| Author |
Message |
    
Bosh
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 - 06:29 pm: | 
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Checked my bearings a couple of weeks ago when I changed tires. They looked like new with nice clean green grease. 10K miles.
(California, dry clean salt free roads). |
Ikeman
| | Posted on Thursday, September 13, 2007 - 11:12 am: |
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Tim,
It's sitting at Cerini's - they said warranty claim no problem. The problem is they don't have any bearings in stock.
I also need front brake pads to pass inspection - guess what - not in stock. I think I'm going to order up a set of the Lyndall's and put 'em on myself. |
Snub13
| | Posted on Thursday, September 13, 2007 - 03:52 pm: |
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I don't think they have any Buell parts in stock! |
Chadhargis
| | Posted on Thursday, September 13, 2007 - 06:07 pm: |
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Electra...how'd you pry the seals off without damaging them? |
Etennuly
| | Posted on Thursday, September 13, 2007 - 06:20 pm: |
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Hi Chad!
The seals are much softer than you would think, and they really don't have any great lock in edge or anything like that. I just used a small straight screw driver and stuck an edge in at the edge of the seal in the center part. They push back in completely and very easily too. |
Ulyssesguy
| | Posted on Thursday, September 13, 2007 - 07:48 pm: |
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Ok so let me understand this correctly ... The seals come off of the wheel bearings easily and you can see the ball bearings races and carrier inside? Hmm sounds like it would be easy to repack them just like a wheel bearing on a car... Am i thinking about this wrong? Thoughts? |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Thursday, September 13, 2007 - 09:46 pm: |
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Chad,
Just like Etennuly said. And it you put a wee hole in them, so what? The grease will do em good. |
Adamd
| | Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 08:01 am: |
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No, mine went bad at 10000kms not miles... I looked at the bearing and the seals are horrible and they were lacking grease. The ball bearings were rusty. |
Etennuly
| | Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 11:26 am: |
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Adamd,
When they are rusty they are already gone, re-greasing won't help.
Ulyssesguy,
That is correct, kind of. You will only have access to the outside of the bearing, but getting fresh grease in the outside and having it work in is way better than no fresh grease. |
Chadhargis
| | Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 05:22 pm: |
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Sounds like a crappy bearing. Wonder if there is a replacement available. |
Hughlysses
| | Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 07:41 pm: |
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Chad,
There have been a couple of threads on it here and at advrider. Best advice given was to pick a name-brand replacement bearing AND verify that the replacement was not manufactured in a 3rd world country. Evidently it's getting hard to find bearings not manufactured in China, India, etc. |
Red_chili
| | Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 09:53 am: |
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Regreasing 'sealed' bearings is pretty common. The seals almost always remove easily with a dental tool. |
Chadhargis
| | Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 01:48 pm: |
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Cool...time to go rob a dentist.  |
Red_chili
| | Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 02:14 pm: |
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I got a decent set at those cheap Chinese tool bins that are all the rage at the auto parts stores these days. Or, yeah, the dentist is often willing to part with ones that cannot be sharpened anymore.
Don't use a sharp one! :P |
Froggy
| | Posted on Monday, September 24, 2007 - 01:43 pm: |
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Just for the records, I had my bike in the shop last week for a 15k service and a tire swap, and I asked the tech to check the bearings since the wheel was going to be off anyway. Turns out one side was shot (not sure which). Ended up changing it under warranty the same day. Bike feels much better now and it doesn’t wobble when I do a wheelie anymore. |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Monday, September 24, 2007 - 04:40 pm: |
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You can get a dental pick at any drug store. |
Jlnance
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - 08:23 am: |
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I need some advice. The Uly goes in for it's 30,000 mile service this afternoon. So far the bearings have been perfect. I'm thinking about taking a 7,000 mile cross country trip next month. So, do I get them to press in new bearings or keep the ones I've got?
My fear is that we have not determined if the failures are caused by an inadequately specified part, or if they are due to manufacturing or installation defects. If it's the latter, then I may be swapping out a perfectly fine part for one with flaws. |
Az_m2
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - 08:57 am: |
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I considered having new ones put in during my 30k service, then decided not to. Didn't want to take the chance of introducing a problem when there wasn't one to begin with. I did order a set though and now carry them in my tool bag, along with a spare fan (still on the original). |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - 12:05 pm: |
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Jlance,
What is it that they do in a 30,000 mile service besides the obvious transfer of funds?
