| Author | Message | ||
     Webethumpin |
There has been several people who have recently had wheel bearing replacements.Come on Buell ,I love the Uly and all the other Buell models but hey this is a serious problem. The Ulys that I know about are well maintained,and bearings went 45k miles and under. I ride mine daily(24kmiles),only been off-road a few times nothing major.My Buell riding plans are to go 100k miles on this bike,now wheel bearings are making me nervous. Court,Flick,Eric PLEASE RESPOND. I'm not mad but,I am concerned,thanks to BRAN and Bad-Web a fellow rider is getting help and on the way home. I guess I need to stock bearings like I do tires.Every one keep riding and stay safe,but this problem needs answers or upgrades of some kind.Yes I have read about the XB12X 25% increase in belt tension but not clear if it was geometry or not,gonna investigate that too. Later all,Webe | ||
| Hughlysses |
So Webe- are you still running OEM bearings? Is this your first failure or not? | ||
| Jlnance |
Hugh - He is talking about my bike. Koyo bearings, first failure. I think this is the first failure reported on BWB of Koyo bearings. | ||
| Joe_solo |
07 XB12X Just had my rear bearing changed under warranty at 10,000 kms. The dealer replaced them with the stock bearings. They also coated the axle with grease - found that out when I took the wheel off to replace the tires. | ||
| Jlnance |
They also coated the axle with grease Yes, that is the procedure specified in the service manual. Antisieze actually, it's nasty stuff. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Jim- is there another thread on your failure? How many miles on these? Any signs of water intrusion? | ||
| Jlnance |
Yes, over here: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/347045.html?1213851513#POST1175435 | ||
| Iugradmark |
This is highly disappointing. We were hoping that the problem was related to manufacturing or quality issues with the OEM bearings. This would at least question that. Someone mentioned that we were close to hearing something from Buell on this. Any news or updates? | ||
| Webethumpin |
I have an industrial high speed,high temp,and shock load of 15ooibs at 15k rpm double sealed bearing by SKF to replace my OEM bearings. I have used these in several industrial applications. Webe | ||
| Gotj |
"shock load of 15ooibs at 15k rpm...." Just showin' off?  | ||
| Webethumpin |
1500lbs  typo oops | ||
| Gotj |
I'm glad. I thought you were using some unit of load that was specific to shock loading. If so, I had never heard of it. BTW, how do those specs compare to a standard SKF 6006 double rubber seal bearing? | ||
| Joe_solo |
They also coated the axle with grease Jlnance said Yes, that is the procedure specified in the service manual. Anti seize actually, it's nasty stuff. The grease the dealer used was blue axle grease, the entire axle was heavily coated. The service manual states that anti seize compound be used on the axle ends only. 07 Xb12X | ||
| Arcticktm |
Putting anti seize or grease on the entire axle will certainly not hurt. Anit seize will stay put longer, and is less likely to fling or wash off. Manual only points to the ends because they are trying to avoid corrosion causing the axle to seize in the swingarm. It makes it very difficult to remove the axle, or can even distort your swingarm (spread it apart), as at least one person on Badweb has learned the hard way. They factory does not seem to follow their own service manual, though, and I had a lot of fun removing my rear axle the first time. Plenty of anti seize on there now! | ||
| Jlnance |
I have debated sending the spacer off to HPC to have them coat it with the stuff they developed to coat valve springs. Corrosion resistant and oil wicking.  If I didn't mind being w/o my axle for a few days, I'd already have done it. | ||
| Ironhead1977 |
You guys could have a Yamaha. Every 4000 miles -yes 4000 miles- you have to check and or replace the wheel bearings. Here is a link to the yamaha online owners manuals so any of you can check it out for yourself. If I have to periodically repair something on my Buell , it is OK. http://www.starmotorcycles.com/star/service/viewma nuals/viewmanuals.aspx?ls=st | ||
| M_singer |
Ironhead1977 there is a big difference between what lawyers say needs to go into an owner's manual for CYA and the actual experience of real world motorcycle owners. Trying to make any sort of reliability comparison with a Japanese motorcycle and a Buell is laughable! I love riding my Uly more then any other motorcycle that I have ever owned. That said if I had it to do over again I would buy a V strom. There are just too may WALK HOME issues with the Uly. | ||
| Ironhead1977 |
M_singer I am responding to this because a lot of people look to badweb for info on Buell motorcycles and this needs to be cleared up. The statement I made was a fact and I backed it up with supported documentation from the Yamaha web site. As I respect your opinion, that is just what it was, opinion being stated as a fact with no supported documentation to back it up. In my opinion there is no higher quality motorcycle than a Harley or Buell and yes I do find it laughable when someone states that a Japanese model is higher quality, apparently they have never worked on them and had to deal with their engineering issues. Sv's are good machines although it would not be my first choice. As stated, this is my opinion. To all those folks looking at this thread I have owned 3 Buells, 2 Harley's, 4 Yamaha's ,2 Honda,1 Suzuki and a Polaris atv. They are all great machines and very reliable and yes all of them require maintenance and repair from time to time.My Buell Uly is my bike of choice. M_singer,just so you know, this is not intended to offend or disrespect you. | ||
| M_singer |
Ironhead1977 no offense meant or taken bro. I hope that you turn out to be right an I end up putting many trouble free miles on my Uly. All of these failures have me questioning my choice though. | ||
| Crusty |
Trying to make any sort of reliability comparison with a Japanese motorcycle and a Buell is laughable! That is a true statement. None of the Japanese motorcycles that I've owned were even remotely as reliable as my Uly. If I may ask, How many times have you had to walk home because your Uly had issues? You want to know what really sucks? Sitting on a backroad in rural New South Wales with a Yamaha that fragged its U-joint. | ||
| Xbimmer |
