If you think it's a wheel bearing, and you ride a Foreman, it's probably a wheel bearing.
To verify, jack the front up from somewhere in the middle (so the wheels hang), and wiggle the front wheel(s) up and down while leaning around the tire to look at the inside of the brake and CV joint area.
If there is any "play" in the outer CV joint, or it looks like the CV joint is "loose", then you need a wheel bearing. While you are there, now is the time to carefully examine the upper and lower ball joints for play, the inner and outer tie rod ends for play, and the CV boots for tears. If you have ever spent enough time to mention playing in the mud and water, then any of those can become a candidate for premature wear.
Changing a bearing has a couple of options. You can get the bearing and seals from your dealer (or genuine OEM stuff online at a much better price), and make it new again. You can buy sealed bearings, which are more mud resistant (online only at this time I believe), and in theory just knock them in, but far better (imho) is to install the sealed bearing as well as Honda's external bearing seals. Either process involves removing the steering knuckle, which is just "nuts and bolts", and then pressing out the old bearing and pressing in a new one. This can be done with very large sockets and a big hammer if you're crafty. Also, there's an internal snap ring that you can't see under the dirt. That has to be removed before the old bearing will slide out of the knuckle and needs to be saved to retain the new bearing.
Another option is to replace the entire knuckle and bearing assembly. Believe it or not, buying bearings and seals for one side is only like twenty bucks cheaper than changing the whole knuckle. It eliminates the worst of the job, and includes a new lower ball joint as well.
To change one side-
Remove the cotter pin in the axle nut.
-Loosen the axle nut.
-Jack up the bike.
-Remove the wheel.
-Remove the brake drum.
-Remove the axle nut
-Remove the axle flange.
-Loosen the brake line bracket and vent line holder.
-Remove four bolts and nuts holding the entire brake backing plate, wheel cylinder, and shoe assembly to the knuckle. (No bleeding
-Remove the cotter pin and castle nut from the upper and lower ball joint.
-Remove the nut from the outer tie rod end. Note the flats on the opposite side of the tie rod end for a wrench because it will spin.
-Separate the upper and lower ball joints. Using a hammer, strike the knuckle firmly where the upper ball joint stud (threaded part) goes through. Picture the hole where the stud is. The idea is to "squish" it into an oval shape by swinging the hammer at it horizontally. Yes, that's ninety degrees off from the way intuition would tell you to hit it, but trust me, it works. The lower ball joint is the same procedure, but note the position fo the ball joint. You'll be hitting the lower control arm for that one.
-slide the knuckle off of the outer CV joint.
-scrape, scrub, or chisel your way until you can see what you are looking at. Look at your new bearing. Figure out exactly what you are looking at.
-Pry out the seals and remove the retaining clip, hopefully with retaining clip pliers, otherwise be careful because you need to reuse it.
-Find the largest socket you can that will fit through the knuckle hole, and use it to beat the bearing out.
-to install the new bearing, you need a socket that will just barely fit inside the empty knuckle, but it has to be big enough to sit only on the outside race of the bearing. Beat the new bearing in.
The rest is just the opposite of what you did coming apart.
If you aren't familiar with general torque, consider having a torque wrench. Even if you don;t use it every time, or can't get to a particular fastener, having a general idea of what the right torque "feels" like will make jobs in general come out a lot better.
If you're going to be your own mechanic, I very highly recommend a factory manual. They're pricey, but they are the kind of thing where if you use it, and do just one job that you wouldn't have, it's cash in your pocket. If you don't screw up just one job that "seemed easy enough", then it's cash in your pocket. If it makes you realize that a transmission overhaul is over your head and saves you going in before the dealer gets a hold of it, then it's cash in your pocket. (BTW, you if you know a few basic things, you might be very surprised just how easy your bike is to work on).
Being new to the board, I havn't figured out sponsors and links and such, so I havn't left any links. If you know where to go, great. If you want input on sourcing anything mentioned, shoot a PM. I can't guarantee anything but I'll tell you what I've found and where I found it.
