| Author | Message | ||
     Debueller |
Jphish- The new ones in my '08 are still ok. My '06 suffered two failures and my '08 one failure. I will not have any more wheel bearing failures on a trip.......I plan to replace them every other rear tire change. (about every} 10,000 miles) | ||
| Hughlysses |
The updated bearing arrangement would seem to confirm that the 06-09 wheel bearing arrangement is overloaded, at least under some conditions, for optimum life. As posted here in earlier threads, bearings have a calculated life of so many revolutions. If the load is low enough compared to the bearing's rated load, the bearing life becomes almost infinite. As the load gets higher, the expected life gets shorter and shorter. Replacing the bearings periodically so that you don't keep them in service long enough to get to their end-of-life is probably the best insurance policy. | ||
| Jphish |
Jerry - well that IS preventative maintenance! I'm spinning on the KBCs now, but still carry a new set of NTNs I bought for 'spares' - think I'm going to just try the regrease every tire change, reseal with antisieze, and see how far I get. Beta testing can make things 'interesting' just about the time you'd rather not. j | ||
| Ourdee |
I'd like to put the new wheels on mine. I don't want to do the bearing adventure twice. I want the white with shiny edges and a white plastics kit. Heat kit would be nice if it works. Hughlysses, So, are you saying, all the front wheel hovering may have overloaded my rear bearings? I may use the hard stops on the throttle too much. | ||
| Ratbuell |
The updated bearing arrangement would seem to confirm that the 06-09 wheel bearing arrangement is overloaded Think about Buell and the tuber shock recall days. Does the word "overkill" come to mind? Maybe "over-engineered"? If the 06-09 setup was overloaded, we'd see a recall to the new 3-bearing setup. As it is, the new bearings (I have 'em in my '06 mudball) seem to be working just fine, as I have yet to hear of (or experience) a failure with the new black seals. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Ratbuell- You left out the important part of my statement: "under some conditions for optimum life." They added external seals to ward off contamination problems (water/dirt), they increased the size to handle higher loads, and they added a third bearing to give even MORE load capacity. All I'm saying is after analyzing a LOT of failed bearings, the engineers probably figured out that under SOME conditions (probably max loaded bike w/passenger, maybe overloaded) at speed, bike hits a sharp bump, etc., the 06-09 bearings can be slightly overloaded. I don't mean the bearing instantly fails, I mean it shortens the bearing life. No doubt 3 larger bearings ARE overkill. A bike like the Uly calls for some over-engineering.  (Message edited by Hughlysses on July 28, 2009) | ||
| Froggy |
I wonder how long before the bearing threads disappear and we go to "Help, my rear rim is banana shaped" | ||
| Rwven |
Bearing threads won't disappear as long as there are '06 - '09 owners who still have the barely "adequate" rear wheel bearing setup instead of the 2010 "the way it should have been in the first place" bearing setup.... | ||
| Crusty |
Nobody who has installed the new bearings has had a problem. Buell, in their usual way of eliminating a problem area, has gone beyond what's adequate to a solution that will eliminate any possibility of recurrence. "Lighten up, Francis" | ||
| Ulyranger |
I am new to the Buell family, but am seriously impressed with the responsiveness of BMC. No bike, or any other mechanical device, tool or toy is perfect, with these updates the Uly is getting a whole lot closer. I have personally had very few issues with my 08XT, and nothing that sidelined me. Even though I have not had to endure any of the major headaches that some of you have, I've paid attention and been pulling for you (never know when it's my turn). It is refreshing to see a company that responds to user input. Nice work Buell, keep up the good work!!  | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Counterpoint or punch maybe. I love my ULY and all but don't think for a second that Buell's decisions aren't run by the accountants. Bean counter decisions gave us 2 substandard bearings on the back wheel, and a mild steel muffler that cost ( I hear ) $500 bucks to replace out of warranty. Everyone is so ready to heap praise on Buell for the upgrades but the 2010 ULY still has that crappy muffler that is now 4 years overdue for a metal change to SS. We gotta keep the pressure on BMC for a better muffler because that is just plain BS. If that 2010 muffler is better I sure haven't seen anything about it. Look at how everyone here is clamoring to buy that comfort kit before anyone knows if it does the trick. Just think how many SS mufflers they could have sold if the 2010 was so outfitted. Just saying. Anyways, BMC has become a bit like the parent company Harley when it comes to updating things. It's all about profit. It took forever for the Sportster engine to become rubber mounted and if you buy one it is so bare bones it is laughable. No helmet lock, no lockable gas cap, no place to attach a bungie cord. My wife has an 07 sportster so I know. | ||
