The other night while riding my front wheel bound up, then broke free. After it made a constant sound like metal to metal. Vibration when braking, and a slight "clunk" in the bars on road bumps. I'm thinking wheel bearing, anyone have any input ? 1996 FLHT

 

I wouldn't ride it another inch before checking the wheel bearings, not worth the chance. I had a situation not quite as severe, just a growling sound when coming to a stop after hiway speeds. It turned out to be the speedo drive going south. Your situation really sounds like a bearing.

 

No doubt wheel bearings, mine happened in the mountains last year. I now change wheel bearings with every tire change, cheap insurance for safety. Harley should modify and recall before someone gets killed.

 

Your 96 should have timkin wheel bearings that are serviceable. I'd get it up on the lift , pull the front wheel, inspect the brakes, pads, rotors, pull the wheel bearing seals, inspect the wheel bearings and races and replace/repair what's needed. Set the end play for the wheel bearings and road test it. If your bike also has the front wheel driven speedo, I'd inspect that as well.

 

I wonder how many miles you have on the bike ?
Was this bike in an accident or incident?
Was the front tire just changed?
Was bike a repo, rebuilt title or pulled from a lake?
The bearings used on that bike year are not like the newer bikes.
I would say that your bearings are much better than the newer bikes but they require grease during their lives. Most folks grease every tire change or every other change..Those bearings can do 100,000 miles in many cases unless they had some unusual storage condition like snow/salt .
A binding situation would lead me towards a brake or rotor issue.
A vibration when braking would make me think rotor (warped)., like when someone changes the tire and the tech bangs the rotor against the wall/floor or when someone uses a disc lock and tries to ride away and it bangs against the slider.
A metal to metal sound... like a swuush swuuh swuush would make me think a warped rotor rubbing against brake pad.
A clunk in the bars would make me think it is an additional problem with suspension like no oil or incorrect fill in the forks (how are the seals ?) or excessive wear of suspension components.
Since we have no further information like miles, condition, history of bike, when bike was acquired, stock or after market parts, last tire change, last brake pad change, miles on brake pads/rotors/tires, last time bearings checked/greased...It is rather difficult when we do not know any history, can not see, hear, smell, touch or ride the bike..I would not ride until i was able to properly identify the situation.

 

I've got about 1000 miles on fresh rotors and pads. The bike only has 30K on it. It happened real close to home so I just took it easy for the last 1/2 mile. I bought the bike used, so as far as accident history goes i don't know, but it is a super clean bike so I would doubt it. I think I'll start with the wheel bearings and go from there. Thanks for the input.

 

Kind of like changing your oil with every fill up...but its your money!


Does sound like bearings. Mine went around 30k.

 

If this did not occur before the fresh rotor and pads described then i would first jack the bike up in the air. Remove front calipers and tie it up and out of the way. You may wish to place a piece of wood or hockey puck in the space between pads first, just in case someone decides to touch the brake lever.
Side note:Was the brake fluid changed with the correct fluid?
Then spin the front wheel and check for noise or binding and tug to each side..
If it did not do this before parts were changed then i would say rotors have a warp to them and it is causing the piston to be in the wrong position.
30,000 thousand miles is nothing for those bearings...those bearings are not sealed ball bearings like the newer bikes..they can take some major abuse unless the bike was buried in snow and salt..You can also check the rotors as a quick check using a sharpie marker...just tape the marker to fork slider very close (paper close) to the disc and roll bike back and forth looking for a mark on rotor.
You can always change the bearings if needed after reviewing the rotor since a bearing change-out takes more effort.