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Motorfish
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - 10:33 pm: | 
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`06 X, rear, orange seal bearings left me stranded at 13k miles. Never touched the fronts, no problems, but I will coat them with neverseize, along with the rear ones. No power washing, stream crossings, or off road, but ridden in a fair amount of heavy rain. 99% ridden w/o passenger. |
Jont
| | Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009 - 02:16 am: |
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52,000 on original bearings. Clean and repack anytime the wheel is off the bike. |
Eulysses
| | Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009 - 02:37 am: |
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I noticed a lot of brake disc grit around my left rear one. Anybody ever discuss WHICH bearing dies? Wonder if the grit gets in it? |
Mrsnuggles
| | Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009 - 09:42 am: |
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06 w/ 22k miles, replaced the rear at about 10k miles. Both are still the orange bearings. I haven't ever repacked them, but they seemed to turn smoothly last week when I replaced my tires.
(Message edited by mrsnuggles on November 12, 2009) |
Buelet
| | Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009 - 12:47 pm: |
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I've got 30K on my original '06 orange seal bearings. I just pulled the seals again to double check, since they felt notchy when turning them with my fingers. The re-grease still looks good from my previous service.
They felt rough (notchy) when I pulled the wheel around 24K for a tire change. I decided that it didn't matter then if I made it worse & recalled the threads about re-greasing them yourself, so that's what I did. It was pretty easy: picked the seals out; used carb cleaner & compressed air to break down the old grease which was brown, thick & nasty from rust setting in. I then used a grease gun to pump grease back into the bearing, by just putting a good pump in between each ball. Pressed the seals back in when I was done & called it good.
So at 30K they are still going strong. The grease still looks good. Besides the notchy feeling when the wheel is off - they work fine. I have no doubt that if I'd pulled the seals sooner to make sure the grease was good, that I'd have ZERO issues now. I plan on running these until they can't be serviced anymore or feel loose & I don't think that'll be anytime soon. YMMV. |
Etennuly
| | Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009 - 01:48 pm: |
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Euly, yes there was a lot of checking into which bearing failed more often. As I recall, the ones that failed due to water intrusion was more often the left one. It seems that was due to the bike spending most of its life on the side stand letting the water soak that one. The others I do not know about. |
Eulysses
| | Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 - 12:34 am: |
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Buelet...in 2020 people will be talking about you...and how you milked the miles out of your Uly...and we probably will need to have folk heroes like you to inspire us by then...to carry on! Ragtag rebels with wire-together Buells. Woohoo! Think of all the money we will save 
Etennuly...makes sense...water sitting on bearings that have dried out. |
Snowscum
| | Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 - 08:45 am: |
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06 16k no issues. |
Panhead_dan
| | Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 - 09:58 am: |
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One word;
Boat trailer grease.
Any thoughts?
(besides the fact that it's 3 words) |
Buelet
| | Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 - 10:14 am: |
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Panhead_Dan - I like where you're going with that... I'd do it, but I've also had way more bearing troubles with one particular boat trailer from my past / plus one little fold-up utility trailer that boat trailer grease wouldn't solve.
Let's explore this theme: What I ended up doing on my little fold-up utility trailer to fix it's bearing issues was to install some Tie-Down Engineering Turbo-Lube hubs. They have a clear cover with a fill / drain plug that lets you monitor the liquid lube level & condition. How cool would that be if they could be fitted to our wheels? Yeah, we'd need some sort of slider or cage to protect them, but going with that theme, I think that'd be pretty sweet. I think that with this setup the bearings might last forever!
Ok - Who wants to tackle this? |
Nobuell
| | Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 - 12:31 pm: |
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The Turbo Lube hubs look interesting. They are similar to big Rig wheel bearing systems. If I could get an old spare wheel, I could have our shop work up a design.
I know the bearing issue is related to the X and XT models, do other models have a similar problem?
It could be a very interesting project. |
Cityxslicker
| | Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 - 03:52 pm: |
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Nope. I now change my bearings every 3rd tire change. |
Buelet
| | Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 - 04:09 pm: |
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After studying the rear wheel bearing setup in the garage, I'm going to say that this isn't likely to work. It would be nice, but it'd require some creative sealing to say the least... Maybe NASA has something that would work. 
