| Author | Message | ||
     Jb2607 |
New Koyo bearings were installed Thursday, no moisture present, original bearings appeared normal. HDBuell dealer did work (installed Distanzias) for upcoming road trip. Mileage--- 1800 miles... They also replaced the clutch cable bracket (springy type) to the new version as a precaution. Great service... | ||
| Jwnsc |
Joe, your HD/Buell dealer installed non-OEM Koyo Bearings on your 2008 Uly with only 1800 miles? That's refreshing. | ||
| Jb2607 |
That... plus they replaced the clutch cable bracket as a precaution. Kudos... all around! | ||
| Jwnsc |
Joe, Your upcoming cross-country trip ought to be a great test for the Koyos. I'm surprised the dealer didn't give you a hard time. Which dealer? I may have to schedule some service there myself during a future trip to the mountains. | ||
| Jlnance |
Some advanced high-school mathematics would determine the diameter and location for the pulley, so that as the suspension rebounds, the belt tension is kept constant. Thats what the patent I posted the abstract for works out. | ||
| Skyclad |
My dealer had no problem when I supplied them with SFK bearing for my Uly. | ||
| Jwnsc |
My dealer had no problem when I supplied them with SFK bearing for my Uly. I guess if a dealer knew you personally or sold you the bike and really wanted to keep you happy, and didn't mind going out on a limb with Buell, it may be more common than imagined. To be fair, I've never asked my local dealer, just a gut feeling based on past interactions. If Buell is reluctant to say anything about OEM bearings, I can pretty much guess what their policy toward dealer-installed non-OEM parts on bikes under warranty would be. Who knows, maybe they issued a tech advisory to dealers authorizing it. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I can see they wouldn't have much problem with installing non-OEM bearings, even under warranty. OTOH, if one of those bearings fails and hoses something up, I bet you'll be on your own. | ||
| Jwnsc |
OTOH, if one of those bearings fails and hoses something up, I bet you'll be on your own. It can get pretty complicated when you consider scenarios where the bike shows up at another dealer's for warranty work or a subsequent purchaser of the bike without knowledge makes a warranty claim. Also, what if the cause of the bearing failure isn't the bearing, itself, but a design flaw of say, the wheel or drive system? Unless the dealer has the owner sign some sort of release on the service order, the owner always has the option of producing a copy that shows an authorized Buell dealer was the one who installed the non-OEM part and arguing that it must be just as good or better than stock so the warranty is still valid. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Maybe best to keep things like non-OEM bearings close to the vest and not advertise it on this forum. | ||
| Jlnance |
I guess if a dealer knew you personally or sold you the bike and really wanted to keep you happy, and didn't mind going out on a limb with Buell, it may be more common than imagined. My dealer didn't batt an eye. They have always been ok with me supplying my own parts, OEM or not. | ||
| Dio |
Here's a new twist for ya! Just picked up a set of OEM wheel bearings from my Buell dealer for both the front and rear wheel. Package date on the package label is 2/28/08 for rear, and 2/19/08 for front. Both say Made in USA on the same. When I opened them, I found NTN bearings, with the front being TAIWAN, and the rear CANADA! So would you suspect that the rear wheel bearings are now non-Taiwanese manufacture, or were these just from another NTN plant? I still haven't been able to ascertain which states in the good old USA have the Taiwan and Canada NTN bearing production facilities! | ||
| Xbimmer |
... When I opened them, I found NTN bearings, with the front being TAIWAN, and the rear CANADA! That is a twist! Where on the bearing is the "Canada" marked? Seal or race? | ||
| Bluethunder |
My 08 uly that has 3200 miles on it has felt at times like the bearings were bad.. I may have to have this checked out. I’ve also had a weird vibe in the trans. I hope this thing blows up before the warranty expires! | ||
| Hughlysses |
Interesting about the different sourcing on the bearings. Maybe Buell is quietly doing something about this? | ||
| Jwnsc |
If so, that would seem to imply that they think the problem was with the bearing, not the wheel or drive belt. And why keep it quiet? Wouldn't they issue a recall to have all rear NTN Taiwan bearings replaced with Canadian? I bet it's probably just a different source. Maybe it's cheaper now since the rise transport costs to get the bearings in Canada as opposed to across the Pacific. | ||
