we are installing a 14 streetglide wheel on a 11 bike, brand new takeoff wheel with 0 miles on it and we need to install the non-abs bearings in it. this is the same swap i did a month or so ago. took the bearings apart that came out of the new wheel and there's very, very little grease in the damn thing. then i took the seal out of the new bearings and there's no grease in them either, these bearings were $40 at the dealer. no wonder why they don't last very long, this crap calls for a class action lawsuit. harley should pay for anyone's wheel damage or even your medical bills if you were injured by this no quality bearings.no quality bearings, not low quality. no excuse for not having grease in the damn things. i guess that little bit of grease is going to keep the bearings lubed and cool for 100,000 miles like they say, what a joke, where is the true in advertising? do you think harley is doing this on propose to generate revenue? sure seems that way. now i'm wondering if i should be taking the wheel back off of my bike and take the bearings apart and put some grease in them. what a out and out ripoff.

 

I can't imagine they are saving money by shorting on grease. What Harley paid in parts and labor just to fix mine would buy bearing grease for a lot of bikes, it's too cheap to cut corners on. Seems more like a supplier quality issue.

 

GM didnt do anything about their ignition switches for years. Now they get to deal with the fallout, both in cost and lost sales. Cant do much for their image.
HD needs to fess up. The sooner, the better for everyone.

 

just think of all the repairs the dealers have done to bikes that are not covered under any warrenty. ruined wheels and axles along with selling you all new overpriced parts, plus labor. seems like a money maker to me. this should have been addressed long ago. harley has to know there is a high failure rate of the bearings. i wish someone would make it simple and sell a retro kit involving tapered timkins,axle,spacers and what ever else is needed to replace these junk bearings. that's my bitch and i feel better for bitching about it.

 

Post warranty you don't have to buy the parts from Harley, and the rear wheel bearing is a $20 part. If this is a plan to make money off of failed wheel bearing by shorting a few pennies worth of grease I don't think some really though their cunning plan all the way through.
I agree 100% with improving the quality of the wheel bearings, there is no excuse for a failure report rate like this. I, however, blame it more on organizational inefficiency and incompetency than a malicious intent.

 

the thing that erks me the most is harley just stands by and lets this go on. they know about the problems and do nothing.

 

As long as the OEM parts make it past the warranty or the paid for extended warranty Harley thinks their golden