| Author | Message | ||
     Al3x |
Hey guys. I had a shop put in all balls rear wheel bearings when I swapped my motor. After roughly 300 miles the bearing just started popping on me. Other than the shop installed the bearings wrong, I did not torque the rear wheel properly or bad bearings are there any other issues that could blow wheel bearings so fast on the xb12. Also with no abuse, no wheelies, endos or stunts. | ||
| Phelan |
A lot of shops torque the $%&@ out of them because they are used to adjustable axles. The torque spec is less than half that of a Harley, EBR, or even Tuber. | ||
| Tpehak |
That's why I do not trust to wrench my motorcycle to anyone. They might not align the bearing spacer properly or even did not install it at all so the bearing outer race was sitting on the bearing pocket flange and inner race of the bearing was just simply loaded under axle pressure in such condition when you torqued it. You might overtorque the rear axle and collapsed the aluminum spacer and as result pressed the inner race of the bearing. But if you followed the service manual and used torque wrench it should not be the case. Or they might overpressed the outer race of the bearing during installation when the inner race touched the spacer causing excessive lateral load on the bearing inner race and damaged it. Or they might forgot to install bearings spacer, then figured that there should be spacer between the bearings, then pulled the new bearing out to install the spacer (which means they applied lateral pressure on the inner race of the new bearing to pull it out and damaged it) and installed the bearing back instead of rejecting it after pulling and installing new bearing. There are many scenarios of inappropriate installation of the bearing can damage it or can cause excessive wear during motorcycle normal use, especially if they do not have Buell service manual and think they can wrench motorcycles with no instructions. There is very particular process of the bearings installation in Buell wheels and any deviation from that process can damage the bearing, the spacer or cause bearing excessive wear. If I would not have bearing puller I would ask the shop to pull the bearings out and then I would install the bearings by myself using old school method with wrench socket, hammer, freezer and some lube following service manual. (Message edited by TPEHAK on July 02, 2019) | ||
| Al3x |
So it all points to the shop bearing install. I've only had the bike 2 years and I am to the point where no one will work it but myself as well. Thanks for the info guys, I will back when I start my full engine rebuild. | ||
| Al3x |
Tephak you got it. They forgot to install the spacers. I'm buying a puller tonight. | ||
| Tpehak |
I'm glad you found the issue. I use slide hammer and 30 mm bearing puller collet to remove the rear wheel bearings. (For front wheel bearings I use 25 mm collet) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004FGWHZQ/ref=p px_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/Tusk-Bearing-Remover-Collet -30mm/dp/B01N4P9KL4/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Tusk+Beari ng+Remover+30mm&qid=1562438152&s=automotive&sr=1-2 To press new rear wheel bearings into the wheel I use 1-5/8 Duralast socket and regular hammer (for the front wheel bearings I use 1-3/8 Duralast socket). I bought the sockets in a local AutoZone store. Follow the installation sequence from service manual. If I remember correct you have so install brake side bearing first. Put the bearings in the freezer for an hour. Lightly lube the brake side bearing pocket with anti seize lubricant. ( I use Bel-Ray Assembly Lube 94980 https://www.amazon.com/Bel-Ray-Assembly-Lube-10oz- 94980-CAB10/dp/B0022ZFUVK/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Bel- Ray+99030-CAB10+10+oz&qid=1562439309&s=automotive& sr=1-1 ). Then put the wheel on wood blocks nice and flat, take one bearing out of freezer, put the bearing flat on the brake side pocket edge and start pressing it in the pocket with socket and hammer. Socket should touch the outer race of the bearing, you have to lightly tap the socket with hammer working around the perimeter to push the bearing flat to the pocket. You have to keep the bearing flat during installation tapping the highest point and working with hammer around. You have to press the fist bearing all way down to the pocket bottom. You will hear that tapping sound changed when the bearing touched the bottom. Do not apply any force on the inner race of the bearings during installation, work only tapping them on the outer race through the socket. Then flip the wheel, put the aluminum spacer in, make sure the spacer sits on the inner race of the brake side bearing and nicely centered. Lube the belt side bearing pocket with with anti seize lubricant. Take the second bearing out of freezer and press it in the pocket same way until the inner race touches the spacer. Keep the spacer centered so when bearing will touch it the spacer will be pinched between the bearings inner races and will be centered. Do not press the bearing any further once it touched the spacer. Now you can install the wheel back on the motorcycle. It might be difficult to keep the spacer centered during tapping the bearing. I had no issue with it, just check the spacer position frequently during pressing the bearing. You also can roll a tube from piece of paper and stick it in the axle trough the both bearings inner races so it will hold the spacer centered and you can safely tap the bearing down without a risk of shifting the spacer out of center. And I hope you did not damage the wheel torquing the axle without the spacer because of in this case the wheel can be deformed under axle pressure or the wheel bearings pocket flanges can be broken off. (Message edited by TPEHAK on July 06, 2019) |
