| Author | Message | ||
     Nobuell |
I was riding my 08XT home from a sport bike meeting at a local restaurant last night. Cruising down the interstate at about 80 MPH when all of a sudden the rear end of the bike started crabbing sideways like I had a flat tire (felt like my old flat track racing days). Slow the bike down and pull to the side. No flat. Pull on the wheel and find that it has about 2" of side motion. The rear bearings are gone. The bearings are original orange seal type and I have approximately 17,500 miles on them. I had the wheels off around 2K miles ago and the bearings were smooth as glass with no apparent seal damage or exposed grease. I had my wife pick me up with a trailer since it was 10:00 pm and no shops would have been open. The bike is at my garage but I have not had the time to closely review the damage. There does not appear to be any damage to the swing arm or other components. As loose as the wheel is, I bet the wheel is toast. I assume this will be covered under warranty but I want to install a 2010 wheel. I do not want to have to worry about bearing failures. Hopefully I can get the new wheel under warranty even if I have to pay extra. The wheels on my bike are black and I believe the new 2010 Uly wheels are a champaign color. Are the three bearing wheels available in black or were they only made for the 2010 uly with the light color wheels. Can I have the wheel powder coated black over the existing paint? Thanks for your help. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Black wheels are on all XTs. Magnesium-tone (the champagne color) wheels are on all UlyX bikes. You should be able to get a '10 wheel in black. | ||
| Paralegalpete |
I got my 2010 wheel as part of the bearing fix. As long as your wheel is damaged then they should replace it as the proper fix, don't take no for an answer. There is a 3 bearing set up for the T | ||
| Nobuell |
Ratbuell To make sure that I am clear on this, the 2010 XT black wheels have the three bearing improved design? What is the wheel kit part number for the 2010 XT? Thanks for your help. Tim | ||
| Buellerxt |
Anything in the 17,500 mile life of those bearings that you suspect as a possible contributor to the failure or just bad luck and bad bearings? Wheelies, power washes, hose washings, water crossings, a lot of riding in the rain, etc? I know rain and hose washings don't hurt sealed bearings on properly designed wheels having put 100,000 miles on another bike but the Uly definitely has a weak set-up. Any input or thoughts would be appreciated. | ||
| Nobuell |
Ratbuell, Please disregard my last post. I found the listing for all of the wheel part numbers for the 2010 models. Thank you anyway for the help. Tim | ||
| Froggy |
The 2010 wheel is available in any color that came stock on a 2010 Buell. You got Hero Blue, several different blacks, magnesium tone, cherry bomb and probably some other colors. Your dealer will have to figure out the part number, some of the wheel colors went obsolete so I honestly don't know what is still good. | ||
| Rwven |
My XT lost the rears at 11K and one of the fronts at 15K. I replaced them on my own dime with SKF's. I don't know yet if that's solved anything. | ||
| Froggy |
Let us know if they still work, and if it worked what PN they used. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
NoBuell, You should have added grease to your bearings when the wheel was off especially given that you had 17500 miles on them. I'm waiting to read about a 2010 rear wheel with a bearing failure. Eventually it will most likely happen. | ||
| Towpro |
"I had my wife pick me up with a trailer since it was 10:00 pm." I used that thought when I decided to purchase my 2010 rim. I figure the new rim was "priceless" compared to calling the wife to come pick me up.  | ||
| Buellerxt |
Whoa! You've got me to thinking, Towpro! LOL  | ||
| Froggy |
AMA came and rescued my Blast with shot bearings a few weeks ago. Get up to 3 tows a year for $50, can't beat that, especially if you own multiple air cooled Buells. | ||
| Towpro |
Plus I needed a rim for my gun trailer, why not have a matching rim | ||
| Buellerxt |
I forwarded your post to my wife, Towpro, and got the following reply! "hahahaha...........although I doubt his wife was bugged to have to pick him up. We wives are used to saving our biker's butts!! LOL" Um, no comment! lol  | ||
| 70_west |
"Plus I needed a rim for my gun trailer, why not have a matching rim" You got 'em gun trailer? That's just cool as hell! | ||
| Nobuell |
Froggy, I found your post with the 2010 wheel part numbers. The Piranha Black, G1309.02A8YCX shows as obsolete. The dealer did not know what the part number would since they have no 2010 part manuals. Does anybody know what the black wheel part number would be? I planed on riding the Slimy Crud Run May 2nd, so I would be willing to just buy the 2010 wheel as an upgrade. | ||
| Froggy |
What about G0309.7AAYCX? It isn't a kit but an individual wheel so you would need the bearing/axle kit. | ||
| Nobuell |
