| Author | Message | ||
     Joypipe |
I'll call them on Tuesday when they open again. It's been a while since I ordered them. Since they can't seem to get the manual in they said they'd give me %10 off but shoot... I could have chizeled it in stone by now... I've put 3400 miles on my bike and flipped it/replaced the scratched/bent parts already. The manuals are these right? 08 buell service manual 08 buell electronic something 08 Uly parts manual I already got the parts manual and that has been helpfull but doesn't help with the blood and guts stuff. What does that PROFICIENT MOTORCYCLING cover? -Joypipe | ||
| Mark_weiss |
When I initially tried to order a 2008 Ulysses Service manual, there was a bit of confusion. I was told that a. We don't know when we will be able to get it. b. There's no such thing. Turns out that all 2008 XB models are now in one service manual. It showed up in about 5 days. Mark in Arizona | ||
| Joypipe |
Right.. the only "Ulysses" manual is the parts manual. All 08 model service is in one manual and all Electronic code stuff is in another manual for all 08 models. -Joypipe | ||
| Xbimmer |
xbimmer, If you're looking for others to throw in to get an order together, count me in for at least one set. Thanks. I suggested to the rep that I'm interested in about 2 doz of each size seal, depending on individual cost. He emailed back that he should have a quote by tomorrow Wednesday. I'll pass the info on as received.  | ||
| Bails |
Well I have just suffered the rear bearing failure. My bike has had no off road use, doesn't get pressure washed, and has low miles. The bike was being ridden to Phillip Island for the WSBK event when the rear bearing failed 5 kilometers from a small town. Good news was common bearing that I was able to get from bearing service and after waiting for delivery I only missed the one night of pre booked accommodation.The ride thus far had been through very heavy rain,and the hub was full of water when removed, quite a lot of rusty stuff came out of the inside when the wheel was laid down. I was not riding the Buell as I recently purchased a BMW RT and had lent the XB to one of my friends, boy did I get knocked, jibes increased when the gear lever stopped working further on down the track. Question, bike is still under warranty, so will I get the damaged parts replaced ? damaged rear brake rotor, rear hub and the spacer.    | ||
| Dfishman |
I had front wheel bearings go out on my X1 on a trip.Replaced & 16000miles they failed again 400 miles from home.I replaced & bought a Uly.Go figure! So Now I carry front & rear bearings with me under the seat everywhere the Uly goes.The way my luck is,now that I am prepared for failure I will probably get more miles on the originals than most. | ||
| Teeps |
Thinking about wheel bearing failure from another angle. Those that have had bearing failures, was it the brake side of the wheel or the drive side? And, do you have the stock muffler? | ||
| Gsron |
Think of the wheel bearing failures as poor or inadequate engineering. There needs to be a secondary (outer) seal to keep the dirt and water away from the bearing seal. The hub also needs to be sealed to prevent water and debris from entering the bearing "cavity". Here at the shop we have (currently).. 1977 BMW R100S 77K 1988 Transalp 29K 2001 R1150GS 36K 2001 XR250R 2002 R1150GS 58K 2003 XR650R 2007 1250 Bandit 5K All of these bikes have secondary seals at the outer wheel spacers and sealed hubs. All these bikes are on their original wheel bearings front and rear. Buell- no secondary seals and open hub = mass bearing failure Every thing else- secondary seals and closed hubs = no bearing failure. At least on the 10+ bikes (most with over 20K on the odo) I have owned and the 7 at the shop. Maybe there will be a wheel "redesign" for the 2009 Buells. Erik has a lot of really good ideas but reinventing the wheel shouldn't have been one of them. | ||
| Dougm |
I have been thinking about this as well. My HD XLH has 35K mi on the current set of bearings. They have a large seal on the outside of the hub and are re-packable. Bearings get serviced at every tire change and still look new. The hub on the Uly could be used as a bolt flange (disc and pulley bolts) to add an external seal to these bearings, if there is enough space between the wheel and swingarm. The next issue would be removing water that got into the inside, or preventing it from getting in there. What about a weep hole drilled in the hub? Or, the bolts for the disc/pulley would need sealed/gasketed. This of course does not deal with the front, but they seem (from reports) to be less susceptible to failure. Any thoughts? DougM | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Besides removing the seal and fingering in grease as maintenance, I do recall coating the outside of the bearing with anti-seize as a good dust and water barrier. I did it myself. I'm surprised that some enterprising ULY rider hasn't had the back wheel modded for different bearings. | ||
| Jlnance |
Think of the wheel bearing failures as poor or inadequate engineering. There needs to be a secondary (outer) seal to keep the dirt and water away from the bearing seal. The hub also needs to be sealed to prevent water and debris from entering the bearing "cavity". I don't think it's that simple. There seem to be a lot of Uly rear bearing failures. These are the same bearings used on the other XB models (I think?) I don't hear about their bearings failing. It would be interesting to know what the difference is. | ||
| Spike |
I've been wondering the same thing. The XBs have been using the same wheel bearing since '03 (after the bearing upgrade) and bearing failures were almost unheard of prior to the Ulysses. Now they're quite common and seem to happen irrespective of mileage or conditions. Ditto for the fan. | ||
| Bails |
Thinking about wheel bearing failure from another angle. Those that have had bearing failures, was it the brake side of the wheel or the drive side? And, do you have the stock muffler? I have the standard exhaust, internally modified, so the outlet is in the same position. This is an interesting suggestion, as the implications are that it is only the XB12X that is having rear failures even though all the other machines have the same bearings ? So could the issue be breakdown of the seal from exhaust emissions, breakdown of the seal from heat this may be worth considering ! | ||
