I removed the bearings from my stock wheels with 14,000 miles on them. The bearings look and feel good, so they would have probably lasted a long time. The ABS bearing was made in Canada by F.A.G. by the way. The bearings in the photos I submitted are the actual used bearings that I pulled.

 

Thanks to Joe and the others I just finished putting bearings in a set of wheels I bought from a local rider. Let me add a couple notes, if for no other reason so I can find them in a year or two because I forgot

The wheels I bought were new take offs from a bike that DID NOT have ABS. So, you have to pull all the bearings out to replace the ABS bearings. Even if the wheels/bearings are new. The reason is the ABS bearing is 3mm wider than the standard bearing. It gets seated in the hub all the way, then you seat the non ABS side until there's no slop in the spacer (more on this later). Given that the bearings on the other side were seated with narrower non ABS bearing (remember they came from a non ABS bike) the spacer is gonna bind the new ABS bearing because it's wider by 3mm, not to mention the wheel offset will be off too.

You could use a puller and pull the non ABS side bearing out a bit, seat the new ABS bearing fully and then seat the non ABS side as mentioned above. BUT, I don't use bearings after I've pulled them using the inner race. I'm sure many have and do, but I don't. So that means if you want to convert a set of non ABS wheels into ABS you'll need four bearings, 2 ABS and 2 non ABS. Even at internet prices that's the better part of a hundred bucks. Know that going in if you're looking to buy non ABS wheels as spares.

One final note. When I seated the non ABS side bearing (for non ABS bikes the last bearing to be seated is the RIGHT side for front and LEFT side for rear) I seated it so all the side to side/up and down play was gone from the spacer sleeve between the two, but only just. When I had all the play out of the spacer AND I could take my finger and rotate either bearing and make the other bearing turn; I knew I had it right. If it were too tight it would have bound, if it were to loose the spacer wouldn't have been snug enough against the other bearing to be rotated by the bearing I was turning. Oh, the ORANGE side of the ABS bearing faces the axle spacer and the grey/green side faces the sensor.

Wow. I haven't gone off on a tangent like that since I smoked weed.

 

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One quick comment:

The wheel hub can be warmed with a hot air gun before removing bearings bound to be discarded; this makes extraction much easier. Before assembling new bearings, they can be chilled in a freezer; they will 'fall into place' very easily.

 

One quick comment:

The wheel hub can be warmed with a hot air gun before removing bearings bound to be discarded; this makes extraction much easier. Before assembling new bearings, they can be chilled in a freezer; they will 'fall into place' very easily.[/quote]


I forgot about the freezer trick! good stuff

 

Freezing and heating is really not necessary. Assembly lube on install. Done.

 

There are mechanical tolerances for each type of assembly, some are called 'press-fit'. At ambient temperature the male part (bearing) is a few tenths bigger than the housing so the assembly lubricant will be wiped away during insertion. I also use lubricant knowing it will not serve the purpose

 

I had read on this forum sometime back that the wheel bearings on the 08 up bikes where made in Korea and some seem to have not been greased from factory. So when I replaced new tire on front of my 08 FXSTC it was trash!! So I had the mechanic to look at the rear bearing and he said it was shot and even locking up when turning the bearing. I replaced them with a Tim-kin bearing. The bike only has 9500 miles on it and never has pressure washer used on it.

 

I don't know where they were made, but on my 07 Buell I had to replace the wheel bearings on both wheels at the first tyre change - less than 6k miles.

 

YOU GUYS HAVE GOT ME FREAKED OUT!
Having all my wheel bearings replaced tomorrow on my 09 SG w/ 25k.

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