| Rotorhead |
I can't figure out the bearing fuss?? I have over 50,000 miles (at least15,000 off road) and have not been very kind to my ULY.  I have had ZERO bearing issues. MUD, RAIN, SNOW and road salt have not made an issue with my 06 ULY. I have even put a chain drive on that would make the drive side scream murder with the loads it puts on the drive line with the nonflexible chain.Will I look into the larger bearing rear wheel? You bet!! Then I can go ahead and really beat around on the off road and still never worry about my bearings failing. Do you think I just jinxed myself?? I'm going to the garage to check my bearings right now!?!?!?!? | ||
| Joesbuell |
If Buell has done such a major upgrade on the rear wheels, They must have known of its short comings! Owners should all be offered an upgraded rear wheel free of charge! Should be a recall!!! | ||
| Etennuly |
If Buell has done such a major upgrade on the rear wheels, They must have known of its short comings! Owners should all be offered an upgraded rear wheel free of charge! Should be a recall!!! If life worked that way the owners of the Model T would be suing for a GT40. They have fixed many of these wear items way beyond when they could have said no. There no doubt has been a problem with some of them, but I still think the basis of the problem is related to water intrusion causing rust to kill them. | ||
| Froggy |
Beat me to it. Buell in the past has done free service bulletins for some upgrades like the clutch cable retainer, but I doubt that will be the case this time. | ||
| Tq_freak |
I don't know if I would say recall, I just think they underestimated the duty cycle for the uly since I haven't heard of any failures on any other models and they have fixed the problem. Should they recall the 06's for the updated triple trees? They have done more then enough by making it backward compatible for the older bikes. They could have easily told everyone, you want better bearings, buy a new one. | ||
| Xbimmer |
I can't figure out the bearing fuss?? I have over 50,000 miles (at least15,000 off road) and have not been very kind to my ULY... I have had ZERO bearing issues. Many others haven't been so lucky though. I changed out to black KBC's at over 50K that were supposed to be the solution over the red NTN's, nothing ever happened to mine either except the seals were getting worn and hard. The fact the New and Improved seal came out just before a completely revised 2010 axle and wheel bearing design has me a little interested though. If Buell has done such a major upgrade on the rear wheels, They must have known of its short comings! Owners should all be offered an upgraded rear wheel free of charge! Should be a recall!!! I don't agree with that. I've always thought that Buell came up with a great concept in the Ulysses, but maybe weren't ready for the extremely enthusiastic and heavy duty riding that Uly owners were going to subject their machines to. It seems for '10 they've raised the bar and I'm happy to see what Buell has done for the new XB's. I'm also appreciative that they've designed the '10 wheel bearing and cooling solutions to be a retrofit, how many manufacturers do that? | ||
| Methed |
+1 Xbimmer, I don't know of another. I had and worked on numerous CBR 600s and was always disappointed at the cam chain tensioner on them. Honda admitted they had issues, but rather than recalling or making a retrofit, their solution was "upgrade and buy the latest model year CBR." They never did pick a good design, and this issue has caused problems with that I4 engine up through at least the 05 models. Speaking of vibration, imagine dumping a half gallon of buck shot in your intake manifold and revving the pig to 16k rpm, then you'd know the feeling and sound I'm talking about. EB and the Elves, keep up the good work and thanks for working to make them better! | ||
| Cyclonedon |
