| Author | Message | ||
     Naustin |
Sphere - Good riding! You saved you own life by being on top of the bike. I wonder if the little dear was maybe hit by another vehicle either before of after you hit her. Seems to me too that she should have been alright, or else you would have been hurt too. | ||
| Swampy |
Welcome Sphere79! Where are you from? | ||
| Sphere79 |
I'm in CT, I've posted a few times but mostly just lurk. Thanks to everyone for the concern. I think I figured out what happened with the deer - its head must have caught the lower part of the headlight (but left no hair) and it probably died pretty quick. I noticed tonight the light beam is pretty off (facing down and to the right), and the right-side bracket that mounts the windshield is actually very, very slightly bent. You wouldn't even see it unless someone pointed it out to you. Also the hair caught in the right signal backs up that path of travel. It was 4:45 a.m. and very dark, and it happened fast. My father left for work around 5:30 a.m. (I go by my parents house when taking back roads to work) and he noticed the deer and actually turned around to check it out. It was on the small side (a "yearling" ), he thought maybe it was a coyote or other animal until he got close. After coasting down my parents road (I wobbled when it hit but didn't lose it) I determined the bike rode OK and still had brakes (I was worried about the front line) and decided to just head for work. I was watching the front rim while riding today and everything looks and feels smooth, there is no major damage - I guess I got lucky. I really thought that the deer was probably just dazed (or maybe had minor injuries) but she wasn't so lucky. It is possible as Naustin said that it was stumbling around a bit and someone in a car got her too, but I think I might have hit her just right to snap her neck. If she hadn't slowed her movement and turned slightly and/or I hadn't slowed and swerved I would have definitely gone down. | ||
| Tnthumper |
sphere, Good job not panicking! I drive an 18-wheeler and even truck drivers will panic and crash when about to hit a deer. Glad your OK and keep up the good riding. John | ||
| Swampy |
Does anyone know what this means when the oil light comes on? How bout all the little teeth jamming the oil pump? I get to try out the new and improved oil pump drive gear!  | ||
| Reepicheep |
Yow! Another gear bites the dust. And on a blast, don't like that, I was hoping it was just a tuber thing. How many miles on the bike? The cam's and oil pump OK? Hard to believe that many sheared teeth did not do any damage... | ||
| Swampy |
The cams look OK, the oil pump is tight from shavings they were packed into the slot opening next to the the shaft housing. The bike had around 12,000 miles. To top things off I found the GE dishwasher puking water down the left side of the machine, which ruined the wood laminate floor that was put in with all the new appliances 5 years ago. I have no bath towels left in the house(I don't know where they go) and I leave for Mackinaw City tomorrow to go inspect tour buses up for the fall color tours(I have to catch up on 32 Level 1 inspections that the FEDs decided to change the rules at the last minute) OH well I did get my hair cut today! | ||
| Reepicheep |
I guess it is a crap shoot if the teeth that jammed the oil pump created a hole that took the stress of said pump before it tried to pump a tooth out a hole. Oh well, if you had that failure and all you need is a new gear and a new oil pump, you got off cheap (relatively). 12000 miles is the earliest I have heard of. Any other issues with the bike? Do you run near redline a lot? What kind of oil, and what kind of change intervals? | ||
| Swampy |
I run Castrol full synthetic 20W50, it is changed out at 2500 miles. Red line? Its the Big Kids bike, who knows what he does with it, he's death to things mechanical. I have been looking in the manual and I am having difficulties determining cam timing marks. The intake cam has a multitude of marks and the manual doesn't show any locations for the marks. Can anyone tell me how the cam timing is set? And EZ....I finally read your instructions and saved the files to a folder. It just takes a horribly long time with dialup! | ||
| Burnmyheartdown |
that wouldn't happen to be a 2001 would it? heh, looks like I'm updating my oil pump drive gear when i get new cams too. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Some bikes chew that gear, some don't. It's easy to inspect by dropping the oil pump and peaking up in there next time you do an oil change (you will need an oil pump gasket and teflon tape as well). Make sure you blip the starter a few times and recheck, the wear on the gear is typically highly assymetrical. For the cam timing, as I recall you just line up the dots with each other (starting with the gear that is keyed onto the crank). Just make sure the correct cams are in the correct holes. | ||
