J
Jack Klarich
Guest
Agree, The MOCO once touted these as being 100,000 mile bearings needing no service looks like they boo booed
Wheel bearings
- Thread starter fin_676
- Start date
Agree, The MOCO once touted these as being 100,000 mile bearings needing no service looks like they boo booed
Perhaps the ones that are being fitted are of lower quality than the ones tested that would require the moco to go back to their source manufacturer and shake them up a wee bit
Brian
J
Jack Klarich
Guest
Interesting, if they have enough warranty claims may be, but I still bet they will blame the owner for too much washing and riding in the rain
cedarbrook63
Junior Member
I picked up the bike this arvo - new wheel bearings in rear, parts and labour charged. I checked the mileage today - I thought I had over 5 thousand miles on the clock but it's only 4700! Garaged, cared for and never jet washed as I mentioned.
The dealership head honcho is away on holiday but I'm going to have a chat with him about it when he comes back. Next year I hit the big 50 and was planning on buying a newish RK (new frame design) as a big fat birthday present to myself
. If these wheel bearings are a reflection on the rest of the materials used in these beautiful bikes - it makes me wonder whether I should (very sadly and reluctantly) consider a different brand.......
The dealership head honcho is away on holiday but I'm going to have a chat with him about it when he comes back. Next year I hit the big 50 and was planning on buying a newish RK (new frame design) as a big fat birthday present to myself
. If these wheel bearings are a reflection on the rest of the materials used in these beautiful bikes - it makes me wonder whether I should (very sadly and reluctantly) consider a different brand.......
cedarbrook63
Junior Member
But maybe I've just been very unlucky and am just grouchy........
cedarbrook63
Junior Member
Well the master tech said that they are now using new bearings which have better protection for the components and a better grease......
Lets hope he's right otherwise at 10,000 miles I'll be grouchy all over again!
Lets hope he's right otherwise at 10,000 miles I'll be grouchy all over again!
Hoople
Account Removed
The question I ask is this. Were they supplied by HD or were they a aftermarket bearing chosen by the dealership.
If they were supplied by HD, there may be hope for longer life. If they are aftermarket, I would not hold my breath. The best of the best 6205's are not going to hold up much better under those conditions. Maybe a little better but we are not going to see a bearing last 50K miles in 95% of the samples.
Limey_Dave
Member
My take on these bearings going out at low milages,is that the inner spacer is the wrong length.
When the axle is torqued up,the inner spacer,outer spacers,and bearing inner races should form one solid tube.
Any side thrust should be taken by the bearing design,hence the use of deep grooved bearings,not just any ball race.
If the inner spacer is too short,when the axle nut is torqued,side load is placed on the inner bearing race.If you paid $200 for the bearings,they'd still give out,they're not designed for that sort of force.
I'm convinced that the inner spacer should be equal to,or a thou or two more,than the distance between the bottom of the bearing housings.
The factory installation tool,when inserting the second bearing,bears on the inner and outer race,so it stops when the inner race meets the inner spacer.
It would seem to me that if it just pressed on the outer race,as a socket would,there'd be no problem just keeping going till the bearing touched the bottom of the housing.They must expect it to touch the inner spacer before this happens.The manual,if I remember correctly,even tells you what order to fit them in.
If my logic is flawed,please tell me.I'm not a Harley Tech,I've just been fixing stuff for 40 odd years,and every day is still a school day.That's why I'm here.
As for bearing quality,there's plenty of bearing suppliers out there where you can get a top spec bearing for less than dealer prices.Another example is fitting Torrington inner cam bearings to TC's instead of the poorer factory supplied INA's.
When the axle is torqued up,the inner spacer,outer spacers,and bearing inner races should form one solid tube.
Any side thrust should be taken by the bearing design,hence the use of deep grooved bearings,not just any ball race.
If the inner spacer is too short,when the axle nut is torqued,side load is placed on the inner bearing race.If you paid $200 for the bearings,they'd still give out,they're not designed for that sort of force.
I'm convinced that the inner spacer should be equal to,or a thou or two more,than the distance between the bottom of the bearing housings.
The factory installation tool,when inserting the second bearing,bears on the inner and outer race,so it stops when the inner race meets the inner spacer.
It would seem to me that if it just pressed on the outer race,as a socket would,there'd be no problem just keeping going till the bearing touched the bottom of the housing.They must expect it to touch the inner spacer before this happens.The manual,if I remember correctly,even tells you what order to fit them in.
If my logic is flawed,please tell me.I'm not a Harley Tech,I've just been fixing stuff for 40 odd years,and every day is still a school day.That's why I'm here.
As for bearing quality,there's plenty of bearing suppliers out there where you can get a top spec bearing for less than dealer prices.Another example is fitting Torrington inner cam bearings to TC's instead of the poorer factory supplied INA's.
Hoople
Account Removed
You are absolutely correct about the spacer. The thing is I took apart my failed front wheel bearings and found out some interesting things. The bearings used by HD are just ordinary 6205 2RS electric motor bearings. Just an ordinary type lip seal which was never designed for driving wind or rain. I would bet that if you took high speed photographs of these outer seals while under driving wind OR rain you would see the lip seal lift off the inner race. Once that happens it's all over. Just a grain of sand or a couple drops of water (which is what happen to mine) would be the kiss of death for these bearings. The lip seals used have no circumference springs to keep the lip in contact with the rotating shaft or inner race. It is just a very fragile lip seal that requires very little force to lift up.
Pop the seals out on a couple of HD factory bearings, take a close look and have a laugh. I am now trying a SKF bearing that has a better seal but I am not holding my breath. Even the best of the best 6205's won't take any high wind exposure, much less driving rain exposure.
I believe it starts out as a Seal failure which leads to a bearing failure.