| Author | Message | ||
     Dirt |
I was riding home from work yesterday and the right side rear wheel bearing failed. Third time the rear bearings have failed. I was real close to home when I noticed the clicking. I knew what is was right away. In any case, I was able to make it home without calling for a tow. I was pleasantly surprised to see the bearing had not disintegrated like it did in the previous failures. It was definitely bad, but in one piece. The only parts that need replaced are the bearings. So I made a few calls today to see if any local dealerships had the new black colored bearings E0005.02A8B in stock. The two closest to me did not. A third one about 70 miles away said they had them. Parts guy said they were $40.25 each. Okay, I thought the new "B" part number bearings were something like $16 each. He replied that these are the "A" part bearings and that they had superseded the "B" bearings. So, I asked, your telling me the "A" part was superseded by the "B" part which was superseded by the "A" part. Yep, was his answer. Just for kicks, I asked him what color the bearing were and he replied orange. He added that he had never seen a black colored bearing. So I guess my question to any of you parts guys is has the "B" number bearing been discontinued and are we now back to the "A" part number? I think the dealership has a shelf full of "A" type they are just trying to get rid of. | ||
| Teeps |
You might consider installing a new bearing spacer too. G0323.02A8 | ||
| Okc99 |
I needlessly had my bearings replaced out of fear and asked for the old parts. They were black. I'd *&*&^ myself if they ended up putting "older" red ones in! My prod date is 5/08. | ||
| Jphish |
Dirt - 3rd set ?!!? GEEZ! How many miles ? Glad you didn't get left stranded. I think Gamdh got a set of black ones from Appleton. I'm going to order some for preemptive strike on brakedown. j | ||
| Hughlysses |
That's as good of a "superseded" part story as the one I got when I tried to buy a replacement burner for my Dad's gas grill ~15 years ago. I went to the Sears parts store with the P/N from the owner's manual in hand. He looks it up on the microfiche, and it says "superseded by P/N XYZ123". He gets a different microfiche out and can't find P/N XYZ123. "That means they don't make it any more" he says. Sears went to the trouble to put a new P/N that superseded the old P/N in their microfiche, but that part was discontinued? Yea, right. Hey, maybe your parts guy used to work at Sears?  | ||
| Dirt |
The bike has 47k and change on it. The last set was replaced at 26k. It's funny, I pulled the seals off about 5k ago all looked perfect. Lots of nice blue grease. I pulled the seals off again yesterday and the grease is all lumpy, hard and black colored. Almost looks like dry clay. I didn't notice any water in the wheel hub, but I rode in rain just about every other day during April. I was almost expecting this to happen again. If by chance Buell has gone back to the orange bearings, I think I'll try an after market manufacturer. The orange bearings just don't stand up to my type of riding. | ||
| Skyclad |
May I recommend either Koyo or SFK brand bearings. I did wipe out a set of the SFK's, but discovered they were not seated correctly and still lasted over 6000. That is better than either of the OEM did. | ||
| Jlnance |
You might call another dealer to verify the A->B->A succession. | ||
| Hardlya |
Just replaced my bearings...the parts guy said the black ones were the correct ones. That is what he ordered and that's what we got! I'm thinking the parts guy in your case is just trying to clear his shelf of the red ones. Footnote: The red ones I just took out at 18K miles were perfect. | ||
| Jphish |
Hardlya - Who's your parts guy ? Buell dealer? I agree - it must be an existing inventory clearance ploy by Dirt's parts guy. Fire him. j | ||
| Dirt |
I called another dealer about 90 miles away this morning. They are a well established Buell dealership and I was hoping to find some of the new bearings in stock. Unfortunately, their shelves were filled with the old type, but no new ones. The parts department initially told the same story that the other dealership had - i.e. new bearing type has been superseded by the old type. But I found out there's more to that story. It's a computer thing I was told. If the new part isn't in stock and the old one is , the old part is listed as the latest and greatest (or something like that). In any case, they were very helpful and verified that the new part number is valid. Unfortunately, the closest dealer that has them in stock is 170 miles away. I ended up ordering a new pair. Oh and by the way. There are quite a few dealers out there with an ample supply of the old style in stock. If you encounter a failure and want the new part number, make sure they don't pull the old type off the shelf. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I have a set of front bearings that I haven't used yet, that I ordered for myself. We don't have any B on the shelf, mainly because we do have a full supply of A bearings and our reorder point doesn't take into account a supersession. When inventory drops below point X (quantity), the computer reorders. Since the main number is the same...the computer thinks we still have plenty in stock. Workin' on a solution... If you need fronts, you can have mine...but my rears are in my wheel, preventative maintenance when I got a new rear tire last month. | ||
| Dirt |
Ratbuell, Thanks for the offer but I ordered a set of both front and rears. The fronts look fine for now, but I'm going to change them out at some point. BTW, it was your dealership I called yesterday. Very helpful even though they didn't have what I was looking for. | ||
| Ratbuell |
We try...thanks. And, I'm trying like hell to rub off on 'em  At least they don't cringe when they hear a Buell part number anymore, LOL. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I guess it makes sense that the parts system works like that. If you're stranded on the road with a bad bearing, most people would be happy to get an "A" bearing if that was all that was available. One good thing all this shows- at least some dealers are FINALLY stocking some Buell parts! |
