At 15K miles I had the right front (non-ABS) wheel bearing replaced under warranty. It was completely shot with about .030+ slop in it. I'm at 21K now and the left front (ABS) bearing feels like it is full of rocks and the right side, that only has 6K miles on it, is a bit rough too.

Fortunately I've got about 20 days of warranty left. I made an appointment at my dealer for Monday to have them replaced. They also said they would check out the rears for me as I noticed some slight roughness in the two bearings in the belt pulley 6K miles ago. The service writer told me that wheel bearings are a common failure since the MoCo switched over to these cheaper bearings. I was a bit surprised that he said this because back in May another service writer at the same shop told me that they had "never seen this problem before". Of course we all know better.

I suspected the bearing was failing when I washed the bike a few weeks ago and the next ride left rusty looking deposits all over the front wheel hub, rim and brake caliper. I washed it again on Sunday and the same thing happened yesterday. I've never pressure washed the bike. I only use a garden hose and I flow the rinse water over the bike especially when doing the wheels.

Several others on the forum have suggested that it is water infiltration that is taking the bearings out. That may be the case but I am now wondering if bearing wear is allowing the water to get in by deforming the seals as the bearing gets sloppy. I never saw the rust stains until after the bearing had worn.

I've bought the bearing removal and installation tools. I think I'll be replacing all the bearings at every tire change from now on.

 

Reading this just makes me worry. thanks for the heads up

 

Harley Davidson, made with pride... in China

 

junk 25mm bearing are the problem here. crappy grease in them from china. harley has had their head up their *** on these bearings for years now. before installing them pop the seal off and pack them with some good grease . you may get more miles out of this crap bearing. you can always buy after market. anythings got to be better than the crap they put in them.