| Author | Message | ||
     Calamari_kid |
So I'm going to have the rear wheel off today or tomorrow and wanted to know what to look for as far as signs of bearing wear. My assumption is that if I give them a spin they'll feel "gritty" or "notchy" as they turn. Assumption being the mother of all fuq-ups, I just wanted to verify this with the more knowledgeable folks. Any other tests, signs to look for? Thanks! | ||
| Portero72 |
They won't turn easily even if they are good(I needed a fair bit of pressure to turn mine), but bad ones will feel notchy as you described. Good ones are smooth. | ||
| 7873jake |
gonna muddy the water a little bit on you: mine were neither notchy or gritty feeling when being rolled around slowly or when the wheel was off of the ground being hand spun. it wasn't until I began to ride that the sound began to appear. When I did finally take the old ones out and pop the seal off of them did I notice they had water in them and the tell tale orange rust. there is a process outlined here in the archives describing the seal removal and repack in case you want to consider it. IIRC, back in early Feb, Barocky posted a thread re: bearings that had some suggestions in. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I got plenty sick and tired of messing and worrying about those ridiculously under engineered bearings and got the over engineered 2010 rear wheel for both our Ulys. Actually was able to sell my 06' wheel to a fellow badwebber so that helped a bit. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
All that is left is one or two black 2010 rear wheels at American Sportbike and that is what we got for my son's Uly. Beautiful looking wheel. Cost a bit more than the magnesium colored wheel. http://www.americansportbike.com/shoponline/ccp0-p rodshow/17901.html | ||
| Calamari_kid |
Thanks all for the info. Would love a 2010 rear, but the budget won't permit that any time soon. I dug up one of the old bearing threads which has the info on re-packing. I'll just add that to the task list for tomorrow. Thanks again. | ||
| Uly_man |
I am going to "muddy" it a bit more. Lets look at the facts? The "orange" seal OEM bearings "may" have had a sealing problem, I never have, but some people still have had problems with bearings from other makers like SKF, who are still Swiss made and none better. Even with the much vaunted 2010 "triple bearing" wheel setup some people have STILL had problems. I work with bearings, on all sorts of machines and can see no design problem with the wheel bearings. The set-up is much the same as any bike apart from the alloy spacer. Which I think is the key issue. If anyone can give me a logic based engineering reason why they fail then I would like to hear it. I have not heard one yet. | ||
| Motorbike |
Uly_man, why do YOU think so many of these bearings are failing? What is your theory? Do you think the alloy spacer is out of tolerance on some of these? Maybe it is getting crushed? My 08 XT is the first bike I have ever had bearing problems with. When mine failed, the rear wheel had never been off the bike since leaving the factory. Oh, and by the way, I washed all of my bikes just as much as I do the Buell. Thanks. (Message edited by motorbike on April 03, 2012) | ||
| Calamari_kid |
Bearings spun with little effort and were smooth, so I didn't bother repacking them. They were the black seal type and I've got over 15k PNWet miles on them fwiw. New belt is on, now I just have to get someone to turn off the rain. Thanks again.  | ||
| Francesco |
My two cents: front wheel bearing (right side I believe) felt a little bit notchy with the last tire replacement. I popped the seal and there was a some rust inside on the ball cage. Replaced them with skf bearings, felt better when rotating those. So if you have a doubt about them next time I should carefully lift the seal to check for rust inside. | ||
| Uly_man |
"Uly_man, why do YOU think." Well put it this way? I had a 06 bike and the rear bearings were changed on the 5k service. I changed the fronts at 14k because the steering had gone off but they were not dangerous. This can happen on any good handling bike. If people check there bike is safe to ride then it should not be a problem. If they do not then "Hey Guy" who is to blame. I now have a 2010 bike and the fronts were changed on the 5k service. Both bikes have the orange seal bearings. I think it is down to a mixture of the alloy spacer and HDs settings for its install/Torque settings. I know for a fact you can not trust the book settings. Again it is a well known issue. I also, and never have expected 20k miles out of rubber or 30k miles + out of a set of wheel bearings. I am getting 10k out of PR2s, with hard riding and not to the wear bars, and thats enough to make me wet myself. I have never had that before on any bike that handles as good as the Uly does. Just my opinion though. |
