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[murphy]

Two nights ago after a two hour high speed ride, it noticed a slight noise and shimmy in the bike's rear end.

I have an 06 Ultra with 35k (miles) on it.

I pulled off the highway, had a look and couldn't find anything... it was pretty dark though.... I hobbled home on the side roads.

In the morning I found chunks of my rear wheel bearing sitting inside the hub on the belt side, last night I pulled the wheel off and have a look at what I found...

Because I discovered that there is an inner cam bearing failure that the Moco acknowledges but won't do anything about, it's not unreasonable to think that there could be a wheel bearing issue too!

The owner of the shop I go to is a long time friend, he said he has never seen this before!

First photo is how it should look... second is how it did.

Sorry about the lack of focus.

[Ranger]

My wifes rear wheel bearing failed on her 09 Softail Deluxe with less than 25,000 miles on it...she was doing a 1,500 mile Iron Butt and almost went down when it failed....

[firetae]

Same thing happened to my 2009 Fatbob with 8000 km on it. Nearly lost the bike due to this because i was travelling about 110 km/hr.  Dealer also said he never saw this before.  Funny thing though when you go around and meet a few harley owners someone usually talks about the bearing failure that they had.  Why do the dealers continue to try and cover up these occurances?

[murphy]

My guy is not a dealer, he's a friend..

I think that this is one of those many things that come up with HD stuff and no one realises that its an issue until we speak in a forum like this one... that's why I posted it.

[yellowcvo]

I had my bearings let go in my 2008 Fat Bob at 10,000 miles wiped out the rim and axle.Lost the bearings on my 2009 at 19,000 miles dealers acted surprised like it has not been an issue

[AXIL]

     yellow, most failed bearings i see are when grease is leaking from around the seal and the bearing still in tack. but Friday i saw
one that was destroyed. i didn't have an inside puller that fit so i just machined a washer and tig welded them to gethere and
drove it out with a drift.    axil

[roadrunner]

Is there a tell-tale sign other than removing the rear wheel?

I've had grease weeping on the back of one of my saddle bag directly across from the axle nut for a couple of years now.

Each service I ask them to check and service tech never finds anything (rear tire and brakes replaced last fall).

Ride safe!

[roadrunner]

Bearings were questionable...tech replaced under warranty.

[Big Dog]

Also, keep the high pressure nozzle from a power washer away from the bearing areas when washing the wheels!

[VANAMAL]

I replaced mine when i rebuilt the swingarm. Found the same thing on a front bearing. 60K miles

[Twolanerider]

There are some things that shouldn't have to be preventative maintenance.  And truth be told probably don't need to be.  But wheel bearings on a bike I treat that way. 

They used to be a far more common service issue of course.  We had to actually pack them and have them in our hands.  So we more regularly knew what was there.  Sealed bearings are so much nicer (I hate packing wheel bearings).  But just like anything else they can crap out.  They're also cheap.

So at the closest tire change to 50k miles bearings are on the to do list.  Doesn't matter if they still smell of rose petals.  Takes only a few minutes to push them in and out.  Losing a bearing on two wheels is an issue.  Worth it to me to change them around 50k "just because."

[arcticdude]

To play devil's advocate-

How do you know the replacements are worth a chit??  If the old one is still truning free with no signs of wear, why replace it- besides the feel good?  But that then takes us back to my original question.

[Midnight Rider]

To play devil's advocate-

How do you know the replacements are worth a chit??  If the old one is still truning free with no signs of wear, why replace it- besides the feel good?  But that then takes us back to my original question.

I don't know, other than buying a bearing from a known superior manufacturer. And I guess nowadays you can't be 100% certain where anything come from...

As Don mentioned, back in the bad old days when one had to knock the damn things out and pack 'em by hand, I would always clean them in mineral spirits first and do a careful examination of the bearings and race to look for odd signs of wear, or too much "slack".  Then put big globs of grease in the palm of one hand and pack it in 'till it oozed out the other side.

I think the 50K idea is a good one, and one that quite frankly, I'd never even thought about.  Just good "insurance" though.

[murphy]

Mine had just over 35k when they went... if you've made it to 50k I'd be replacing them!

[Twolanerider]

To play devil's advocate-

How do you know the replacements are worth a chit?? 

Obviously you don't know for sure John.  It is just a feel good thing.  But $25 an axle for a couple of good BCA bearings from someplace like IBT is a cheap prophylactic feel good.

There are enough known instances of what I'd consider premature failure to make me do this.  Just a personal thing.  I'm more comfortable doing it than not.