| Author | Message | ||
     Slowride |
Catastrophic Failure It all started this past Saturday; I was prepping for a trip with the GF up to the Talihina Drive in Oklahoma. We live just north of the DFW area and the total round trip would have been just shy of 500 miles. As some of you may already know I had a pretty good summer on the Uly and had put just under 7k on it from June to August of this year. With the bike now having just over 14k miles on it, in late August I had it put it in the shop for a dead fan and pulsating rotor. The outcome of that little trip in was 8 pages of warranty work including the following (Fan, Front Rotor, Brakes, Fuel pump, new axle bearing front and rear and all new fluids), all of which they completed under warranty and I wasn’t out anything but time. Needless to say when I got the bike back it felt like a new machine. It was very tight, with the exception of the clutch. It seemed to be slipping in 5th gear under heavy acceleration. After riding it for a couple of weeks I noticed that I was steadily loosing 5th gear. It would maintain friction up to about 3800rpm and then it would start slipping all together. So, I decided I would take it in to the dealer and see if I could sponge the issue off on them and have them adjust the clutch under warranty since it didn’t start this mess until I received it back from them. After several conversation with various service writers they simply wouldn’t touch the bike unless I would go ahead to do the 15k service or pay them to open the inspection cover. So, I refused and continued riding it and adjusted the clutch to which there wasn’t much I could do, because it was already adjusted right. The clutch was just not right. Well, my theory was correct and as the opening states this past Saturday when prepping for a trip to Oklahoma I cranked up the bike to the normal thunderous Spec Ops tune and backed it out of the garage. I pulled the clutch lever in and dropped it into 1st to move it around to the sidewalk to let the GF get on board. When I let off the clutch lever nothing happened. I again pulled in on the clutch and tried shifting it into first and nothing. It would not physically drop into gear. At this point I went to pull in the clutch and noticed something was binding and the same time I shifted it into 2nd and the bike started making noises that just weren’t the type a bike should make. It sounded like a rock crusher was in the primary. I managed to kill the bike and get it into neutral again. The clutch lever was bound up, but the bike would roll around. So at this point, I really didn’t want to crack open the primary and decided to take it into the dealer. I dropped it off Saturday afternoon and got a call back this morning. The Buell tech said that there was a catastrophic failure of the clutch and that Buell had authorized a full replacement. He stated he had never seen a clutch implode on itself like it had and said it was the basket and springs that gave out. He also stated that the Mother Ship wanted the part to be sent in for diagnostics. So the up side, Buell is replacing the clutch under warranty. The down side, could this be a potential problem for other Uly owners. Has anyone else had this issue? Summary (after 14k miles the following warranty work has been done on my 06 Uly) • Fan replacement • Front Rotor/Brakes replaced • Fuel pump/sensor replaced • Primary gasket leaking replaced • Rear rocker box gasket • Pcv valves on both heads leaking and replaced • Front and rear axle bearings (seized up) And now the clutch being replaced | ||
| Geopatr |
I am having the same clutch slipping in 5th issue with mine.The bike has 13k km's that is about 9k mi. Under hard acceleration in 4th and 5th it starts to slip around 4-5k.I am waiting to have my dealer replace the clutch.  | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
You suppose it is due to the softer springs fitted to newer XB models? Isn't that the only difference between an older bike like my X1 and yours? Did they show you any of the parts? I'm having a hard time picturing what failed here. | ||
| Brad1445 |
I think many 06 Ulys are possessed. The last trip through service was the straw that broke the camels back for me. I told service if you want that bike that often and that long just keep it. I went to the showroom and rode off on the 08 Firebolt. My 06 Uly was my fourth Buell, and by far the most troublesome. I loved the bike so much but the troubles chased me away. (Message edited by brad1445 on September 20, 2007) | ||
| Chadhargis |
I've had my fair share of nit picky issues, but none this bad. | ||
| New12r |
Softer springs are installed for reduced clutch effort with the new trans setup. Does your dealer install Formula + in the primary? The guy I bought mine from the dealer would only put Syn 3 in for some retarded reason or another. That is the only fluid designed to work with the softer clutch springs. | ||
