| Author | Message | ||
     Johnboy777 |
I think the possibility exists, that there may be more than one contributing factor in XB12X bearing failures. Perhaps as a combination of: a. Greater belt load b. OEM bearing quality issues c. Water infiltration (peculiar to XB12X wheels) John | ||
| Jlnance |
Busykat - My Blast bearing made noise before it failed. It would click every time the wheel turned around. | ||
| Rahbert |
Mine made a sickening grinding/popping noise combined with a "flat tire" handling characteristic. I got it off I90 onto 148th Ave in Bellevue and babied it along in second gear up to the dealer. I don't have the VIN on hand but the manufature date as I recall was Oct '07 (an '08 model). | ||
| Ikeman |
Mine made a very loud clicking/slapping noise like something was stuck to the wheel and hitting the fender every rotation. I wouldn't say it was prior to failure because I count the noise as the point of failure. I don't know how many miles I rode it like that but it had to be less than 25 since I didn't hear the noise until I was exiting the highway and it wasn't making the noise when I got on the highway. Rode it the rest of the way home (about 3 miles) and parked it - had the dealer pick it up. The bearings were replaced under warranty and on the tech's test ride the belt broke (also replaced under warranty). I'm thinking the belt failure was at least partially caused by the bearings - wheel getting slightly out of alignment. This all happened at around 15K miles (currently have over 18K). | ||
| Skyclad |
In both of my bearing failures, it make the sicken crunching/grinding sound. In the first failure, the bearing let go bad enough to cause the wobble as well. In the second, I heard the sounds, and pulled over immediately. The wheel was still stable, so I milked it about five miles or so to a safe place to park it while I arranged transportation home. | ||
| Mattwhite |
Mine gave up today. I started in Nashville this morning. I was on the Freeway up past Louisville, then took some smaller roads through southern Indiana and Ohio. I was getting soaked and thought the rain seemed to be affecting traction more than usual, but I didn't think much of it. I got onto I-75 near Dayton and a few miles later I thought a tire blew out on me. I got to the shoulder and saw the tires were good. I was confused, but I rode the shoulder half a mile to the next exit. I stopped a few times looking for something rubbing and noticed the belt was loose. I figured it was a belt failure, so I limped it to the hotel right at the exit - take the little blessings where you can get them. I was able to call a dealer a few miles away before they closed so I'll get it towed in in the morning. He said it might just be something loose, seemed to think it wasn't a belt failure since I couldn't see a break. After I checked into the hotel I took a closer look. I finally noticed the grease with metal shavings, then realized the axle was loose. Looks like the bearing just fell apart:  Mine is also around 15K | ||
| Iugradmark |
Matt, Were your's ever checked when changing tire or anything? | ||
| Mattwhite |
None of the mechanics mentioned anything about it. I didn't ask. I wasn't following the news about it here, but when I saw it I started thinking I heard about it somewhere. It's on it's 4th set of tires, the current ones were installed about 2 months and 2000 miles ago. I talk to the mechanic at my dealer back home, but this bike has been a bit of a traveler and he never put new tires on it. I've had it at 4 different dealers, 5 after tomorrow. I haven't talked to any of the other mechanics. | ||
| Scottykrein |
I think you guys jinxed me. Now my 06 is in the shop. Same story as everyone else; 06 9000 miles, checked bearings every tire change, yada yada yada. At least I have a month left on the warranty. | ||
| Xbimmer |
 | ||
| Iugradmark |
This is disappointing as I was hoping that checking at tire changes would provide enough warming of any problems. Question for those in charge of the board...is there a way to capture all the people with failures in one place and forward on to Buell? Possibly via Court so that they know they really have a problem with this part? | ||
| Jwnsc |
FWIW, I was told by Phillip at Buell CS that Buell engineers monitor this board. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
My warranty was about to run out so I took the bike in to have a couple of oil leaks fixed and the rear wheel bearings replaced. They had made a squalling noise one day recently but the noise quit. I hope to pick it up today and find out what all was done. | ||
| Teeps |
Wheel bearings failing, especially at high speed, is a serious problem. And, because of this thread, I check the wheel bearings for abnormal sounds before each ride. Which, is made more difficult because there is no center stand to lift the rear wheel off the floor. So far, touch wood, my Uly's bearings, sound, ok. This thread started on 25MAR08. The thread starter asked if anyone with wheel bearing failure reported it to nhtsa. I just searched nhtsa for complaints on wheel bearings. No complaints reported. So,the question is, will Buell will take proactive measures with regard to wheel bearing failures, based on news group anecdotes? | ||
| Busykat |
