| Author | Message | ||
     Carbonsteel |
Well, I just had my bearings replaced with the new black seals and I went for a short ride, about 12 miles, got off the wash the bike and I reached down on the pulley side(the one that failed) to rube some crud off the pulley and the bearing was pretty darn hot. Is this normal? How hot should they get to the touch? I'm about to take a long road trip and I want to make sure I won't be having any problems. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Thomas- I wouldn't think so. Did you feel both sides and compare? | ||
| Husky |
IMHO no they should not get Hot. My 08XT wheel hubs do not get hot, just a little warm to the touch, after a 160 mile ride at 70+ mph on the So Cal 15 between Pasadena and Barstow. Same temp as the hubs on my Motorcycle trailer. After reading about all of the bearing problems some were having I added lubricant to the bearings of my new XT at 120 miles, a high quality Boat Trailer wheel bearing grease. The only time I have ever seen hubs get hot were from the bearings beings over tightened or improperly lubricated. I purchased my May08 build XT in March 09. Husky (Message edited by husky on August 22, 2009) | ||
| Carbonsteel |
"The only time I have ever seen hubs get hot were from the bearings beings over tightened or improperly lubricated." How do you tighten them? Yup, the other side is nice and cool, it's just the pulley side getting hot...this looks to be no good. (Message edited by Carbonsteel on August 22, 2009) | ||
| Hughlysses |
Sounds like the bearing wasn't seated properly. He's referring to over-torquing the axle, which could compress the center spacer and side-load the bearing. | ||
| Ourdee |
Thomas, The heat doesn't sound right. Did you replace the spacer too? Hey on a side note. The smoke trails that are vertical in your profile picture are from rockets fired prior to the detonation. I call it the difference between a test nuke and an angry bomb. | ||
| Carbonsteel |
I think I'll try checking the axle and ensure it was torqued properly. I called a Buell tech and he said the spec was 48-52 ft/lbs. Shouldn't be hard to determine if that is the cause. BBL | ||
| Carbonsteel |
Well, I might have found the problem. The Indy had the axle so tight that I couldn't budge it by hand. I actually had to stand on my wrench and jump on it to break it loose. Once I retightened it at 50 ft.lbs, I could break it loose by hand, so I know it was well over spec. In any case, I will see if it heats up tomorrow on the way to work and hope that solved the problem. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Carbonsteel- the full deal is to tighten axle to 25 ft-lbs, back out 2 full turns, then re-torque to ~50 ft-lbs. Now that you've re-torqued it, I'd definitely give it another test ride and verify the bearings not continuing to heat up. | ||
| Carbonsteel |
Ok, I got impatient and went for a test ride, up the highway a good five miles at 55 mph and back and everything was nice and cool. Although I'm not ready to declare success just yet, it looks promising. I wonder if I should back off of the torque spec a little and go with 45 ft/lbs instead. If this was indeed the problem, then the reason my last set of bearings went out was because the same mechanic put my wheel on with the previous bearings after a back tire change. | ||
| Tootal |
If that solved the problem then that's great. My only concern would be damage to the inner spacer since it's made of aluminum and has been known to crush under too much torque. | ||
| Alchemy |
CS, Yep, I had a similar problem. I have taken to just removing the wheels myself and having the tires changed on the wheels and then installing and torquing so I know it is done correctly. It saves money and I think it prevents unintentional damage to the bike. That being said even the 06 manuals did not have correct torque specs for the oil plug and several posts here have demonstrated the damage that an over tight plug can cause. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Here's what Al Lighton of American Sport Bike said about overtorquing the rear axle a while back: "What this means is that IF the bearings are installed correctly, AND the spacer tube is not damaged, overtorquing the axle slightly shouldn't cause an inelastic deformation of the spacer tube. If Mongo gets a hold of it and gets brutal with the breaker bar during installation, all bets are off. " Sounds like your mechanic may be a Mongo. Complete post by Al on bearings here: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=142838&post=1505281#POST1505281 | ||
| Court |
>>>My only concern would be damage to the inner spacer since it's made of aluminum and has been known to crush under too much torque. Ditto. Someone owes you a spacer. | ||
| Alchemy |
Court, did you get a chance to compare the old spacer to the new spacer. Wondering if the new spacer is also a little more beefy than the old one? | ||
| Court |
I don't know if it's any beefier but it the one described above was cranked as tight as it sounds I'd replace it before I headed out for any distance. I'll have two spacers sent and see if I can compare them. | ||
| Alchemy |
I think if I replaced the spacer then I would replace the bearings at the same time since you have to pull them to get to the spacer if I understand correctly. | ||
| Court |
Absolutely. | ||
| Tootal |
I would just pull one out to get to the spacer and replace just the one. No need to waste money and time. | ||
| Ronmold |
If a new well-greased bearing had enough improper side force to make it get hot while pressed into a huge air-cooled aluminum heatsink (wheel), I would say it's life has been severely compromised, replace it! | ||
| Rwven |
I like Indie's, but they don't know Buells. I photocopied the pertinent shop manual page and gave it to my mechanic when I had him replace my bearings. I had removed and installed the wheel myself so I didn't have your issue. | ||
| Ourdee |
Better replace the bearing that got hot. |
