| Author | Message | ||
     Turf_moor |
I am about to put my 2006 Ulysses back on the road after a long layoff while I have been riding inferior bikes. It has only done 20,000 miles. Is the oil pump drive gear update recommended on here? | ||
| Tootal |
I bought the 2007 oil pump but I've never installed it. The stock one has been fine for 50,000 miles. I don't recall anybody replacing one. | ||
| Turf_moor |
The problem with the original drive gear [I'm not referring to the whole pump] is that small particles of the metal can break off and get into the oil. The replacement is bronze and is tougher. | ||
| Screamer |
If I remember correctly - 2006 was the first year the bronze oil pump drive gear was used in production. Your Uly should already have it. | ||
| Motorfish |
At 17k, on my ‘06, my drive gear got eaten up. The engine was taken apart, and the the crankshaft was found to be out. Bronze splinters throughout the engine. Had a ‘08 Dark Horse crank installed. Been running great ever since, at around 28k now. Really disappointed with the whole ordeal, such a money pit. I do love the bike and have fixed mostly all of the “quirks”. I would guess the only way to foresee this is to pull the oil pump to look at the gear, if that’s possible, or cut up a used oil filter, and look for shredded bits. | ||
| Turf_moor |
Screamer, the 2006 does not have the bronze drive gear. Motorfish: Bronze splinters? Are you sure? | ||
| Screamer |
Turf Motor, the part number for the steel oil pump drive is 26318-88A, which is a legacy Sportster part number and part. I couldn’t locate a 2005 parts catalog, but the -88A was still being used per the 2004 Firebolt Manual (and was used in Blast engines through 2010). The production part number for the bronze gear is 26391-06, and is listed in the 2006 Ulysses, Firebolt, and Lightning Buell parts catalogs. That information aligns with what I remember- that the bronze oil gear was used in production for the 2006 model year. (Message edited by screamer on November 20, 2019) | ||
| Turf_moor |
Thanks a lot, Screamer. Very helpful. | ||
| Steveford |
My 06 Useless has 127,000 miles on the stock oil pump gear and it's bronze. I wouldn't worry too much. | ||
| Turf_moor |
Encouraging news, Steveford. Screamer, you are correct regarding 2006 being the first year the bronze oil pump drive gear was used. Motorfish, you were right about the colour of the splinters. Sorry for doubting you. But I'm surprised you had a problem with the drive gear. Now to get the Uly on the road. It'll be a long time before I get it to Steveford's miles. 127,000 is ery impressive. | ||
| Turf_moor |
Encouraging news, Steveford. Screamer, you are correct regarding 2006 being the first year the bronze oil pump drive gear was used. Motorfish, you were right about the colour of the splinters. Sorry for doubting you. But I'm surprised you had a problem with the drive gear. Now to get the Uly on the road. It'll be a long time before I get it to Steveford's miles. 127,000 is very impressive. | ||
| Motorfish |
No worries, Turf. Like Steveford said,”Don’t worry about it.” As with anything with wheels, some run forever, some not. Just disappointing when it’s the first ever bike or vehicle I bought new. Blows up at 17k and the company goes out of business! Ugh! I’m still a full blown addict, though. Enjoy yours, and ride well!  | ||
| Screamer |
If the ”crankshaft was out” meaning either the sprocket bearing or the pinion shaft bearing had failed, the oil pump drive gear would suffer collateral damage. It’s not too likely that the drive gear failed first. | ||
| Turf_moor |
A couple of interesting posts. | ||
| Tpehak |
So how do you prevent it? | ||
| Turf_moor |
Prevent what? | ||
| Tpehak |
Sprocket bearing or the pinion shaft bearing fail. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
"crankshaft being out" means one of the half shafts isn't running true. Leading theory of why those gears fail early sometimes is stacking tolerances. Another observation someone made was that the gears mesh at the same point over and over. I first heard of this issue back in 2003 or so with my X1. Most failures of this type manifest themselves in the first 20K miles. My bike was in the 40,000 mile range by then so I just left it alone. Never fussed with it. Bike has 92,000 miles on it. TL;DR Just put gas in it and ride it. | ||
| Screamer |
If the flywheel assembly is not true, it can also cause oil pump drive gear failures or even cam bushing seizures. Flywheel “shift” (to knock it out of true) usually takes a hard shock to the drivetrain system to occur - not real common with XL/Buell engines. Most of the research on oil pump drive gear failures pointed towards extended high rpm as being the main contributor. Drive gear failure was less common on XL and Blast, compared to Buell twins - believed to be due to the difference in rpm limits. There was some tolerance variability which sometimes permitted shallow engagement of the drive gear teeth to the oil pump (driven) gear teeth. Under harsh conditions, this could also contribute to drive gear failure. I believe one of the early oil pump revisions reduced that variability. I agree with Nate, that whether it’s excessive high rpm or a rare tolerance stack-up issue, the failures usually occur at lower mileages. Overall, oil pump drive gear failure is fairly uncommon in normal street use. | ||
| Turf_moor |
Thanks for the informative posts. As far as my Buell is concerned, I am treating it as one less job to do. I'll just gas-up and ride the best adventure bike ever built. | ||
| Falloutnl |
I am also operating under the impression that ALL Ulysses-es already have the updated drive gear. | ||
| Motorfish |
Mine is an ‘06, pretty sure the build date is December’05, so that sounds correct to say that all Uly’s have the updated gear. I do remember seeing it in the accessary catalog. I guess for earlier XB’s. |