| Naustin |
That sucks! Buell should do a fricken recall on that thing, rather than just come out with a "pro-series" gear and expect people to up grade only if theirs happens to crap out. :Pissed: Every bike should get the new gear - free. That's what you do where there is a design flaw that can potentially take out the entire engine. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
If the engine still turns, line up the cam marks and take a good picture. It'll help later because the marks are slightly off and you may not remember exactly which way. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Speaking as someone who had a bad gear, and went to the trouble to replace it with the only replacement available, which was another gear that will wear, I am very appreciative that Buell has gone to the time an trouble to release a substantially upgraded part that retrofits older models. I am happy to pay the $50, and encouraged to see it fitted stock to the newer bikes. I am glad to see them continuing to improve the product, and making the parts to retrofit my own improvements. | ||
| Ezblast |
Concur! | ||
| Naustin |
Reep - you're generous. I see it as their responsibility to recall parts that fail under normal conditions at unreasonably low hours. This is a design/quality issue just like the rear pulley was. I'd be happy to pay the $50 too, if they picked up the labor to have it installed. Call it a co-pay. And in my opinion, even that is generous. But maybe I expect too much. I recently got a recall on my 1996 Ford Pickup. Not only did I not buy it new, it is almost 10 years old, and Ford is going to replace, for free, a electrical harness that could, possibly, someday, if conditions are just right, maybe short and if it shorts, it might, potentially, if conditions are just right, maybe start a fire. The truck is 10 years old and The wiring harness is fine, but they want to play it safe. If Ford can recall a 10 year old vehicle 3 or 4 owners later, I don't think it would be too much for Buell to take care of someone who bought a brand new bike, 2 years ago, on a problem that could cause catastrophic engine failure. This isn't a maybe type of problem like the one on my truck. That's a metal to metal part the wears every time you ride. That it is wearing is a fact. Whether yours wears bad or shears the teeth is the unknown. But I think the potential for damage is enough for a recall. Buell even went to the trouble of building a stronger part! They know it needs a recall. By building the part at all, they are admitting it. They just disguised it by calling it a "pro-series" part hoping to avoid the cost of a recall by getting us to upgrade out of pocket. A "pro-series" oil pump drive gear? How is that a high performance part? Unless "high performance" means not breaking on your way to the grocery store. And did you say that the NEW bikes get the part from the factory?? There's an admission of guilt. What, so screw everybody who bought one last year? Thanks a lot. Boy do I feel special. | ||
| Jprovo |
Swampy, Bummer on the oil pump gear! I that the bike with the welded crank too?? I guess at 36,000 miles that's something that I should inspect on my bike. On the cams, with the slot in the intake cam pointing up, there should be three arrorws, pointing to the exhaust cam, pinion gear and one pointing rearward. The line markings on the exhaust cam and the pinion gear should line up with the arrows. James | ||
| Sphere79 |
I think the difference is Ford and other auto makers are compelled by Federal laws/agencies to do recalls, especially when they are safety related. The last two big Ford and Toyota recalls (which goes back to 90's vehicles too) were direct results of NHTSA investigations. I don't know if the bike industry has similar requirements, or if the concern is even there due to lower overall sales numbers? You can be sure that most automakers don't recall out of actual concern, it took Ford many years and many crispy cars before finally acknowledging ignition problems in some of their vehicles. They would just start turning themselves over (but not start) and sometimes catch fire - I actually witnessed it on a Mercury wagon first hand. If anything recalls only happen after many problems and/or done out of possible legal threats. And then of course there's the "silent recalls" which are a whole other mess........ I know about the speedometer sensor failing and the starter going on the Blast, but I haven't heard much about that gear failing. I was actually thinking about upgrading it and the cams if it isn't too big of a project, which it doesn't look to be. | ||