| Dio |
Canada is etched in the outer race on the edge where the seal rides against it. All that is on the seal is NTN and the 6006LLU. Orange seal. | ||
| Dio |
Canada is etched in the outer race on the edge where the seal rides. The seal is orange with NTN and the 6006LLU printed on it. | ||
| Jlnance |
Doctor: I've got good news and bad news Patient: Tell me the good new Doctor: They are going to name a disease after you. I believe I have the honor(?) of being the first person to have a Koyo wheel bearing fail. Replaced the original wheel bearings at 27k miles (still good) as preventative maintenance. I used the Koyo bearings that are referenced numerous times in this thread. They failed tonight with 43k miles on the bike. Unfortunately this means that the Koyo's are not a fix for the bearing problem.  | ||
| Froggy |
Well you can't strike out a whole brand by 1 failure, but it does help shed light on the issue. | ||
| Jlnance |
yea, but when you've only got a couple dozen people with the Koyo's, it's a pretty strong indicator. | ||
| Jlnance |
To answer a question from Hugh in another thread, there was no sign of rust or water. There was no obvious sign of lubrication failure, though I haven't checked in depth. The seal an the balls were gone. The remaining parts of the bearing appeared to be in decent shape. I'll inspect them in more detail tonight. It was midnight when I got it dissembled, and didn't feel like thinking any longer. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Dang- sorry to read this. It's especially worrisome that they failed with even less mileage than the OEM units. One other possible data point that occurred to me: new belts are extremely tight. Jim, have you replaced your original belt yet? I replaced bearings and belt at the same time, but I'm wondering if a preventative measure might be to always replace the wheel bearings ~1000 miles after installing a new belt after it's had a chance to stretch. Perhaps the initial tight fit of a new belt is what overloads the bearings and new bearings with an old belt might run without a problem (?). | ||
| Jlnance |
Hugh - Yes, I replaced the belt at 22k miles (July) in preparation to go to Homecoming. I replaced the OEM bearings at 27k (October) in preparation to go to Seattle. I'm going with the SKF bearings this time. I hate to pay the price, but they have higher load ratings than the Koyos. They also have a different lubricant, and from what I can gather on the web, it may be more water resistant. This set of bearings (the dead set) did see a large number of miles in extremely heavy rain, including a couple hundred miles very recently. I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not. I'm grasping at straws. | ||
| Spike |
As long as you're doing so, could it be the extra time spent on one wheel due to the XB9 primary gearing?  I'm really quite discouraged by the failure of an aftermarket bearing. Other XBs use the same OEM bearing and seem to never fail. I was keen on the theory that something specific to the Ulysses wheel/bearing assembly was going wrong and shortening the bearing life. Replacing the OEM bearings should have ruled out a failure if that was the case. Now I'm back to thinking that this is a design/engineering issue, but somehow specific to the Ulysses. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Jim- that seems to rule out the "new belt" factor as a problem. Your belt should have been thoroughly stretched out in 5k miles at the time you installed the new bearings. We have at least one other Uly rider out there with SKFs; I wonder if his bearings are holding up? | ||
| Jlnance |
I wonder if his bearings are holding up? I just paid $65 for a pair of SKFs. Hopefully they really are as good as they say.  My tire is at the dealer. The spacer should be here tomorrow. | ||
| Hughlysses |
2X the price of the Koyo's is well worth it if they hold up. | ||
| Maximum |
Jlnance said: "I just paid $65 for a pair of SKFs." What is the model number and where did you get them? | ||
| Webethumpin |
You can order the bearings fro MSC,or McMaster-Carr.They are big in industrial and maintenance needs.They are on the web too. 6005 NTN is the stock front 6006 NTN is the stock rear *Micrometer or caliper measurements* Sometimes if you have the inside diameter and outside diameter and the width of the bearing,most big named auto parts stores will have them or at least get them. Once you have the bearing number they can be cross referenced. later,Webe |