I'm not so sure about all the bearing problems because I haven't had any with my 2006 Uly and it has just over 26,000 miles on it. But Electraglider a good point about the poor quality muffler that Buell uses on the Uly. Right about the time I purchased my Uly, Buell discontinues the race pipe so I purchased one just in case I ever decided I wanted a louder muffler. I actually liked the stock muffler and wasn't going to put the race can on mine but then at about 9000 miles, the stock pipe started rusting so I decided to go ahead and have the race kit installed at my 10,000 service. I just couldn't deal with a new motorcycle with a muffler that looked like crap! | ||
| Ourdee |
but maybe weren't ready for the extremely enthusiastic and heavy duty riding that Uly owners were going to subject their machines to EXACTLY, Someone sold me an 08 XT to replace my 1981 XL500S. Yes I do ride it like I rode the XL. I'm your huckleberry, That's just my game, say when. | ||
| Rwven |
So, how about a discount program for existing owners that want to upgrade to the new rear wheel and bearing setup. Sell 'em to us for cost. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I'm sure a lot more of us would consider upgrading to the new wheel if it was discounted. I bet we'll see a stainless muffler in 2011 and factory installed HID's in 2012...  | ||
| Pso |
I agree with Rwven. It seems to me that the original owners of 06 Uly's should get some of these upgrades for manufactures cost plus shipping. I do not think Buell should incure a loss, however we are the original folks or test pilots, that risked a great deal of money on a yet unproven bike, but only dpended on the reputation and character of EB to do the right thing. We found the problems, side stand, BAS, #77 connector, wireing loom problems, original belt issues, rear lic. plate light, bearings, steering lock, heat. etc. Now some of them we were aware of such as the heat and steering lock restriction thus we went into them with our eyes open. some of them were fixed under recall, side stand, BAS, and lic. plate light. Now we as the original field testers that have sung the praises of the Uly should be given some reward, for our deligence and risk taking in discovering engineering problems, such as the upgrade rear wheel at manufactures cost, and the upgraded VR with new plug again at manufactures cost and installed on buells dime. It would also seem to me that the marketing advertisment for doing this which would cost Buell very, very little would place buell ahead of any MC manufactor in the world, also ahead of any auto maker or manufacturer of any product. Just an idea and perhaps then Buell would again be premired in all the Motorcycle rags. Seems like Buell has fallen off the radar for awhile now. | ||
| Methed |
Are we sure that price isn't just over cost? Not playing devil's advocate, but actually wondering; what's the price difference between the old wheels and the new, and what do an axle and set of bearings cost? Froggy, this sounds like your bag. | ||
| Froggy |
Buell has been on the radar more now than in all of the past years combined | ||
| Froggy |
Methed, the new wheel + new axle costs about the same as the old wheel + old axle. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Froggy- You seem to have good sources for info. Any chance you can find the "Harley Davidson University Technical Forum 2010 Model Year" document? It's a PDF that comes out detailing all the changes to the bikes. I've managed to find the ones for previous years in random places on the net (usually a link from an HD forum). I'd be very interested to see what it says about the new bearing arrangement. Who knows, we may find out they changed the muffler coating as well. | ||
| Froggy |
I haven't seen it yet, I also missed last years. | ||
| Pso |
Methed then there advertising department should scream it to the world. We are the only company we know of that will retorfit improvements to our test pilots for our cost plus shipping. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Ferrari just did something nice for all its past, present and future owners. http://www.worldcarfans.com/109072220598/ferrari-o ffers-new-free-roadside-assistance-for-all-out-of- warranty-cars For one reason or other I just haven't had problems with my 06' ULY and I have 20,000 miles on it now. I do think they need to rectify the situation with that rusty muffler because the answer isn't even innovative. It's just making it out of non corrosive metal like stainless steel. That is one part that should be offered at cost when they finally admit to being cheaply stubborn about that rusty embarrassment. An adventure bike with a low slung mild steel muffler .... what are they thinking?????? The thing I love about my ULY is that I just wipe it off. Can't wipe the rust off that cheap corroding can now can we. |