| Ezblast |
Naustin - Most oil gears will last for the life of the motor - if you ride your bike extremely hard as I do, then chances are lessened for the gears' life span though it may still last as long as the motor - this has never been an issue on a Blast so far and one failure does not make an epidemic - relax, stop stressing, and go ride that puppy of yours! Worrying about stuff like this will only drive ya nuts! Got Thump?! Just Blasting on the Dark side! EZ  | ||
| Naustin |
In my job, I'm paid to make decisions based on worse case scenarios and risk probabilities. Sometimes I can't shut it off... Sorry for being a cynical paranoid neurotic conspiracy theorist at times....  | ||
| Sarodude |
So, is it CONFIRMED that the inferior parts are no longer showing up in production bikes - including the oft maligned Blast? In the case of the XL motor's primary tensioner, they simply issued an UPDATED part. The failure of the tensioner had cause massive grief for some - and just some lightly soiled underwear for others cracking open their primary. I wonder why this is being treated differently... And I ask that NOT rhetorically but out of true curiosity. I'll tell ya what - I'm buying one of those updated gears for each of our Blasts and throwing it in there during the next round of oil changes - and hoping my inspection doesn't find chewed teeth. -Saro | ||
| Reepicheep |
My anectdotal eveidence gathered here over maybe 3 years is that it is a very rare problem on a tuber (maybe 10-20 of us), even rarer on the blast (one of us), and unknown on the XB (probably none of us). I don't think it is frequent enough for a recall, I do think it is frequent enough to drop your oil pump once after 10-18k miles and peek at the thing while you are doing an oil change anyway. It will add maybe 20 minutes to the job if you go slow. Saro, I would inspect first. If there is no sign of serious wear, all you need is a new gasket and slap the oil pump back up. Tow bolts, a gasket, and an inch of teflon tape for the oil line fittings. Nothing to it. Unless you are racing, I don't think there is any reason to upgrade a gear that otherwise looks good. | ||
| Swampy |
Yes it's the bike with the welded crank. If the motor is toast then the Big Kid starts looking for another one. Jprovo, Now the timing marks make perfectly good sense, thanks. What are the little circles that are next to the arrows on the cam gear perimiter for? (Message edited by swampy on October 06, 2005) | ||
| Jprovo |
Swampy, If memory serves me correctly, the circles are for timing on a Sportster with the gear driving the rear intake cam and the slot pointing down. James | ||
| Swampy |
EZ, I just downloaded the Blast manual at work! It took me all of 10 minutes, compared to 20 minutes just to load one of the larger sections with my dialup at home. Thanks! I now have plenty of time to go through it as I am now relegated to sleeping under my desk or driving around aimlessly, due to a Queen Bee administrator that is wringing her hands over some budget cuts and wants to micro manage every process and make everybody feel the pain. I look at it this way: After 20 years, I've seen'em come and I've seen'em go, and I have learned over the years how to hop on either foot! | ||
| Ezblast |
LOL - know the feeling! - any helpfull hints for replacing the rubber Isolator? GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Swampy |
The front engine isolator? Be very carful when you tighten the nut that you don't twist the metal collar inside the isolator, don't get tempted to turn the allen bolt at the bottom. I think that when you do that the collar twists free from the rubber and you will have another broken isolator on your hands. Remove the horn, and when you remove the ground strap you can reroute to the inside of the frame so it looks cleaner. (Message edited by swampy on October 07, 2005) | ||
| Ezblast |
Thanks Rob - tips like that are invaluable for not having to do the thing over again. GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Jprovo |
Swampy, I do it the exact opposite: I hold the nut in place and tighten the allen bolt with a long expension and swivel from the bottom. I couldn't figure out how to get a torque wrench on it from above. Either which way it's a PITA. James | ||
| Jprovo |
Damn I'm excited about this weekend... The big race at Willow Springs Raceway, Buell Demo Rides... I'll finally get to ride a Uly! There will be at least two Blast Racers, but possibly Three out there this weekend.... I'll be going for my novice license next month, but there are rumors that there will be two more racers on Blasts or Blast-powered machines by the beginning of next year. James |
