| Author |
Message |
    
Stevem2
| | Posted on Monday, December 17, 2012 - 04:30 pm: | 
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My M2 was almost dangerous at low speeds, esp entering corners; it seemed to have a mind of its own darting here and there. I first tried tires, checked wheels and bearings. Talked to a former Buell service guy in Tx who suggested it could be the isolators. After new isolators, no change. Called him back and we talked again about more possibilities and I checked the heim links, the tightness of the rear fork, checked belt alignment, and having read everything on the web, tried all manner of suspension adjustments, mainly preload and both compression and rebound damping with no change. Losing my mind at this point...had had the bike hanging from the lift checking steering and everything from possible frame damage to elves in the wiring who may have been jumping from loom to loom. I finally decided to pull the front end apart, and voila, I found bad steer stem bearings. I am familiar with this type problem, have had it before but not with these results. Also, I could feel nothing whatever with the wheel and front end assembled, including any slack in the bearing preload. But, when the forks came off the triple tree, you could feel the problem immediately. With the bearings out, you could see and feel corrosion on the races and the rollers. Bottom line, replaced the bearings (same as trailer bearings) with high quality Japanese SKF, rebuilt the front forks (since I had them off but were not leaking, sticking, or low on oil). The bike is now as nice as anything I have ridden, including the BMW R that was like it was on rails. The Cyclone is now in full rotation mode again, and I am happy with it! |
Bluzm2
| | Posted on Monday, December 17, 2012 - 04:44 pm: |
|
Steve,
Not an uncommon problem on the tubers. Many have changed out the head bearings with the sealed version with good success. |
Stevem2
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - 08:07 am: |
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Thanks BluzM2. I wonder what style of sealed bearings one would choose. If you tried to use a standard ball type as in the wheels, it may take some pressing in strange ways to assemble. I am not sure I know of sealed tapered bearings that would take the high axial loads, but I am interested. The manual calls for some kind of dust seal that seat in the cups on top and bottom, but none were available from the parts guys, unless the seals were the metal cups that somewhat protect. But if you know of something different, I would like to have them on hand for next time....this was a terrible problem. A sealed bearing would be perfect here. |
Bluzm2
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - 09:28 am: |
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Go to the old school forum, it's in there somewhere, part numbers and all. It's a standard SKF tapered bearing just like the stockers. |
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01 M2 wandering in corners