I really love my Ulysses and respect Buell Motorcycle Company as well; however, I think it’s time for, “tough love" to resolve this issue. It seems as though nothing will be done by Buell or H-D to positively resolve this unacceptable problem with frequent wheel bearing failures other than just replacing them whenever they go bad, (which is too often) or on a preventive maintenance basis. Searching the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Website, I found that no recalls, complaints, no technical service bulletins were listed for the XB12X rear wheel bearings. Recalls: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/recallsearch. cfm Complaints: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/complaints/complaints earch.cfm Here’s the link to file a complaint with the NHTSA. I’m waiting until my bike is returned to be able to accurately fill out the form. https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/Consumer.cfm “What will NHTSA do with my complaint? Your complaint information will be entered into NHTSA's vehicle owner's complaint database and used with other complaints to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists.” “If a safety-related defect exists in a motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment, the manufacturer must fix it at no cost to the owner. Your complaint is the first step in the process. Government engineers analyze the problem. If warranted, the manufacturer is asked to conduct a recall. If the manufacturer does not initiate a recall, the government can order the manufacturer to initiate a recall. We do not have to receive a specific number of complaints before we look into a problem. We gather all available information on a problem. Your complaint is important to us.” Narrative Description of Incident(s), Crash(es), and Injury(ies). Here are the questions that the website form asks, (easy to fill out actually): Please describe to the best of your knowledge. • The events leading up to the failure, • the failure, how often it occurs, its consequences; and, • what was done to correct the failure; i.e., parts repaired or replaced (and if old part is available) • Do not include any personal information in your description such as names, e-mail address, or phone number. Consumer Information Name: Daytime Phone: Ext: Evening Phone: E-mail: Fax: Address: City, State, Zip: Country: USA Referral Source: INTERNET Complaint Information Description: Approximate Incident Date: 5/13/2008 Fire: No Num. Deaths: Property Damage: Num. Injured: Crash: Police Report: No Vehicle Information VIN: Year, Make, Model: 2006, BUELL, XB12X Failure Mileage: Speed: Vehicle Component Information Component 1: WHEELS Vehicle Dealer Information Dealer: 1 Name: Dealer Type: SALES DEALER Address: Dealer Phone: Dealer Fax: E-mail: Those of you with extensive history with wheel bearing problems likely have enough to file a strong complaint right now. Again, we need to think about the future. I don’t want to take a trip wondering if my wheel bearing is going to frag on me in the middle of nowhere. Although my bike is covered under warrantee, what will happen once the warrantee runs out? What about the Uly riders without warrantee? With that in mind, if we file complaints, then we may get this matter resolved once-and-for all. What says you all? | ||
| Jwnsc |
Busykat, Buell corporate should be getting at least some info about the bad bearings from the dealers on warranty claims. I guess if all manufacturers willingly addressed safety and/or quality issues of their products, in a timely manner, then there would be no need for the NHTSA. Two suggestions to heighten the profile of this issue: Could you cross post your comments and request in the "Beasts" section of the Adventure Rider forum? That will do two things. Some Uly owners are only subscribed to that forum so more bad bearing reports may be filed. Also, all those people subscribed to Adventure Rider who might be thinking of buying a Uly may start to have second thoughts after reading about the bearing issue. As soon as a possible mechanical problem starts to effect the bottom line, there will be additional motivation to come up with a fix. Secondly, isn't there a big Buell Homecoming Event coming up in July? Hopefully some riders who have had wheel bearing problems are planning to go. If they all got together and had a direct conversation with some of the corporate bigwigs and engineers in attendance,(at a tech seminar, maybe) then it would no longer just be anecdotal bike forum hearsay. | ||
| Hughlysses |
There have been at least a couple of threads here on earlier Buell problems that suggested going to the NHTSA. Two that come to mind are the belt breakage problems on the 03 XB's and the headlight reflector problems on the XB--R's. AFAIK neither of them were ever elevated to recall status. Court in particular says you really open a can of worms by going to NHTSA and if anything slow down any factory efforts to correct the problem. The recall process forces the factory to have to spend months dealing with government bureaucracy and paperwork as opposed to actually fixing the problem. While this bearing problem is certainly a PITA, I think the occasion of it rising to a real, immediate safety problem is rare. From what I've seen here, we've had a lot of people who've noticed bad bearings while changing tires (myself for one), some that have noticed a problem during a visual inspection (like Mattwhite's photo above), others that have heard or felt something odd with the bike's behavior, and a rare occasion where there was significant damage to the bike before the problem was noticed. One in particular I remember seeing here was a new Uly (06 IIRC) owner who made a trek to Alaska right after buying the bike. He was stranded in Alaska with a toasted rear wheel, axle, spacer, AND swingarm (plus maybe the rear disk and caliper) due to a bearing failure. Had to truck the bike back to the U.S. to a dealer to get it fixed. Understandably, he was pretty pissed. OTOH, I think even he was aware of the problem before it got to the point where it would have caused him to lose control of the bike. One thing I think these most recent low-mileage failures are showing- this is not a design problem; it's a QC problem. There is either something wrong with the bearings or the way they're being installed. If it was a design problem I think the problem would occur more consistently. If that's true, it should be an easy problem to correct (QC at NTN or change the bearing supplier). Note that early XB9's had wheel bearing problems too which resulted in a factory bulletin directing their replacement (but no "recall" AFAIK). I think we should push this thing further with Buell as suggested by Jim above and not involve the feds. | ||