So let's get back to the thread, a VERY IMPORTANT thread IMO since Jlnance's bike seems to be the first of the wheel bearing failures with a non-stock bearing, and a premium bearing at that. I posted before in the other thread(s) that if that were to happen it would change the whole argument. I fully admit that I've always suspected the Taiwanese NTN's, all four in my bike when inspected had different grease loads and flimsy seals. But it seems I was wrong and now what? Some Uly's break bearings, how come? Is it the 25% extra belt loading, as per BMC? If the guys with the Springy-Thingy start breaking bearings well that argument's out. Is it the special Uly wheel manufacturing process? Maybe bad QC regardless of the "Enkei" cast into the wheel? My front wheel is a piece of crap, although the rim spins true the hub is elliptical around the bearing. Maybe some of the bikes with problems at the back have bad castings/machining too. It's not a simple inconvenience either, Uly's get loaded up often two-up and head on out. That can be a disaster if a bearing frags in the middle of nowhere, even without personal injury or worse... | ||
| M_singer |
Crusty No walk home issues for me yet. Just bought the bike at the end of last February and only have 4 k miles on it. It has had some issues already with the wiring harness that came close to being a walk home issue. How many mile are on your Uly? | ||
| Crusty |
I put 34,640 on my '06 Uly, then traded it in last month on an '08 XT. It ran flawlessly in temps ranging from the teens with blowing snow and white out conditions to over 100. I rode it from my home in Massachusetts to Daytona Bike Week '06, the Springfield Mile, Homecoming '07 with a tour of all five Great Lakes added on, numerous shorter trips, and used it as a daily commuter. In 39 years of riding and owning motorcycles from Japan, England, Germany, Italy and the U.S.A., my Uly was my most reliable and trouble free motorcycle. I expect no less from my XT. Oh, to keep this thread on track; when I traded it in, my Uly still had its original wheel bearings, and they were fine. | ||
| Pso |
So how many have lost the bearings? Also is this specific to the Uly or are the Lightnings and Firebolts also experiencing the same problem? It would be interesting to get a total, not only of the bearings, but also the fuel pump and voltage regulator. | ||
| Dirt |
Unfortunately, I am living the Uly nightmare. Two catastrophic rear bearing failures in under 30k miles. The biggest downside with these failures is the extended period of time required at the dealership to repair. My bike was in the shop the entire month of Aug 07 waiting for a back ordered axle (but who wants to ride in the summer anyway). This time around the bike has been in the shop almost four weeks (once again, who wants to ride in the summer). The service dept told me they are waiting on a rear wheel. I haven't confirmed availability with Buell CS but I have no reason to doubt the dealer. Add to that five blown fuses (in all my years of riding I have never had any bike, or car for that matter, blow a fuse) and other misc electrical issues, tall windshield flew off, broken belt, and a failed turn signal relay. Did I mention the bike has had to be towed 3 times. Right now, as defined by the State of Virginia, my bike is a lemon. I also have owned Harley's and metric bikes. The 04 Softail in my garage has 96k trouble free miles on it. It still has the original wheel bearings and belt. I use my bikes to commute 125 miles round trip to work and back. I ride year round in the hot, the cold, and the rain. I routinely accumulate over 100k on each bike before I move on the next. From my experience, the Uly has been the most unreliable of the lot. Failed wheel bearings every 12-15k is unacceptable. I will say the bike is fun to ride and I have no complaints with the handling or the engine. It's simply too unreliable for my needs. YMMV. | ||
| 12bolt |
I lost my second pair of rear wheel bearings last month. The stock set crapped out on me at 10k or so, replaced with koyo bearings and the crapped out at about 16k. About 1k of that was dirt, mud, rain and potholes going to and returning from Prudoe Bay. I'm convinced that the only problem with bearings failing is the lack of a dust cover over the outside of the bearings. BTW my idler pully bearings went shortly after the koyos. again no dust cover. | ||
| Xbimmer |
BTW my idler pully bearings went shortly after the koyos. again no dust cover. Uly X belt loadings again?  | ||
| 12bolt |
 this may have had something to do with it! | ||
| Gotj |
XBimmer, +1 on looking at other factors than the bearings themselves. In addition to the higher belt loads, I find the spacer to also be a possible suspect. A good bearing seems much too hard to turn when the wheel is off the bike. To me, that means the spacer is too long but not by much. I can envision at least one reason for this. That would be if, when the axle is torqued to the proper spec, the axle compresses the spacer enough to relieve the side loading that exists with the wheel off of the bike. But if the axle is not torqued enough, the side load would continue to exist resulting in premature bearing failures. OR, the spacer is too long and won't compress enough to relieve the side loading. If the above reasoning is not true, then I believe the spacer may be too long and the multiple failures are from spacers which are at the outer limit of the manufacturing tolerance and create a side load way too much for the bearing to handle. Does anyone have experience with how the rear bearings turn on other XBs? Are they all as hard to turn as the Uly's? Having just gone through the above discourse, I realize that the problem could be the wheel. If the bearing seats are machined too deep into the hub, the same symptoms as a too-long spacer would result. Does anyone have a salvage, i.e., unusable, rear wheel and spacer that could be used to examine these issues? I would offer to do it but I don't have the precision equipment required for the experiments. Maybe BMC could undertake it? | ||
| 12bolt |
The bottom line is dirt, water, and mud getting into the bearings. All my failed bearings had those three things either in the bearing or behind the bearing. Most bikes have a dust cover built right into the wheel spacers. Since we do not have spacers, no dust cover. These bearing seals were not meant to be put through dirt bike type riding. |
