Well it started last week and I tested it out this past weekend so will now report back to everyone here.

My '03 ElectraGlide has/had that infamous bagger wobble. Shake the bars carefully at speed and you could induce a speed wobble. Scary! The bike just never felt planted. (this bike is new to me about 1500 miles ago now and I have no reference to HD having come over to this side from BMW) Did some research on-line, talked to a few vendors of "solutions" and then dove into it myself on Thursday last week. Put the bike up on the lift and grabbed the rear swingarm. Shook it back and forth and yes, it moved laterally! Shake it hard and I could hear a faint knock. Got the assistance from my son to shake it for me while I held my fingers in by the tranny.... I could definitely feel the movement and was able to confirm that the play and 'knock' was from the swingarm bushings. Bike has 40,000 miles on it. Movement wasn't really in the drivetrain (moving it like that) but actually in the swing arm!

So, Thursday tore it down and pressed the spherical bearings out of the swingarm. Stuck my finger in the centre hole and shook the bearing and you could feel and hear it rattle. I looked closely at the bearing race. HD seems to use a cheap bearing that has a sintered bearing surface and no seals. Even at that I wanted parts ASAP because I had a fall colours tour booked for the weekend. So called my local dealer to find out that they only stock ONE bearing. (note to parts manager, stocking only ONE bearing for a job that takes two is asinine! Give you head a shake!! you lost my business last week and will continue to do so!) At $44 each they aren't cheap either!

So, I build race cars for a living. Went to my supplier catalogue for teflon lined double sealed heavy duty sphericals and looked up the bearing that I needed. Made a quick call and found that it was in stock and I could have it the next morning courtesy of UPS. With my UPS shipping cost it is a wash on price but the bearing is 10x the quality of the factory part! Put a drop of synthetic oil in the bearing, rolled it around, centered the unit and pressed it into the arm. As they say, assembly is reverse.

Put everything back together c/w old rubber isolation pucks on rear swing arms shaft (hey the looked and felt fine). Installed a new rear tire, serviced the brakes (no more long lever throw and pulse!!) and then went out for a 600 mile weekend fall colours tour with the wife and friends.

What can I say. The bike is now PLANTED! The rear end wobble is totally gone and a cautious test of shaking the handle bars results in what I would not consider an emergency swerve maneuver! It now goes where I want it to! No more wandering, no more unintended shifts from wind gusts, and no more bagger wobble!! The play in the factory bearings was probably only 0.002" but amplify that over the length of the control arm and I probably had about 3/16" play at the tire contract patch.

So, before you go out and buy special brackets, shafts, bushings yada yada yada... you may want to check your bearings and if you detect ANY play, replace them with a proper high quality product!

 

Welcome to HDF from the UK and thanks for your tip. When you have some spare time read my thread on 'bagger wobble' to learn more on this subject!

 

That's great to hear. Great write up. Do you have a make, vendor and part number for this bearings?

 

you just described the STA BO product. Check out Sta BO, the bearings Kevin sells to replace the crap HD installs will make the bike corner like its on rails. Also check out his other products that work with the swing arm bearings, like the front motor mount. Once installed, no need for a brace.

 

Yup, what catalog, which bearing and what cost please.

 

Well, glad to see some confirmation. I looked at other manufactures solutions but didn't want to change rubber isolation bushings if not necessary, because I don't want vibration transfer. Since my factory rubber bushings were 100%, I just did the teflon lined spherical bearings WITH SEALS. The crappy factory bearing has no seals.

I can't say what you will pay for them. I buy them wholesale as my business manufactures race cars and I use many of this company's products. However if you want to try and source them for yourself locally, here is the info.

Manufacturer is Aurora Bearing (Illinois USA). Part number is GE25ET-2RS

Only THAT exact part number will get you a teflon lined, double seal spherical bearing. The T is for teflon liner. The non teflon is cheaper but same as factory so why bother. The 2RS is for the double seal.

There are others out there that sell a basic GE25 bearing but don't waste your money on the inferior parts when the proper one is LESS than the factory $40 bearing.

If enough people are interested, I could always do a box quantity purchase and sell them for nominal amount. Factory are $88/pair and I could probably do $60/pair shipped if I could get 20 people together to commit. Just an idea but if you can source locally even better! After all they are being shipped from USA to me in Canada and that adds to the cost.

Note, this fits the swingarm bearing position in the '03 Electra Glide. Confirm that your bearing is the same as this for this fix to work.

 

great info, thanks

 

Thanks for sharing, i will check this winter

 

Want to know if this is the same bearing for an '08. Don't want any down time.

 

Thank you for taking the time to share your findings. This is a definite plus to those who have experienced bagger wobble at speeds that make it quite uncomfortable. I will be upgrading my bearings soon.