| Mattwhite |
Actually I noticed it at 75mph on the freeway, I just didn't realize what it was at that point. It was pretty exciting. With most of the bearing gone, I assume I could have seen something wrong earlier if I was looking for it, but I wasn't. I'd like to add a little praise for the dealer - Gover HD/Buell in Piqua, OH. They picked it up promptly in the morning. The mechanic spent a few hours getting the remains of the bearing out without damaging the wheel(I think). I managed to get out of there around noon and finish my ride home. Of course the strong cross-winds all the way home had a paranoid little voice in my head worried about the handling. | ||
| Chas1969 |
I have only 2.5k miles on my 06', but something I have not seen from a wheel bearing before ... grease is oozing around the lip on the sprocket side rear. Seems to be crappy bearing. Chas | ||
| Busykat |
This wheel bearing issue, (one that is a known issue, not an anomaly) has caused me to be without my motorcycle for 9 days and counting. The service writer states that it’ll take 5 to 10 business days for the part to arrive, (for a common 6006 C3 bearing). He admits that it could be purchased locally, yet it has to be ordered through Buell due to it being a warranty. I was scheduled to attend the Keith Code Superbike Course that is being held at Beaufort MCAS near Paris Island, and unable to ride during a three day weekend. I’m unhappy about that…not angry, or regretful of my purchase though, but I’m unhappy about the missed opportunities. It’d be one thing if it was an unforeseen/unexpected failure, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. It sure looks like a lot of us are experiencing this problem, for a motorcycle that’s been built since late 2005. Like TEEPS stated, “So,the question is, will Buell will take proactive measures with regard to wheel bearing failures, based on news group anecdotes?” What do you recon the odds are that Buell will acknowledge the wheel bearing problem and commit to a resolution? How long do you recon an adequate amount of time would be to wait for a fix? | ||
| Bross |
Posted by: Jwnsc "might be thinking of buying a Uly may start to have second thoughts after reading about the bearing issue." I stated earlier that it already caused me to buy another bike. Just seems like something as simple as a wheel bearing shouldn't cause this much discussion. When was the last time any of us ever changed a wheel bearing in any other motorcycle? As I said in the first post, I hope Buell rectify this. | ||
| Jwnsc |
What is frustrating is that Buell appears to be one motorcycle company that listens to the riders. Look at all the "improvements" they included with the '08 Uly (at the expense of some mpg, it seems) and the new wireform for the clutch cable. Yet total silence on the bearings. Anybody with an XT check their wheel bearings to see if they have the NTNs from Taiwan? | ||
| Towjam |
Yet total silence on the bearings. Much like the ongoing 12R headlight reflector problem. | ||
| Froggy |
Except that headlight problem has been resolved. Perhaps bearings are not far behind. | ||
| Towjam |
Except that headlight problem has been resolved My bad. What was the final resolution? (Apologies in advance for the thread hijack.) | ||
| Froggy |
2 months ago at March Badness, John F. said that the solution is almost here, just waiting on suppliers. Recent posts in threads relating to the issue show that Buell CS saying the parts will be out within the next 2 weeks. Only time will tell if Buell is yanking the chain, but i feel confident that they scratched it off the unresolved issues board.  | ||
| M2nc |
Add me to the list of replaced bearings. I did not have a failure but during a front tire change, inspection of the bearings revealed one of the two rotated with some vibration. No exterior damage to the bearing was noticed. I had both front bearings replaced @ 29000+ miles. To be fair, my buddy in his '05 Kawa Concours with roughly 36000 miles had a front bearing go out coming home from Myrtle Beach Bike Week. Buells are not exclusive in bearing failure. Investigating replacement bearing Webe found a stainless steel bearing intended for food processors good for twice the load and twice the revolutions of the factory bearings. More expensive by far from a comparable replacement bearing but much cheaper than what the HD dealership just charged me for a Taiwan made stock bearings. | ||
| Jlnance |
Carlos - Got a part number for Webe's bearing? | ||
| Busykat |
Since this is my first experience with the bearing woes personally, I'll have to wait to see if the replacements hold up. It does seem that many of you have been more than patient for a solution from Buell though. Buell would go a long way towards mitigating concerns if they'd just acknowledge the problem in a public manner and officially state that a fix is in-work. In the meantime, I'm looking at buying a set of better bearings and keeping them handy. Thus far, these bearings look like a better; albeit, costlier solution. High temp/ high load capacity. SNR bearing 6006FT150 Single Row Radial; 30 mm ID x 55 mm OD x 13 mm Wide; Double Sealed; ABEC 1; C3 Clearance; Steel Cage; High Temperature http://www.applied.com/apps/commerce/catalog/catal og.do?e=21&s=8372222 | ||
| Chas1969 |
Wheel Bearings ... With older BMW (airheads) and most other bikes that exposed to dirt, water and many miles need wheel bearings changed (ie like oil/filters). I feel wheel bearings are maintance idems. I love threads on fixing problems (best aftermarket bearings and how to pull them), but waiting for buell to come out with a better bearing when a bearing house has them right now is the answer. (also 6-15$, not that expensive) I have seen wheel bearings in BMWs from Bulgaria which seems weird but I bought a puller/drift, heat gun and replaced them. Repeat every 20-30 K miles and your good. So go to a bearing house and get on with it. IMHO Chas |
