Recently started hearing a clicking sound coming from sprocket side of rear wheel on my 08 Ultra. I jacked it up and spun the rear wheel and could see it was the sprocket bearing coming apart. There is no side to side play between the wheel and the swingarm. My questions are, is this normal with only 14,000 miles, would it be safe to drive this 10 miles to the dealer and would the replacement cost be covered under my ESP plan? As far as I know the rear wheel has only been off for a tire change at 10,000 miles. The indy that changed it has a good reputation. Could there be a larger problem I should be concerned about.

Thanks for any info you can share.

 

My neighbor has an 08SG, with 60K on it and has had this happen to him twice.

 

Mine fell apart when I did the first rear tire change on my 08 Ultra. I hadn't noticed any problem but it was shot. I've got over 50k miles now and it hasn't happened since. I know the manual says to torque the rear wheel, back off one full turn, and torque again to properly load the bearing.

 

I have an '07 with an added IDS (Isolated Drive System or "cush drive"), and my bearing has lasted 4½ years and 42k miles with no issues to date. I do listen every time I roll the bike out of the garage and check it every time the wheel is off. IDS bearings are not unknown to fail, which makes me nervous, as that could disable you in the middle of nowhere if the bearing failed completely. I do think the main reason they fail is poor installation with '07 retrofits, but you'd think '08s that are installed from the factory would not often suffer from this syndrome.

Replacing the bearing periodically is something I've thought about, but I tend to lean toward the "if it ain't broke..." philosophy. Who knows, maybe these bearings can last indefinitely like a wheel bearing and if you have a good one it won't cause any trouble. That's what I'm hoping anyway.

 

Went on 6000 mile cross country journey and needed a new rear tire along the way. Stopped at dealer to put it on and found out bearing was going bad at 28,000 miles....just the one side of the bearing was bad. They didn't have one in stock so we packed it full of grease and drove 1600 miles home with no issues. Whew!!!!

 

my friend's and my bike(2008 and 2009) has less than 10,000 miles he had to replace his rear wheel bearing and today I had a vibration in my motorcycle, I put it up on the jack,,, and guess what I found out....My rear wheel bearing is shot..it is not right!! Harley has been doing some thing wrong to the bikes ether buying cheap bearings or some thing. my old 2000 went for 50,000 and when I sold it the bearing in it came with it. as I read some of this it seems that when you replace them they last longer...so that leads me to be leave the stock ones are crap.. I will replace mine, but I will go to a bearing shop and get the best they have..."NO HARLEY ONES"

 

My 08 IDS bearing was toast at 30k. Caught it on a rear tire change so no damage done. I look very closely at all the bearing dust seals now every oil change and always double check them on tire changes.

 

Below is the link for the ESP pdf. Roller bearings are covered under suspension. Its your call if you wanna ride it to the dealer or not, not my bike. While they are in there, might as well complain about everything that you think its doing so they will check it over good, who knows maybe they might find something else that will be covered for the 50 bucks,lol. Good luck man. Stay safe.


http://www.psndealer.com/dealersite/...spbrochure.pdf

 

With sealed bearings I change mine every other tire change... I've been using Harley bearings recently... the last two pairs (All *****) I've ordered from JP had no markings or stamped parts numbers on them... which is a sign of Chinese manufacturers... You pay your money and take your chances... The set I'm installing this afternoon came from Harley, cost half again as much, but they have parts numbers and a made in Brazil stamping... ?? I'd love to know a good American-made bearing manufacturer...

I'm not the most tech savvy guy but I'll try to get a pic or two posted...

 

Are you aware you replied to an 8 yr old thread?