier should be able to offer alternative brands of the same size.

I took a worn out shovel front wheel bearing into my local auto parts store and he told me it was the same as a popular Ford outer front wheel bearing - he had them on the shelf, so how many did I want?!

Jan 20, 2014 | 10:38 PM

#26

gdoc89

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Joined: Aug 2012

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From: Everett, WA

I had my front wheel off while changing out the forks. As I was putting the wheel back on, the outer cover of the bearing fell off and chunks of dried grease dropped out.....25k miles.

Jan 21, 2014 | 05:56 AM

#27

x1rider

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Joined: Aug 2008

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I changed mine when I changed my tires. My friend has a 2011 RG and he had a front wheel bearing failure at 6200 miles, while on a trip.
I checked with my local bearing shop and replaced the Harley bearings with NTN 6205LLU/2A, half the price from what Harley wanted.

Jan 21, 2014 | 08:31 AM

#28

hardheaded

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Joined: Oct 2012

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From: St.Louis Mo.

any time you have the wheels off put your axle in the wheel and shim it up so you can torque in down and then roll the wheel feeling any roughness in the axle.

Last edited by hardheaded; Jan 21, 2014 at 09:40 AM.