Wheel Bearing/Seal Failure

[wsrvr]

I have about 45,000 miles on my 06 R3, and 25,000 on my 11 R3R, and haven't noticed any wheel bearing wear/seal failure to date(neither front or rear). Hope I don't for some time/miles. But that aside, has anyone had any such issues? and if so, at what mileage did it show it's ugly head? If no one has had this issue, that speaks well for Triumph, as I know of a HD ride who had these issues at 50,000 miles.

 

[cardinal93]

Have a bad bearing in the front. Less than 30k miles. But it is an 07, lived in vastly different climates northeast us, gulf coast, and now Europe, and survived 60 days on a slow ship across the Atlantic! (Please don't start the low mileage/neglected bike mantra )
May have just been rogue too, cause the rest are just fine! Still changing them all while I'm at it.
Think there are a few others, but not very common.

 

[Rocket Scientist]

My rear bearings didn't feel good at about 45,000 miles so I replaced them. At that time I didn't know about the procedure for tightening up the rear wheel. Every time you change your tire, you should pull off the final drive and lube the splines with moly 60. What I didn't know was, and it makes perfect sense. When you re-install the final drive, you should leave the bolts finger tight. Then install the rear wheel and tighten up the axle. THEN go back and finish tightening the final drive. That insures that it is in alignment with the rear wheel bearings and not putting a bind on them. That may well have been the cause of my bearings demise.

P.S. can't remember which member shared that tip with me but I would like to thank them !

 

[wsrvr]

Have a bad bearing in the front. Less than 30k miles. But it is an 07, lived in vastly different climates northeast us, gulf coast, and now Europe, and survived 60 days on a slow ship across the Atlantic! (Please don't start the low mileage/neglected bike mantra )
May have just been rogue too, cause the rest are just fine! Still changing them all while I'm at it.
Think there are a few others, but not very common.

Cardinal, I'm curious what symptoms you noticed that led you to the front bearing issue. Noise? Wobble?

 

[cardinal93]

None...had the wheels off during some work...cleaned them up (was going to paint), and checked them. One on the front wasn't completely locked, but was a bear to turn. The rest were all good.

 

[cardinal93]

Thanks @Rocket Scientist, I'll go loosen mine back up until I throw the rear on. Good info and timely

 

[budman]

had my front go out on my 06 @ probably 10 or 15,000 miles..kept making a horrendous noise when front brake was applied..drove me crazy trying to find out what it was..thought it was the brakes, but turned out to be bad front wheel bearings..replace them myself..all good ever since.

 

[gra53]

My rear bearings didn't feel good at about 45,000 miles so I replaced them. At that time I didn't know about the procedure for tightening up the rear wheel. Every time you change your tire, you should pull off the final drive and lube the splines with moly 60. What I didn't know was, and it makes perfect sense. When you re-install the final drive, you should leave the bolts finger tight. Then install the rear wheel and tighten up the axle. THEN go back and finish tightening the final drive. That insures that it is in alignment with the rear wheel bearings and not putting a bind on them. That may well have been the cause of my bearings demise.

P.S. can't remember which member shared that tip with me but I would like to thank them !

I pulled the FD off about 30,000 klms ago to grease the splines and tightened it up before I tightened the axle, it's over 60K now and I still forget to grease the driveshaft spline when I put a tyre on. I always rotate the wheel bearings tho when I change a tyre. They are still as tight as a new bearing.