For what it is worth, my recommendation is for you to remove the seals and inspect your bearings. If the balls and races look good then just finger in some good grease, reinstall the seals and figure you are good to go until the next tire change when you can look at them again. I'm not into replacing perfectly good parts and bearings can last a long time if they are maintained just like the rest of your bike. If you don't do any of your own maintenance then maybe you can ask your service tech to look at them and add some grease. Honestly, with the wheel off, both bearings can be done in a matter of a couple of minutes. |
Red_chili
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - 12:18 pm: |
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30K is decent life out of a pair of bearings. I'd swap them. You won't introduce any issues unless the mechanic is hamfisted - in which case you would be screwed anyway.
On my beemers I would swap wheel bearings every couple years anyway. Same thing on my 4x4. Cheap insurance (if you do it yourself), and if you have the wheels off for a fresh set of skins, not pricey even having someone else do it. |
Jlnance
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - 02:15 pm: |
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What is it that they do in a 30,000 mile service besides the obvious transfer of funds?
The things they do that I can't are a TPS reset and a fork oil change. |
Jlnance
| | Posted on Saturday, September 29, 2007 - 12:30 pm: |
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A little addition to my parts stash.
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Jlnance
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2007 - 01:10 pm: |
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I need to correct some of my postings. I put in some new bearings last night, purely as preventative maintenance. I had thought that the part number of the bearing that Buell was using was 6006-2RS-C3, and I stated that in several earlier posts. That is incorrect. The Buell bearings that were pulled out of the wheel bear the markings: NTN 6006 LU.
I've done some google searches and the only pages I can find 6006LU on are written in Chinese, so I'm assuming that bearing is only used in Asia.
I'm pleased to learn that actually. When I went to buy bearings, they gave me the Koyo bearings pictured above, and I was a little disappointed as I wanted something better than OEM, and I thought those were OEM. So perhaps I did get something superior. Time will tell. |
Husky
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2007 - 04:42 pm: |
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LLU is NTN's suffix for "synthetic Rubber Contact Seal"
Husky |
Ulyssesguy
| | Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 09:30 pm: |
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well here we go again I just turned over 13700Mi on my Uly and last night on the way home i thought that i might have a rock in my belt or something loose and clunking but upon closer inspection my right side rear wheel bearing is toast no seal left at all and I can see the ball bearings... I will post pics as soon as i find some batteries for my camera... |
Ft_bstrd
| | Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 09:48 pm: |
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Dealer replaced mine at 15,000 miles.
They didn't "fail" but were notchy and didn't rotate easily.
I have done exactly two water crossings. I have ridden in the rain twice. I have been on less than 6 dirt roads.
I think we need to assume a 12-15,000 mile lifespan on rear bearings and replace them accordingly.
I plan to replace my belt at 20,000 miles as well.
Bearings are pretty inexpensive to replace and the belt is the same price as a good chain.
I do believe we could get better mileage from a better bearing set. The first set of replacements were on Buell. The next set will be purchased by me and probably won't be OEM. |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 12:28 pm: |
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That notchiness goes away if you pop the seals and add grease. I say that because mine were notchy when I changed the rear tire. I took the wheel to the dealer and they ordered bearings but I wanted to ride my bike in the interim. So I put grease in them and remounted the wheel. Rode about 200 miles before the dealer got the bearings in. I took off my back wheel so that I could take it to the dealer for a quick turnaround time. The formally notchy bearings were smooth turning and I felt funny having them change them out but they did it on warranty anyways. The grease I had added apparently did the trick. Popping the seals is easy and that is what I will do next tire change or before. |
Jlnance
| | Posted on Saturday, November 03, 2007 - 12:06 pm: |
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I think we need to assume a 12-15,000 mile lifespan on rear bearings and replace them accordingly.
It would be nice to know exactly why they are failing. It's possible to get better bearings (for less than the HD replacement bearings cost.) As long as you're going to replace bearings, it would be nice to put in something that wasn't going to need replacing again. I've been told you can only replace the bearings 3 or 4 times before the wheel gets too loose to hold the bearings in. Given that, you really don't want to stick new bearings in too often. |