As far as other bearing failures. I've only had one failure (current Uly nursing excluded) and it was a few years ago on one of our '03 XB9S's. It was before I was paying any attention to the bearings and I didn't notice it until I was around 150 miles from home while working at another office for the day. I was standing back, admiring her - when I noticed dried up rust slurry streaks coming from the rear bearing. The wheel was loose, but I decided to ride it home anyway. We made it home & I took it in for replacement. It was covered under the extended warranty for $50. No other damage done. No problems since. No worries! (But I do check the bearings at every tire change now.) |
Husky
| | Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 - 05:30 pm: |
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I recommend care in repacking the bearings. If you have too much grease in the bearing (maybe more than 50-60% pack of available volume in the bearing)the wimpy seals on the bearing can allow the grease to leak out at speed and contaminate your brakes. It happened to my 08 XT on both wheels while using boat trailer grease.
Normal aluminum based boat trailer wheel bearing grease does not seem to be as viscous, as aluminum based disc brake wheel bearing grease. Maybe the aluminum based disc brake wheel bearing grease would be less likely to leak out and fling onto the brakes but would still provide the bearings corrosion protection.
Just a thought. |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 - 07:25 pm: |
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I pack them full of grease and then have to work the seal back on. Probably pushing grease out the inside seals. But, I've not had a problem. I also seal over the top of the sealed bearing with anti-seize. |
Jphish
| | Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 - 09:47 pm: |
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Electra' - when you started the repack method (with seemingly good results) of 'wheel bearing conservation' did you clean the old stuff out first, or just add to existing goo ? |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 - 09:55 pm: |
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Jphish,
I just add more each time, never clean out the old. Works for me, .... so far. |
Motorfish
| | Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 - 11:24 pm: |
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Just to add, my left side bearing is the one that went bad. Left rusty water splooge all over the brake disc. The hub puked a lot of water when I dumped the bike on it`s left side, wheeling it out of the U-haul by myself. I know, that was real dumb. |
Windrider
| | Posted on Saturday, November 14, 2009 - 12:14 am: |
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27K miles, 06 Uly. Daily rider, many conditions, 2 up, all weather, lots of dirt miles.
Installed the new black bearings on the last tire change and the originals still felt smooth as new. |
Buellerxt
| | Posted on Saturday, November 14, 2009 - 12:40 am: |
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Very cool, Windrider. Good to hear. Any thoughts on why you have been so fortunate? Ths. |
Jlnance
| | Posted on Saturday, November 14, 2009 - 10:06 am: |
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Yes, I changed my bearings at about 25k just to be safe. They, as far as I could tell, were fine.
The replacement set failed at 14k. Go figure. |
Court
| | Posted on Saturday, November 14, 2009 - 10:30 am: |
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Part of the problem with the wheel bearings is that, despite LOTS of research, no one has yet determined exactly why failures occur at such random intervals and under such a broad range of circumstances.
There are, to the best of my knowledge, no known common elements of failure.
I do know . . . that while research continues . . . that one of the ways to address the problem is to WAY WAY over engineer the system as was done with the 2010 wheel.
I simply adopted the attitude that I was willing to pay for the wheel as the price of not having to set out and have to check the bearings at every fuel stop. |
Ratbuell
| | Posted on Saturday, November 14, 2009 - 10:53 am: |
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That's the attitude I took, albeit with my '06 wheel as opposed to buying the '10 wheel (which, if my bike was exhibiting problems, I'd consider in a heartbeat).
Bearings are cheap, and I still have yet to see ANYthing expressed or implied that they are "lifetime" parts.
Preventative maintenance is just what it says it is.
Black bearings went in my 06 at 5k miles. My orange ones were OK, even on disassembly (they're here in my office, actually)...but since I was getting a tire anyway, the wheel was already off...what the hell. Peace of mind. |
Buelet
| | Posted on Saturday, November 14, 2009 - 11:22 am: |
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I'd like to first say, that I wish this wasn't a topic. It would be something else though, if it wasn't.
It makes me more uncomfortable having the bearings replaced more often (like when they don't exhibit any negative signs), because wheels are more expensive than bearings. I'd personally be more worried about the bearings not fitting into the wheels property anymore. My. 02.