| Slowride |
New12r, Yes, the service dept would only put syn3 in all resevoirs. So are you saying that Formula+ is the way to go? | ||
| Desmo900 |
The service manual says only use Formula+. Thats not to say other things wont work, but when in doubt, use what Uncle Eric says to use. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I've used BelRay Gearsaver and Formula + and I see absolutely no difference in the shifting performance at all. | ||
| Slowride |
I appreciate the feedback, I don't want to turn this into a Tranny oil discussion. I did want vent about the, now 9 pages of warranty work that is on my 06 Uly. It is pretty funny, if you have ever seen a police officer pull up a rap sheet on someone and print it out, I had that same feeling when they printed out my prior warranty work on the bike. I absolutely love the Uly platform and my warranty is good til 04/08. So I will ride the tires of her until then. After that it may be time to upgrade to the 09 Uly, you know the one with the new ROTAX motor.  | ||
| Milo_h |
09 Uly, you know the one with the new ROTAX motor. I'm in!!   Peace Milo | ||
| Davo |
Slowride, Did the clutch basket go south or did the clutch discs fail? It sounds like the internal adjustment screw might have been a little tight. At higher rpm if the clearance is too close the clutch will slip. This will generate heat and the clutch will fail. I always leave at least 3/4 turn past zero. Keep us posted. | ||
| Slowride |
Davo, At this time I haven't been able to talk to the tech,"Always with another customer",but from what the service writer said quoting the tech in my first post and the SOUND of it when it failed in my driveway, it was definately a "Garbled rock crushing sound" I thought the primary chain had broke or the adjuster plate on the chain broke. It wasn't until the clutch lever wouldn't compress that I figured it was the clutch. The actual work order they sent in for the warranty ticket said "Catastrophic Failure" my opinion would be burned up clutch plates would have been wear related and they would have just rebuilt the clutch. I will talk to the tech before I pick it up. The last time I had a catastrophic failure was the neck bearings on my 99 x1 and the tech pulled me to his bench and showed me the bearings. He said he was going to keep them for his collection. (Message edited by slowride on September 20, 2007) | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I'm all for the Rotax ULY but I think I'll let others be the first year guinea pigs for me. My 97' Electraglide Classic's Evo engine was near the end of the Evo and from 83' to 97' they made many internal changes to get things right and my Evo proves it. Every time something grenades on an individual ULY we seem to hear about it here on BadWeb. These are mechanical devices and systems and shit happens. For the most part I would say that most of the failures are not even close to wide spread. For instance, we had one person here that had a problem with their fuel pump and they were certain that every ULY fuel pump was ready to grenade at any minute. I haven't read that fuel pumps are a problem, mine is still working after 10,000 miles. Another person warned us about the crankshaft end nut coming loose in their primary. I worried about that so much that I ended up pulling my primary case off to make sure mine was good and tight an guess what ... it was just fine. Some of you guys beat the living shiite out of your bikes and I hope that you take that into consideration. Others are just the luck of the draw. In Slowride's case the clutch (according to his post) exploded after being worked on by his dealer. | ||
| Blake |
I saw an XB12 that suffered similar issues. It was a 2004 model that had been crashed and repaired and sold to a friend of mine here in Longview. It turned out to be a bad throwout bearing (not sure if that is what the service manual calls it). The little ball bearing assembly slowly failed, and while it did, even though the clutch was adjusted according to spec, it would slip. Eventually the bearing suffered catastrophic failure and the bike wouldn't go. Easy fix. Replace the bearing.  | ||
| Cyclonedon |
"I think many 06 Ulys are possessed" Mine certainly is possessed! 15,300 trouble-free miles so far and the only expenses for me is the new rear tire at 10,000 miles and a total of six oil filters and oil changes! Best damn motorcycle ever made! | ||
| Chadleys1 |
Even for the guys with Uly's that have never failed, it is good to see what happens when they do, and that there is usually a simple repair. Thanks for keeping us all informed, and a little better prepared should trouble occur. =SirChadley | ||
| M2nc |
46K on '99 M2 23K on '06 Uly No problem with either - Use Formula + |
