Changing Wheel Bearings on a Harley-Davidson

[Ironhead]

after a bearing failure, thought I would do a step by step of how to change your bearings in your wheels
now, for the record, Harley wheels have preload shims behind the bearings, my wheels do not.

this is why I had to change my wheel bearings

this is what an exploded bearing and globs of grease contaminated with parts of a bearing cage looks like


after removing the bearings spacers and bearing races. to remove the races, we used a long punch and a hammer to drive them out

showing the damage to my drive pulley, notice the gaulding where it was rubbing a goove into the inside of my swingarm

this pic was just for the herd :moo

[Ironhead]

to replace everything, this is what I did,
clean all residual greas and debri from inside of the hub

then I smeared a thin layer of grease on the inside of the hub getting ready to install the bearing race on this side

set new race in the hub and tap it into place, once the race was almost completely seated, I used a large socket and a heavy rubber mallet to drive it the rest of the way down

new bearing

after packing with grease, after this step, you need to clean your hands, then wipe all grease off of camera, lol


then comes the oil seal. as per my manual for the bike, I coated the inside of the seal with grease and a thin film of oil on the outside of it


everything installed now also, before installing the bearing and seal on the second side, you need to remember to reinstall your inner spacer


then put your bike back together, make sure the rear wheel is centered and alligned straight so that it tracks straight and the belt stays centered in the final drive pulley.

then, even tho it is raining like a SOB out, take the bike for a test ride to make sure it is riding properly and feels good with no wobble or play

[Crocodile56]

Well done young man!!!

Very well done young fella, you hit it right on the head along with other things....sounds like you need some tools Bro. race remover and race setting tools fer starters......but what ya did here is awesome for a shade tree job and there not a damn thing wrong wit dat!!!
:moo:babs:moo:babs:moo:babs




Now go have a:beer:beer:beeror 3!!!

[Ironhead]

my cousin made his own race remover, basicly a heavy washer the just a shorthair smaller than the inner hub, ground a flat spot on opposite sides of the washer so he could slip it thru one race and it would land flat on the opposite side, then a long bolt set down thru the hub against that washer, adn 2 hits with a deadblow hammer and out popps the race.

but you are right, i do need more tools, planning on getting what you mentioned and another little doohickey that I saw in teh j&p catalog, inserts into the bearings where the axle goes thru, and has a grease zirk on it, you can repack your wheelbearings without removing them from the wheel...pretty cool little deal I think

[Ironhead]

OH CRAP!!!!! I just noticed my next to last pic, I hope no LEOs are looking at it and getting my fingerprints erbox

[Ironhead]

now tomorrow I am getting the parts to replace the front, never even thought about it till I was back home today, but if the rear ones failed, the front ones might not be too far behind. thought about that as soon as I got home, then Dave called and said the same thing....better to replace before failure, than after

[Ironhead]

and now tomorrow morning I get to do the front wheel. and hope all is done right and holds together

[Boss]

Well done and good job with the illustration!

[jirvin]

Very informative and nice pics! Thanks for posting!