| Author | Message | ||
     Skifastbadly |
Last night I pulled the rear wheel and put a new tire on it. When I took it out for a test ride, I heard this irregular 'clack' from the back end. Hmmm. I put it back up on the jack today, and there's some play in the wheel...that is to say, if I wiggle it back and forth, there's a little give. I removed the axle and then put it back on. Everything's tightened to spec, and I'm still getting a little wiggle and a 'clack' at low speed. Sound like bearings? They look OK, but I'm very concerned and welcome any insight. | ||
| Hughlysses |
There shouldn't be any perceptible "give" in the wheel like that. You did the torque to ~25 ft-lbs, back off 2 turns, torque to full torque procedure, correct? (by the shop manual). Pinch bolt re-torqued after axle was reinstalled? Is the brake caliper installed correctly? You didn't accidentally leave a bolt out there? Same for belt guards, front pulley guard, idler pulley (if you bothered it). If all else fails to turn up an obvious oversight, pull the wheel again and turn the bearing races by hand. You can put one finger in each bearing race and then spin the wheel on the floor to check. Rotation should be smooth with no "catches" or roughness. (Message edited by hughlysses on May 19, 2009) | ||
| Skifastbadly |
Uh, yes and no. Pinch bolt torqued, caliper's fine, no bolts left over, didn't remove the other stuff. DID forget to turn, back off, and then re-torque the axle. Tightening it doesn't seem to help, I'm wondering if I over torqued and now the bearings are pushed in? | ||
| Etennuly |
If you did not use a torque wrench and the tighten-loosen-torque to 48-52 ft lbs technique, and you think you over tightened it, that could be the problem. Over torquing will tend to crush the spacer and press the inner bearing races out of line with the outer races. Take the wheel back off and turn the bearings, I hope they are fairly smooth and not notchy and loose. Check the spacer for damage on the edges where it mates up with the inner races. | ||
| Dirt |
My rear wheel bearings have failed 3 times. In each instance the bad bearing made the clack sound you describe. I could also feel it pulse through the handlebars. If I were you, I would carefully pry the seal off the bearings and have a look. If the grease is nice and blue, then you may have over torqued it and caused the damage. If the grease is dirty or black and looks like hell, then I would say the bearing was on it's way out long before you touched it. (Message edited by dirt on May 19, 2009) | ||
| Hughlysses |
The only way to "push the bearings in" is to crush the spacer between them. You'd have to massively over-torque them to crush the spacer so much that the wheel had play in it. I think I'd pull the wheel, inspect the bearings, and proceed from there. | ||
| Skifastbadly |
It's the bearing. Specifically the left one. I took off the wheel again (I'm getting pretty good at that), and there was play in the bearing. I pried off the rubber seal and it was gray and gunky. As I'm not prepared to invest over 200 bucks on a bearing removal device, it's off to the dealer tomorrow with the wheel. Can't take them more than half an hour to fix it. Thanks, all. (Message edited by skifastbadly on May 19, 2009) | ||
| Svh |
Make sure they are installing the black seal bearings. No need to waste the time and $$$ doing it again possibly real soon. | ||
| Joesbuell |
I have never liked how much tension is on the XB's belt, rear wheel/Idler and 5th gear bearings so I did a little mod to my tensioner to relive it. My belt now has about an inch of movement up and down. And you can now rotate the tensioner pulley with very little load on it. All I did was elongate the 2 mounting holes about 1.5mm. If anyones interested I can do some pictures. By the way my Uly is an 09 model. Cheers Jodie | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Hey Jodie, the belts loosen up in time. My 2008 is just over 15,000 miles and the idler is able to turn with one fingertip pressure. | ||
| Od_cleaver |
"Can't take them more than half an hour to fix it. " Try about 3 weeks, at least that is what it took in my case. Two weeks for Erik's boys to figure out how to ship "in stock" bearings from Wisconsin to Minnesota and then another week for the dealer to get new rear sprocket screws. It seems that the screws are a one time use items and the dealer only had two screws in stock. The sprocket needed to come off to fit the bearing tool. | ||
| Etennuly |
If you have a heat gun, a 1 1\2 foot long bar with a 90 degree edge of some sort, and a two pound hammer, and a piece of 2x4, it is really not hard to do. Heat the area of the rim around the bearing(no need to burn the powdercoating), put the bar through from the other side, catch the edge of the bearings inner race, pop it a few times around its diameter, it will come right out. New install is even easier. Cool the new bearing assembly in the freezer. Heat the hub area again. Put the new bearing in place, tap it home using the 2x4 and hammer. Don't forget the spacer when installing the other side. | ||
| Skifastbadly |
Lucky for me, I live about 20 miles from the dealer. I took it in this morning with the bearings, he charged me 32 bucks for labor. All is well, 'clack' is gone. | ||
| Etennuly |
I'd say you got a good deal from an honest dealer!  | ||
| Skifastbadly |
The HD dealer in Salt Lake owns three shops. One that actually sells Buells, and one that is willing to work on them. Because I also have an 04 Heritage Softail, and bought a Blast for my wife last year, I got to know these guys pretty well. Last year, I had some major work done on my HD. 75 miles after I picked it up, it croaked. I lost a pinion in the engine. The service manager said "well, look, I don't think this is related but because you just had it in here, you probably think it is, so we'll just fix it." On top of that, he put in a new battery, also free. So the next time I was in the area, I dropped in and gave him a bottle of Patron. It's not as if they always give me priority service or any kind of break on pricing, but I do get taken care of. I called this morning and said "Hey, I need some bearings put in" they said "Come down, we'll fit you in" and 40 minutes after I arrived, I was on my way out. (Message edited by skifastbadly on May 20, 2009) | ||
| Joesbuell |
G'day Nate, The thing is that alot of guys bearings are failing long before the 15000mile mark! My belt on my S3 has 19000klm's(which is from a 06 XB Uly) on it and has not stretched much at all if any. And is run very loose, to the point it touches the swingarm! Just my opinion  Cheers Jodie |
