| Author | Message | ||
     Pso |
I just swapped out my red seals for black. 20K miles. Left side bearing was starting to feel a little bit of a notch but not noticable until out of the wheel. No water after riding a full day in the rain in upstate NY two weekends ago. I have not heard of any problems yet with the black seals, is this correct? | ||
| Froggy |
Correct, to date no reported failures of the black seal bearings. | ||
| Pso |
Great -As cheap as they are and as easy as they are to change everyone should consider swapping from red to black at tire change. Just piece of mind. | ||
| Lars1974 |
can you / anyone pls post the part number for the black bearings??? thx Lars | ||
| Gamdh |
E0005.02A8B Rear wheel bearings E0004.02A8B Front wheel bearings | ||
| Pso |
Was there ever a problem with the original front bearings? | ||
| Froggy |
Front bearings were an issue on the 03's, thats when they switched from black seals to orange. Now we are back to black. Front bearing failures are very rare, and 99% of the ones I have seen on here I would blame on general wear and tear or abuse/neglect. | ||
| Lars1974 |
Thanks Gamdh! Lars | ||
| Pso |
Thanks Froggy | ||
| Thetable |
I had a set of black bearings fail while at Deal's Gap a couple weeks ago, not a catastrophic failure, but enough that there was detectable play in the rear wheel, and killed a good half day of riding. If I kill another set, it will be '10 wheel assembly time. | ||
| Froggy |
I think you win a prize  | ||
| Thetable |
I hope the prize wasn't getting to stand around a Harley shop with 3 Buells on the floor, in full leathers. Or was it looking longingly at the nearly attached bar, and thinking to myself, "hmmmm..."? | ||
| Froggy |
The black bearings, where they installed by a dealer? I am wondering if they were damaged by installation rather than water contamination. | ||
| Florida_lime |
I hope the prize wasn't getting to stand around a Harley shop with 3 Buells on the floor, in full leathers. Or was it looking longingly at the nearly attached bar, and thinking to myself, "hmmmm..."? Better than when MY 1st set went out, while traveling to NC: 1 hour waiting for the flat bed tow, 1 hour to get to the dealer on Good Friday, 5 minutes before they closed, 1 hour to walk to the rental car place "right down the street" (4 miles) with all my gear and saddlebag contents, 45 minute cab ride when every rental place ended up closing early for Good Friday, Overnight in a HOJOs, 1/2 hour renting a car in the am, only to find out that the bike was done, then canceling the rental car.  Excellent service from Earl Small's in Marietta, Ga though, but I never had time to look at their bikes.  | ||
| Thetable |
The first black set was installed by me, but done according to the FSM, minus the factory press. I have my own home grown press. They held up fine for 12k miles before play was detectable. I installed the first set myself because I had the wheel off while doing tires when I noticed the orange sealed bearings were feeling nasty and upon inspection the brake side was contaminated. I didn't examine the black set to see mode of failure, as I was just happy to be riding again and that dealership was able to fit me in. With the feel of the play, I believe it to have been the belt side, and I was the proud recipient of a new belt approximately 4000 miles before the bearing failure. In all this talk, I think I have pretty much decided to see how Court ends up with his wheel swap and probably follow suit. I do way too much wandering in way too many odd places at way too many odd hours, that a wheel assembly would be worth some serious piece of mind. |