A couple of other thoughts come to mind It's interesting... Those who have had failure definitely seem to go the Once Bitten, Twice Shy route. Some have replaced perfectly good bearings due to fear of impending doom. While others opt for the ounce of prevention method (pulling seals / greasing) vs the pound of cure (replacing w/ '10 wheel). These bearings remind me of Chows, ...you can just never completely trust 'em! They'll wait for you to turn your back and then sneak up on you!
It's kind of funny. I think someone could probably develop a fairly accurate psychological profile test based on our posts of what we've done / haven't done / or how we've reacted to various problems or issues. We are definitely made up of all types here! |
Chopped58
| | Posted on Saturday, November 14, 2009 - 11:27 am: |
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'06 with 25k on original orange seals...regrease when wheel is off |
Xbimmer
| | Posted on Saturday, November 14, 2009 - 01:21 pm: |
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My mindset, although I've had zero wheel bearing problems for 61K, is if I had the $$$ I'd spring for the 2010 Wheel Kit. Especially before HD chokes that one off.
Those seals outboard of the bearings are priceless, and I'll bet it's a whole lot cheaper to pop them off occasionally and regrease the outer bearings, than it is to baby or repair the two-bearing wheels. The outer bearings and their seals can't help but last longer with outer seals to buffer the elements.
Condensation within the hub might still occur though IMHO, I wouldn't hesitate to put a couple weep holes in my new 2010 wheel. |
Windrider
| | Posted on Saturday, November 14, 2009 - 08:24 pm: |
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Buellerxt,
Why have I been so fortunate?
Clean living and positive thinking! LOL.
One thing that I have done is always do my own wheel changes and I follow the procedure in the service manual.
Court brings up an interesting point: It seems that Buell was not able to find a common denominator in bearing failures. I had to change that sentence to past tense... sad.
Personally, I don't subscribe to the grease the bearings theory. Sealed bearings should not need greasing, IMHO. Start the flamethrowers.....
I think it is was odd that the assumption is that the bearings will fail... really, what is the failure rate? I would guess it to relatively small, the problem is that anyone experiences a failure will immediately view it as a huge problem and we hear a lot more about failures than non failures.
I decided to solve it long term by purchasing the only 2010 Uly that I could find in the Northwest. Now I have to spend all winter sitting on it in the snow covered garage and dreaming of warmer weather.... |
Buellerxt
| | Posted on Saturday, November 14, 2009 - 10:45 pm: |
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Cool, Windrider.
How did your bearings look at tire changes? I agree with you on greasing sealed bearings. I will DEFINITELY follow the book at tire changes! Ths. |
Xbimmer
| | Posted on Sunday, November 15, 2009 - 10:49 am: |
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Sealed bearings should not need greasing,...
I agree there, however when I first opened up my NTN's I found four different quantities of grease and two different colors in the four bearings... not real good QC IMO. The minute amount of grease in a couple of the bearings was laughable considering the job of protecting the bearings from water damage.
I didn't open my KBC's but in a couple K I will, hope to find a better scenario than with the NTN's.
One thing that I have done is always do my own wheel changes and I follow the procedure in the service manual.
I believe that also helped preserve my originals past 50K, the only person to have touched my wheels after the factory was me. By the Book, no shortcuts, and plenty of anti-seize. |
Snowscum
| | Posted on Sunday, November 15, 2009 - 12:57 pm: |
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I still think its over torquing that wreaks the bearings. |
Court
| | Posted on Sunday, November 15, 2009 - 01:09 pm: |
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>>>>It seems that Buell was not able to find a common denominator in bearing failures. I had to change that sentence to past tense... sad.
Actually . . no you didn't.
Fervent efforts have been underway and must continue. The obligation to respond to and address concerns does not go away . . . . if it did . . .everybody with a problem would simply create "bust outs"
(note: If you are unfamiliar with "bust outs" read Corruption and Racketeering in the New York City Construction Industry - Interim Report by the New York State Organized Crime Task Force . . . . don't ask)
I'm not familiar with what is going on but saw the 2010 wheel as a simple way to remove one variable . . . sometimes when I ride I get carried away and go far from home . . . . I strive to minimize variables and risks.
Id' stick with good bearings, read Al Lighton's writing on the procedure and strictly adhere to prescribed procedures.
I don't know the cause but I do know that combination seems to be helping . . .
Pure speculation (I think that's true of all of us) on my part . .. |
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