Thanks Froggy, I will check on it. Maybe I just need to buy all the components individually. | ||
| Ironhead1977 |
Here is a link. This is not the black one. I would call these folks as I am sure they will be able to hook you up. I have ordered from them and they are great to deal with. http://www.americansportbike.com/shoponline/ccp0-p rodshow/17330.html | ||
| Invisible_monster |
Here's a pic of the box tag for my 2010 style Uly XT wheel. Apologies for the crappy cel pic. I purchased this from my local Buell dealer a few months ago but have not installed it yet.  The part # on the box is is G0309.7AAYT this is Villain Black for my 2008 Uly XT and was wheel only. | ||
| Rwcfrank |
Not saying it was the cause but there seems to be a direct correlation between wheel removal / re-install and bearing failures. I can't help but wonder if the retorque is distorting the crush sleeve? Hmmm how do I mount a new tire without removing the rim???  | ||
| Nobuell |
Rwcfrank, I have had the wheel off twice before to install new tires. I use less torque than called for in the manual because I believe the specified torque is to high for this type of application. I believe that the bearings are near under size for the load and have a poor seal design that ultimately allows dirt or moisture to enter. The machines my company designs for harsh environment applications always utilize a primary seal to protect the bearing and we always try to select a bearing with at least a 3X safety factor for the calculated load and speed. Monster, Thank you for taking the pictures and finding the part# for me. I now have a new wheel and all of the components ordered from my local dealer. The nice thing is they are in stock at HD and will be at my dealer on Wednesday. The prices have gone up but I cannot complain if they arrive as promised. I will feel much more comfortable with the new wheel design. Had the bearings failed while in a high speed corner or with my wife on board could have been catastrophic. Spending the money to upgrade the wheel and avoid a repeat is well worth it. Once again, thanks for the quick responses and help. | ||
| Ronmold |
How much is the new setup costing these days? | ||
| Froggy |
$336 for all the parts, plus some more for assembly and installation costs. | ||
| Wildmonkey |
Hi All ! Having recently purchased an '09 XT, and it is sitting at my hometown HD dealer waiting for me to come home on mid-tour leave & pick it up, I am wondering, should I push the dealer for the 2010 bearing upgrade ? Would this be covered by the warranty/dealer, or am I going to have to take a "Wait and See" approach as to the performance/life of the rear bearings ? The bike is brand new, purchased thru the AAFES system... Thank's in advance for all input ! Steve. | ||
| Paralegalpete |
Anythings worth a try, but I doubt you will get HD to cough up a 2010 wheel on a brand new bike, unless you made that part of the original sales agreement. Without damage to the existing wheel, its unlikely to be replaced under warranty | ||
| Rwven |
$268.80 (Retail Price:$336.00) from that Northeast Illinois dealer that shall not be mentioned.... Kit # G1309.02A8YT Designer/Villian Black. I just pulled my wheel for a new tire. I had new bearings (SKF) installed when I put this tire on about 8500 miles ago. When I spin the wheel with my fingers stuffed in acting like the axle I can feel intermittent drag on the bearings. As the wheel comes to a stop you get a pull/release/pull/release sensation. Not quite at the point of notchy, but close. I think it's time to bite the bullet and get the new wheel. | ||
| Xbimmer |
2006 Uly, 65K, coming up on 4 years' ownership since new. Original orange NTN's went 50K+, regreased at wheel removals since 20K, replaced due to hard seals. Still rolled fine. Replaced with black KBC's, no problems so far (knock wood), will regrease soon. I've always torqued the axles by the book and a tad light, and of the half dozen or so power washes I've never focused the blast toward any brakes or bearings. Plenty of rain riding, two up riding, high speed riding, freezing cold and scorching hot weather riding. I've always felt it was a bunch of potential causes for the failures, including poor wheel machining QC, one BadWebber found machining shards in his hub... If I were to go the 2010 wheel I'd also go with American Sport Bike and pay Al the pittance to install the bearings, I'd have complete confidence that he'd do the job right. Then at wheel removals I'd still pull the accessible seals and regrease. JMHO. | ||
| Motorbike |
Does anyone know the factory spec. length measurement of the front and rear bearing spacers? I am thinking it would be a good idea to measure the spacer length during bearing replacements to make sure it is not crushed at all. If it deviates at all from the factory spec, it should be replaced to prevent placing to much preload on the new bearings. In fact, now that I think about it, I will probably just buy new spacers when I replace my stock bearings with SKF's. They can't be that expensive, right? Any thoughts on this? |
