02 flhri wheel bearings

[oldscoolz]

anybody know what wheel bearings for '02 road king? i've looked at multiple websites and was surprised that i couldnt clearly find the right bearing.
i think both front and rear axles are 1" but not absolutely sure.
all balls brand bearings seem to be have a pretty good variety but dont see one for my bike. couldn't find timken.
appreciate any help. thanks.

 

[Breeze3at]

Your wheel bearing HD part # is 9247. Yes they are 1" axle, and I think the dimensions are 52mm x 21mm x 1". It is difficult to find a cross reference on line. There are other specs. (not shielded, etc.) involved. BK Rider and many other vendors have them for about $16 vs. HD's $28. BUT, some are even cheaper quality than HD.

 

[oldscoolz]

thanks breeze. appreciate the info. dealer says the bearing they're selling is made in korea. $31 per bearing! any recommendations on what brands are best? have looked at the one bk is selling (it doesn't say who the manufacturer is) and all balls. would like to be using timken (torrington) but cant find it.

any tricks for getting the collet to grab the bearing? the spacer butts up against the inner side of the bearing where the lip on the collet would ordinarily grab the bearing.

 

[Breeze3at]

There is a special bearing removal/install tool (of course) for the bearings.
It's very difficult without the tool. One of our very capable members (TQ ?), gave up and had the dealer do his bearings. IF you do them yourself, you must follow the procedure exactly as written in the service manual. One side must go in first, etc. to maintain proper spacing. I wish I had better news for you.

 

[Hoople]

any tricks for getting the collet to grab the bearing? the spacer butts up against the inner side of the bearing where the lip on the collet would ordinarily grab the bearing.

Breeze is right about using the correct tool. It's worth the $100 to buy one because without it you can easily damage the hub (bearing cocked while installing or removing) which means you will need to buy a whole new wheel. Don't even think about using a punch & hammer.

The leading edge of the bearing collet tool is wedge shaped. When you spread and tighten the collet, that leading edge enters the seam between the spacer and bearing. Once the bearing pops out a fraction of an inch, you can now retighten the collet even more to get a good grip from behind.

 

[TQuentin1]

I second all the info above. I bought a blind-hole bearing puller and spent a bunch of time trying to get the bearing to budge. Not even a fraction!! So I did give up and take the wheels to HD and have them do it!! For what they changed me in labor, I probably could have bought the puller from George's Garage. But I was in a hurry at that point and needed the bike back on the road.

WRT crossing the bearings, I was NOT successful at doing that. No problem with the metric axle (25mm), but the Imperial one (1") I could NOT find!!

TQ

 

[oldscoolz]

thanks to everybody for the good info. i had looked a previous thread that described problems removing the bearing because of the spacer. i didnt remember seeing that TQ eventually had to take it to the dealer. that doesnt bode well for me.

ive done some lookin around for info about bearing replacements. here's some of what i found. many (most? all?) of the harley wheel bearings brands arent the manufacturer. theyre middlemen who repackage and rebrand the bearing and sell it at a markup. no big surprise there, but it would be nice to know who the manufacturer is to judge the quality and that info often isnt available or is hard to find.

there are a limited number of manufacturers including Ampec, IKO, KYK, Timken, Nachi, KOYO, SKF, Wheel Bearings USA, NTN, NSK, FAG, and SNR. i'm sure there are others not included in this list. someone who sounded like they knew what they were talkin about said that SKF, Wheel Bearings USA, NTN, NSK, FAG, and SNR were quality bearings and mentioned some "second tier" manufacturers including Nachi, KOYO, and Fafnir/Torrington. (was surprised to see Torrington as second tier.) i'm sure there are lots of things that influence this opinion and it may not really matter that much on a roadbike.

my plan is to pull the bearings from my bike, identify the manufacturer and part number, and call Bearings Direct to get a solid quality replacement. Bearings Direct said they could do this if i got my bike's bearing info for them. we'll see how it plays out. i sure hope it doesnt end up at the dealership like TQ. i'll keep u posted and include part numbers and prices for future reference.

 

[TQuentin1]

If you are gonna do it, I strongly suggest getting the proper tools. George's Garage has a kit for all the axle sizes here:

#740010 at Chassis Tools

And as stated above, make sure you follow the reassemble instructions in the book.

TQ

 

[Jack Klarich]

thanks to everybody for the good info. i had looked a previous thread that described problems removing the bearing because of the spacer. i didnt remember seeing that TQ eventually had to take it to the dealer. that doesnt bode well for me.

ive done some lookin around for info about bearing replacements. here's some of what i found. many (most? all?) of the harley wheel bearings brands arent the manufacturer. theyre middlemen who repackage and rebrand the bearing and sell it at a markup. no big surprise there, but it would be nice to know who the manufacturer is to judge the quality and that info often isnt available or is hard to find.

there are a limited number of manufacturers including Ampec, IKO, KYK, Timken, Nachi, KOYO, SKF, Wheel Bearings USA, NTN, NSK, FAG, and SNR. i'm sure there are others not included in this list. someone who sounded like they knew what they were talkin about said that SKF, Wheel Bearings USA, NTN, NSK, FAG, and SNR were quality bearings and mentioned some "second tier" manufacturers including Nachi, KOYO, and Fafnir/Torrington. (was surprised to see Torrington as second tier.) i'm sure there are lots of things that influence this opinion and it may not really matter that much on a roadbike.

my plan is to pull the bearings from my bike, identify the manufacturer and part number, and call Bearings Direct to get a solid quality replacement. Bearings Direct said they could do this if i got my bike's bearing info for them. we'll see how it plays out. i sure hope it doesnt end up at the dealership like TQ. i'll keep u posted and include part numbers and prices for future reference.

Gopher Bearing Co








2490 Territorial Rd , Saint Paul, MN 55114 800-422-0940 Gopher Bearing Southwest
Check with these guys also, if it is a bearing or seal they can cross reference it:s They have been in business since I was a kid, they carry all the popular brands from SKF to CR and more

 

[oldscoolz]

ok. bearings are out. they look to be in good shape, but i'll replace them since i have them out and they're 10 yrs old with 50K miles.

they are HD bearings, part # 9247 manufactured by FAG #559486. says CANADA on the inner race. i think they are the original bearings.
not sure about exact dimensions but they are roughly 25X52X20 mm.

to anyone considering removing the bearings urself, no big deal. my concerns about getting the collet to grab the edge of the bearing because of the spacer were not a problem. the collet grabs the bearing without any problem. i used a HD bearing puller/installer i bought from pit posse on amazon for $90 (no shipping charge). it worked fine with no problems.

now i'm lookin for a good quality bearing to put back in.

any suggestions? i'd prefer to work with a supplier who can talk to me about options but need someone who also knows bikes. i assume these are single row ball bearings, right? appreciate any suggestions about bearing choices.