To All Lehman Kit Owners-Bearing Issue

[1550vt]

I am not sure about all Lehman Harley Kits, or any metric trike Lehman kit, but this applies to the Harley Lehman units. I am also not sure if this bearing was carried through to the TG either.&lt;br /&gt;<br />
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The rear wheel bearings are sealed automobile type bearings. Mine are RW207CCRA and this may be listed in your parts manual, if you performed your own conversion or have the replacement parts section of the manual.&lt;br /&gt;<br />
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I had one blow-up recently in a small Utah town. When I pulled the axle and located the PN on the bearing, it was a RW207 just like the manual specifies. Now....here is the problem and here is what I suggest that you do. I obtained the services of a great small-town mechanic who called the parts houses for miles around and NOBODY had this bearing in stock. Of all places....he had one more shot and we drove to an Ace Hardware Store that had a small auto-parts section. They just happened to have this RW207 bearing.&lt;br /&gt;<br />
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When I got home, I went to purchase a couple of spares and discovered that Advanced, NAPA, AutoZone...or nobody else had this bearing in stock. It had to be ordered. It is a fairly common &amp;quot;small&amp;quot; Ford sealed bearing, but was used in early model Fords and are not well stocked in parts-houses.&lt;br /&gt;<br />
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My advice is that you find out what rear axle bearing (and any other non-bike bearing) is in your trike and pack a spare just in case you loose one out there in the wilderness.<br />
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My finding the bearing at the Ace Hardware was pure luck, but it made my break-down a 3-hour fix as opposed to and undetermined amount of down time waiting for one that had to be ordered....which could be days.

For the most part...the trike rear wheel bearing system is just like that of an automobile and any auto repair shop can fix it...IF they can find the bearing.&lt;br /&gt;<br />
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I plan to replace my other bearing and also pack a replacement bearing in my tool kit. You may never have one fail and I sure was not expecting it either. If you do....you could be a U-Haul case, or get stuck in some remote town for days.

[1550vt]

Follow up to the above post.

This morning I pulled my left-side axle to inspect the bearing and discovered that it was also losing grease.
These bearings had around 31,000 miles on them and were provided in the Lehman kit already pressed onto the axle. This left-side bearing would have failed within the next several hundred miles...I am sue of that. Just more good advice...if you have 30,000 miles on your Lehman kit, It would be a good idea to just have both rear wheel bearings checked or replaced.

[1550vt]

This is just a follow-up to the failed bearing issue. I had noise in the rear-end when I got home from my trip in which the outer bearing had failed. I traced it down to a worn inner bearing (differential housing). My advice is...if you do ever experience an outer wheel bearing failure, be prepared to go ahead and replace the inner as well. A wobbling axle will damage that bearing also.

[Josparkz]

Thanks for the heads up on this.
Living in a small Utah town I know quite well how difficult some parts and pieces can be to get.
I sure hope that Lehman sends me that manual I requested from them soon.

[Wayne Harmsen]

Shouldn't the bearings be under warranty?
I think I would have let Lehman take care of it.

[1550vt]

I was long past the duration of any warranty and this was a self-kitted trike anyway. I had &amp;quot;conned&amp;quot; a Honda Lehman Dealer in Tennessee to sell me just a Renegade kit and I installed it myself. At the time, Lehman would not sell a kit to an individual...and likely still won't.&lt;br /&gt;<br />
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I can't speak for the Tri-Glide, or other later model Lehman kits, but I know that Lehman used mostly small-bodied early (late 70's-early 90's) Ford components in the rear end. I am talking about axles, hubs, bearings and drum brakes. I have long since converted my brakes to disc, but the bearings and other parts are the same as the Mustang, Thunderbird and yes...I hate to say it, but the Pinto as well.&lt;br /&gt;<br />
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It's just an issue with a cheaply made bearing and it's not particularly anybody's fault. Many bearings are now made abroad no matter what the name is on the label. National does make two different versions of this 207 bearing. They make a $15 version and a $40 version. The $40 version has metal seals. The $15 version has plastic seals and that is what was in this rear-end....the $15 version.<br />
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There are 4 in the axle.

One out on each end of the axle at the hub and one internally pressed onto each end of the differential housing. If an outer fails and you run it very far, the inner will also be damaged and you're in for a complete tear-down to replace the inner bearings. These bearings are pressed-on and it's not a matter of a roadside repair.

[hepengr]

I had heard about a year ago through the Lehman installer in Prescott Valley, AZ that their was a reliability issue with the wheel bearings on some of the Lehman trike kits. Not sure now whether he said the problem was related to a bearing quality issue or improper installation of the bearing at the Lehman factory. Since this bearing is apparently used as a rear wheel bearing on Ford vehicles that weigh considerably more than a Trike, the bearing is certainly not overloaded in the trike application.<br />
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On the bearings that failed, did it appear that the seals failed first and let the bearing run dry, or did the bearing fail internally? What were the symptoms that led up to the bearing failure - noise, excessive drag, etc? I notice that my trike seems to pull down at times like I hit a strong headwind, and then runs<br />
easy again.<br />
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Guess I'd better take a closer look at whats going on with the rear wheel bearings just to be on the safe side.<br />
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Hepengr

[1550vt]

I had not seen your post before I PM'd you back this morning. Just to add and answer another question or two...The bearings are definitely Ford 207 sealed bearings, but the 207 is made in varying qualities. You can get the standard 207 with plastic seals, or the more expensive type with the metallic seals. The ones in this kit on the outside had the plastic seals. When I got home after that trip in which I replaced that one outer in Milford, I went ahead and replaced the other outer and did discover that grease was leaking-out past the seals on that bearing. I do not think it is a load issue....just a sub-standard bearing issue. These are National bearings, which is a well-known name brand, but they are likely manufactured in some other country. I just think it's quality. Harley is having front wheel sealed bearings start to fail on some of the late model bikes with as few as 10-15,000 miles on them.&lt;br /&gt;<br />
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After I replaced the other outer, I happened to sit on the right fender and heard a &amp;quot;clang&amp;quot;.....like a bell ringing. As I bounced up and down, it clanged and clanged from inside the differential housing.<br />
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I had to pull the entire rear end and replace the inner bearings that are pressed onto the differential.

When that outer had failed, the wobble in the axle did enough damage to the inner bearing to cause enough slack for the axle to move. When I got in there, I noticed that Lehman had used the &amp;quot;better&amp;quot; bearing on the differential housing, but it did not save it. I went ahead and replaced all 4 bearings. I had right at 31,000 miles on this kit and the other bearing was getting ready to fail from loss of grease also.&lt;br /&gt;<br />
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I would block the trike up on some jack-stands (or whatever) and run it in gear to see if I could notice any wobble on either wheel and listen for any strange noises. A bad bearing will likely not show up in handling, you will hear it first. I started hearing a knock in my rear end as I went up and back down Wheeler Peak and thought it was the trailer draw bar slack. When I slowed down to pull into Milford, that bearing was starting to make all sorts of noise.&lt;br /&gt;<br />
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I just plan to pull mine and replace the outer ones every 30K or so just to be safe. The axles are not that hard to pull and the bearings are not that expensive. You just need a shop to press them on/off unless you have your own press or use the &amp;quot;shade-tree&amp;quot; method.&lt;br /&gt;<br />
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In any event, if you have an outer fail or get noisy....STOP and call the wrecker. If you run it with the outer failed/failing....it will damage the inner bearing and you are in for a lot of work to get to that inner bearing.<br />
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I would rather replace both outer bearings at 30K intervals just to be safe.