Wheel Bearings (again)
- Thread starter Raywood
- Start date
Son of a Bitch!!!
MARV saves me again. :2thumbs:
Ok, I will correct my post above and include updated pictures of the bearings for the front wheel.
Thanks MARV
Boy, I really need to stop drinking!!! :loony:6205 stooge!
gearsmithy
Active Member
+1
KaptinAmerika
Guru
I have PM wheels and the bearings for my wheels are crap not to mention hard to find and I have to replace them everry 10000 miles......please.
I took my ride down to my local custom guy and had them mill out the front hubs to accept the new "standard" size bearing that Harley and all the other V Twins have switched to. This bearing is "sealed", twice the thickness of the BD bearing, slightly larger in diameter and I can walk into any Harley or V Twin shop and pick up a set for 10 bucks each .Oh and the best part of all, these bearings only have to be changed out every 60 to 70 thousand miles. Thats right every 60 to 70 thousand miles. They also fit the axle just a little bit better than the BD bearings. All this for the low price of just 300 bucks.
I took my ride down to my local custom guy and had them mill out the front hubs to accept the new "standard" size bearing that Harley and all the other V Twins have switched to. This bearing is "sealed", twice the thickness of the BD bearing, slightly larger in diameter and I can walk into any Harley or V Twin shop and pick up a set for 10 bucks each .Oh and the best part of all, these bearings only have to be changed out every 60 to 70 thousand miles. Thats right every 60 to 70 thousand miles. They also fit the axle just a little bit better than the BD bearings. All this for the low price of just 300 bucks.
gearsmithy
Active Member
If you have to change out your bearings every 10K something else is probably wrong.
KaptinAmerika
Guru
So I ordered my service manual today. Probably should have done that before I made the statement above,06 K9. Do you know what the service manual says about the wheel bearings. Raywood indicates his manual says replace every ten thousand miles. Is this correct for the 06 K9? If I am wrong then I am wrong but I see alot of threads on here about changing bearings frequently and everyone having trouble finding the right bearings.
The 05 manual does state to replace every 10,000 miles. It was changed the following year and now states to inspect or replace if necessary or something like that.
Probably cause not many put 10,000 miles on there bike in a year or ever for that matter!!!
But even though these bearing are sealed doesn't mean they don't take some abuse. I've posted my front bearings here many times after 10,000 miles and I'm now a firm believer in replacing them as recommended in the 05 manual if you put a lot of miles on the bike in extreme weather. A sealed bearing is not truly a "sealed" bearing as you can easily remove the cap.
KaptinAmerika
Guru
WHat do you think of this idea Ray
That's kool but as I posted above if you right in a lot of rain and stuff I would still be replacing or at least inspecting them regularly. May not be an issue in a moderate climate like where you are.
I've been testing out different bearings but they all seem to take the same abuse here in the PNW.
gearsmithy
Active Member
Mechanical failure, specifically material fatigue, given proper preload and lubrication shouldn't happen on motorcycle wheel ball bearings for a very very long time. The real issue is keeping lubrication in and grit/contaminates out. I could see repacking them every 10,000 miles. Hell, pack em every 5000 to be safe but a full replacement every 10K seems a little conservative to me.
I wanted to bring this thread back up to the top since I just had to replace my tire. I would take Raywood's advice and pack these things yourselves.
The bike had the stock wheel bearings and after about 8,000 miles they were useless. I literally couldn't even turn the bearing by hand inside the hub and they had barely any grease. The tire was just completely rotating on the axle.
When I got the new replacement bearings I opened them up and repacked them myself as the grease is quite minimal in there, hopefully avoid failure at 8,000 miles. I'll see how these hold up but I don't see why you wouldn't replace them every tire change, $20 at WSW for the bearings.
Brake side Bearings:
The bike had the stock wheel bearings and after about 8,000 miles they were useless. I literally couldn't even turn the bearing by hand inside the hub and they had barely any grease. The tire was just completely rotating on the axle.
When I got the new replacement bearings I opened them up and repacked them myself as the grease is quite minimal in there, hopefully avoid failure at 8,000 miles. I'll see how these hold up but I don't see why you wouldn't replace them every tire change, $20 at WSW for the bearings.
Brake side Bearings:
BadDawg Bill
Well-Known Member
Well, since BD used cheap bearings in everything you should replace them with sealed bearings and not worry about repacking them...
BWG56
Guru
Thats a good time to do it, there cheap enough to do it at tire changes, just make sure you install the correct way, meaning press them in by the outer surface.
Haha no flood. The other side didn't look that bad. I got caught in 1 really good rainstorm for about 20 miles of a Texas downpour about a year ago and thats the only rain for the most part it has ever seen. I was surprised myself how they looked honestly. I usually don't take it out if rain is forecasted.
Has anyone found a full sealed direct replacement bearing?
The stock BDM ones are stated as "sealed" but obviously that's a loose usage of the word since you can pop the cover off at will.