| Bross |
Was just reading about Treadmarks belt tensioner... Does this make sense as to why only Uly's are destroying their rear bearings and not the other XBs. The increased suspension travel combined with the increased belt tension??? So far this seems like the most plausible explanation for the Uly bearing failures. So if Treadmarks can get another 100,000 miles on his belt tensioner without any bearing failures, maybe we'd have our answer? | ||
| Johnboy777 |
Bross: "So if Treadmarks can get another 100,000 miles on his belt tensioner without any bearing failures, maybe we'd have our answer?" The way I figure it, if TM does 10 round trips from Miami to Anchorage and back, that's 100,000 miles right there - then we'll all know for sure.... start riding TM. . | ||
| Krassh |
Same problems the first XB's had. | ||
| Etennuly |
The problem with those theories is that almost all of them that have failed, have had water in them, resulting in rusty bearings and then failure. Remember the bearings are the same to the other XB's, but the Uly rims are specific to the Uly. It seems that those of us repacking with grease and sealing the seal with anti-sieze are not having bearing problems. A lot of the bikes get washed at the dealerships with pressure washing equipment. That can do the deed in one event and not be known by the owner. Every good dealership washes the bike before delivery and when ever it is serviced. | ||
| Alchemy |
Dealer washing..... Now we may have an explanation for the failed bearings where the bikes are never pressure washed. I was curious as to how the dealers wash the bikes so maybe we will now find out. | ||
| Firstbatch |
Any thoughts on why we do not see failures of the front wheel bearing since it is the same design? | ||
| Treadmarks |
 mmmmmmm? WhadImiss?? nevermind...  | ||
| Jlnance |
I've been wondering the same thing. The XBs have been using the same wheel bearing since '03 (after the bearing upgrade) and bearing failures were almost unheard of prior to the Ulysses. Now they're quite common and seem to happen irrespective of mileage or conditions. Here is my theory, based on the little information I can get. The Uly uses a different wheel than the other XBs. It is slightly beefed up to handle rocks and holes that you might find on unpaved roads. I have been told that Buell buys the wheel as an assembled piece, with the bearings already pressed in. Since the wheel is different, it's reasonable to assume it's made on a different manufacturing line than the other wheels. It may even be made in a different factory. I'm inclined to believe that these are manufacturing problems we are seeing, and they only turn up on Ulys because they are running down a different line. Have we seen any 08 bearing failures? I know Buell was investigating the problem. I don't know if they have fixed it. | ||
| Gsron |
My local dealer has an 07 TT, an 07 XB12S and an 08 Ully sitting on the floor, or at least they did last time I was by for a visit. Sat, if I get a chance I'll swing by and compare wheels. I'll report back here Monday AM..... RON | ||
| Skyclad |
Yep, we have an 08 bearing failure as of last evening. My right side bearing failed at 2207 miles. The only washing the bike has had was at the 1000 mile service at the dealer. I am in Pennsylvania, and ride whenever the roads are mostly clear and temps are at least in the high 20's. There has been salt on the road plenty of times. I also have been on a few dirt roads, or mud roads this time of year. Thankfully, I caught the failure very quickly and was able to stop before any damage was incurred on the wheel itself. After reading this forum, and ADVRider, I knew what it was the minute that I heard the noise coming from the rear of the bike. On the plus side, kudos to Lancaster HD/Buell. They sent a truck to pick up my bike (close to 50 miles on way) and I will be riding again tomorrow afternoon. | ||
| Johnboy777 |
The question I would have, is are there bearing failures after replacing stock OEM bearings with Koyo, and other higher quality bearings. . | ||
| Spike |
Ditto. Also, after thinking about Nance's suggestion that the problem may lie with the Ulysses wheel assembly rather than the bearing itself I'm curious if there have been any repeat bearing failures from those that have replaced their OEM bearings with the OEM bearing again. My Ulysses is under warranty till '09 so I'm tempted to just ignore the wheel bearings until that time. | ||
| Keyser_soze |
Is Buell looking into this at all? Have those that had bearings fail contacted Buell CS? What was the response. My '06 is out of warranty now and I have relatively low miles on it, but I am worried at the possibility of the bearings going while at speed. I would like to get some piece of mind with some sort of factory fix. | ||
| Bross |
If you want piece of mind, best to check them yourself as others have done. Doesn't sound hard and then you know, one way or the other and don't have to worry about. Either they'll be good and you'll button it up and ride, or you'll replace them, button it up and ride. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Looks like the dealers have figured out how to get more work for their mechanics. Just spray wash the crap out of the axles and figure that the bearings will shell within 100 miles. | ||
| Jlnance |
Looks like the dealers have figured out how to get more work for their mechanics. Just spray wash the crap out of the axles and figure that the bearings will shell within 100 miles. It's not that simple. I used to power wash my bike frequently ('for I knew any better.) I'd blast the wheels to get the brake dust off the rims. I replaced my bearings at 30,000 miles, just for peace of mind, and they were fine. Other people have had them fail with just a few thousand miles, never having washed the bike or changed the tire. I've been following this issue for a while, and I can't spot a common pattern. | ||
| Jlnance |
Is Buell looking into this at all? Rumor has it that they are. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5096 828&postcount=14 |
