Tyres

Andy from Sandy said:
There is folk who change wheel bearings when doing a tyre change regardless of condition. Which leads to which bearing tool do these people use?

If you look at some of them the plate used to press in the second bearing has a lip around the edge. This is not good and if used to fully insert the bearing is liable to put a load on the inner race against the internal spacer.

That bike gets sold and the new owner doesn't have the same mindset and the bearing fails at a time when it looks like it should have gone on for thousands of miles.

This leads me to another issue I have read about and that is rear belt pulleys coming off with the bolts snapped. In every case it appears it was after the pulley was removed for some reason which clearly means whatever method is being used to put it back on it isn't the way HD intended.

Many times those internet experts claim it is not necessary to use a torque wrench but for my bike the pulley bolts have a first and then a final torque. How do you do that without a torque wrench?

So in summary surly I think people are not doing work as HD want it done and are causing problems that shouldn't exist.

The worst thing for HD reliability is their owners!
Click to expand...
As I understand it the Pulley Bolts should NEVER be reused. Always replace with new ones and Torque to the correct spec.
 
Andy from Sandy said:
There is folk who change wheel bearings when doing a tyre change regardless of condition. Which leads to which bearing tool do these people use?

If you look at some of them the plate used to press in the second bearing has a lip around the edge. This is not good and if used to fully insert the bearing is liable to put a load on the inner race against the internal spacer.

That bike gets sold and the new owner doesn't have the same mindset and the bearing fails at a time when it looks like it should have gone on for thousands of miles.

This leads me to another issue I have read about and that is rear belt pulleys coming off with the bolts snapped. In every case it appears it was after the pulley was removed for some reason which clearly means whatever method is being used to put it back on it isn't the way HD intended.

Many times those internet experts claim it is not necessary to use a torque wrench but for my bike the pulley bolts have a first and then a final torque. How do you do that without a torque wrench?

So in summary surly I think people are not doing work as HD want it done and are causing problems that shouldn't exist.

The worst thing for HD reliability is their owners!
Click to expand...
Hope you you are right but in case I have looked on youtube and watched someone changing front bearings and its easy enough and amazon sell the exact same pulling and pressing kit for £63 so not the end of the world.
 
softail898 said:
As I understand it the Pulley Bolts should NEVER be reused. Always replace with new ones and Torque to the correct spec.
Click to expand...
Replaced rear pulleys twice on my Street Rod (very high mileage bike). Re-used pulley bolts on both occasions with no probs.

Why would you replace pulley bolts? Any other bolt taken off the bike you'd not replace? Bolts are steel and bolted into softer alloy.

Toolman Paul had a problem, but that was with the boltholes in the pulley, not the bolts.
 
Fasteners are replaced for all kinds of reasons but I suspect it depends on how high the final torque is that may introduce a stretch as part of the doing up process.

I have two machines here from 2008 and 2017. In 2008 the wheel belt pulley screws are reused and torqued to 55-65 ft-lbs with Loctite.

In 2017 that changed to an initial torque of 60ft-lbs and a final torque of 80 ft-lbs using new screws.

The screws have the same part number and also incorporate a lock patch so no Loctite is required on first use.
 
surly said:
Hope you you are right but in case I have looked on youtube and watched someone changing front bearings and its easy enough and amazon sell the exact same pulling and pressing kit for £63 so not the end of the world.
Click to expand...

Look at this kit on Amazon:- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Compatible-Davidson-Motorcycles-Installer-Bearings/dp/B08FD24KJ1?th=1

Select the second picture and hover over to enlarge. You should see part 6 which is the bearing installer. Can you see that raised lip around the edge? That is bad if the bearing is fully seated until the inner race contacts the spacer. You need to modify the installation to turn that part round before finally seating the bearing or remove that lip.

The other thing worth doing is replacing the brass washer with a thrust bearing or NICE bearing as it is called in some versions.

You have this kit available to members and it has the bearing and not the washer.
 
Andy from Sandy said:
Look at this kit on Amazon:- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Compatible-Davidson-Motorcycles-Installer-Bearings/dp/B08FD24KJ1?th=1

Select the second picture and hover over to enlarge. You should see part 6 which is the bearing installer. Can you see that raised lip around the edge? That is bad if the bearing is fully seated until the inner race contacts the spacer. You need to modify the installation to turn that part round before finally seating the bearing or remove that lip.

The other thing worth doing is replacing the brass washer with a thrust bearing or NICE bearing as it is called in some versions.

You have this kit available to members and it has the bearing and not the washer.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this information if I should need to change my bearings (hopefully I won,t) I will be sure to follow your instructions which actually make sense I am thinking I would just turn the press installer over to its flatside to solve the problem.
Thanks Surly.
 
The shape of the installer ensures the bearing goes in straight which is clearly very important. Once it has gone in around half way then turn the installer round.
 
"The screws have the same part number and also incorporate a lock patch so no Loctite is required on first use."

Be careful with the new screws and the Loctite they come with. I recently had the two small screws that hold the front pulley nut (new with the Loctite and torqued up) back out, break off and go around in the back of the primary like a washing machine causing all sorts of mischief. I'll always put my own Loctite on now regardless.
 
I was dying for some bike time but the weather is shit so I went into my garage and pulled the back wheel out to mr sheen the underside of the mudguard/fender and clean all the bits you cannot get to with the wheel in when it occured to me to check my shitty chinese bearings so I stuck a finger in the drive side bearing and its as smooth as any bearing I have ever fingered and in my 56 years biking thats a lot of bearings like wise the disc side so am now pretty confident I will not be having problems here.
 
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