| Author |
Message |
    
Jwille1
| | Posted on Monday, April 19, 2010 - 12:16 pm: | 
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Is it just the XT or the X also that has problems? |
Froggy
| | Posted on Monday, April 19, 2010 - 01:19 pm: |
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All XB and 1125 models from 2003-2009.
Hell the Blast isn't immune either, so I should expand that to say all models  |
Jwille1
| | Posted on Monday, April 19, 2010 - 01:21 pm: |
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Does it give you any hint? |
Froggy
| | Posted on Monday, April 19, 2010 - 02:08 pm: |
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Not really. I almost lost the bearings on my Uly a few years back, I noticed when I would get a nasty wobble during wheelies. I had the dealer check it out during a tire change and sure enough they were notchy and close to failing.
On my other XB12 the spacer was crushed during wheel replacement and ended up falling apart while the wheel was off.
On my Blast, one day riding to work and the bike started oscillating like a really strong head wind. I ended up riding it a few more miles to my dads shop then had it towed to a dealer. Quite funny seeing the wheel angled like / instead of like straight up like | |
Rwven
| | Posted on Monday, April 19, 2010 - 03:26 pm: |
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Apparently all the "kits" have been canceled as HD considers them a Buell "accessory". I guess I'll have to get a parts list together and order each part individually.
Anybody happen to have a copy of the 2010 parts list they could post the pages from?
(Message edited by rwven on April 19, 2010) |
Jwille1
| | Posted on Monday, April 19, 2010 - 05:25 pm: |
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Thanks for the info. |
Nobuell
| | Posted on Monday, April 19, 2010 - 11:26 pm: |
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Rwven
I had to buy the wheel and each individual bearing part plus the disc and pulley fasteners.
About $400.00 for the lot. |
Rwven
| | Posted on Monday, April 19, 2010 - 11:59 pm: |
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Nobuell,
Yeah, I just got my list together too (thanks to paralegalpete) I'll be putting an order in tomorrow myself. I happen to have the disc and pulley fasteners already, but that's a relatively small portion of the total anyway....
3 different axle numbers are listed, all the same price, I assume they are all essentially the same.?? |
Nobuell
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 - 08:56 pm: |
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Rwven,
My dealer pulled all the numbers from a 2010 XT parts book. I am out of town for the week and do not have access to the part numbers. Sorry I cannot help on the axles. |
Nobuell
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 - 12:23 am: |
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I received a message today that my wheel and components have arrived. Ordered on Friday and arrived Tuesday. Cannot beat that. |
Nobuell
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 - 12:51 am: |
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Buellerxt
I missed your earlier question regarding possible causes.
The bike has never been off road. I never power wash the bike. I do wash at my home with a regular hose and avoid spraying at the bearings. Last year I did ride in a couple of heavy rain storms but other wise dry roads. About half of the miles were two up with loaded bags. I installed two rear tires in 17K miles. I checked the bearings each time and they felt very smooth. I did not pull the seals off and re-lubricate the bearings. I installed the wheel in accordance with the manual except I reduced the final torque. The recommended torque seems much to high for the bearing configuration.
Before the bearings failed, I was riding on the expressway. looking back, I did feel the bike slow a bit but believed it to be a wind gust as it was very windy that day. The brief slow down was seconds before the catastrophic failure.
As I mentioned previously, I believe the bearings to be on the edge of their capacity and not properly sealed considering the bearing seal's direct exposure. I have found over the years of machine design that numerous random failures at such varied operating durations with multiple manufacturers usually indicate an application issue. In this day and age, wheel bearings should not fail at the low mileage that many have encountered.
I do not believe wheel bearings should be routinely changed at low miles to avoid failures in a properly designed application. Some of my old bikes of various makes had in excess of 80K miles (some much higher) with no wheel bearing failures. |
Buellerxt
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 - 01:31 am: |
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Thanks for the detailed response, Nobuell. Much appreciated. I agree with you on the application issue. I, too, had a high mileage bike, 98,000 miles, with no bearing problems what so ever.
Being a mechanical guy, with machine experience, how do you feel about the re-packing of sealed bearings? Ths. again. |
Paralegalpete
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 - 05:46 am: |
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The photo with the parts list originally came from Court (i believe)
My bearing gave a warning, it started squeaking before you could see any problems, I kept going because it was intermittent, finally it gave out and you could see it as well. Rotor side. |
Nobuell
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 - 09:56 pm: |
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Buellerxt
Before the use of the sealed bearings in MC wheels, most were open with external seals. Inspection, cleaning and repacking was easy and bearing failures were not as common. Sealed bearings are now much more common and in most cases with no primary external seals. Relying on the bearing seal to keep out dirt and moisture encountered on a MC is not a proper application. Then add extremely high loads and premature bearing failure is probable. The proper amount of clean grease is required to to keep the bearing operating correctly. A sealed bearing is not designed to be repacked. Incremental damage to the bearing seal occurs when removed and reinstalled. However, contaminated grease will eventually or quickly fail the bearing.
Short of replacing the old style wheels with the 2010 units, re-lubing is the only preventative measure to extend bearing life. The best method would be removal of the bearing so that both seals could be removed, the bearing thoroughly cleaned the then repacked. Obviously if the bearing is removed, a new one should be installed. There are many threads describing the seal removal and re-lubing process. What I would add is the bearing should be replaced if the existing grease is dirty looking (not just discolored). This is an indication of contamination that may have started damaging the bearing components.
If I were repacking, I would use Mobil Polyrex EM grease. This is a severe duty sealed bearing grease that is used in TEFC electric motors used in mill conditions.
It has proven to be one of the best ball bearing greases used in the electric utility industry. |
Buellerxt
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 - 10:33 pm: |
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Ours hours on the Forum seem to coincide, Nobuell!
Thanks again for a detailed response. I greatly appreciate your taking the time to help me. I have a really good independent tech who has worked on my Harley's for many years and who will be the bearing 're-packer'. We've discussed it and I have no doubt in his competence and skills. If we find problems we'll go to the black seals or 2010 wheel. If we go to the black seals and still have problems we'll go to the 2010 wheel.
I ride solo all of the time and pay close attention to my bikes. If, at any time, I get uncomfortable with the approach we're taking, I'll get the 2010 wheel.
I have un-sealed bearings on a 1996 Sportster and re-pack them at every tire change. I hope this works as well. Any reason it shouldn't? Ths. again. |
Nobuell
| | Posted on Thursday, April 22, 2010 - 05:15 pm: |
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I just received word from my dealer that they found the swing arm had been damaged during the bearing failure. They ordered a new one but I do not have an ETA. |
Buellerxt
| | Posted on Friday, April 23, 2010 - 01:06 am: |
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Sorry to hear that, Nobuell. I hope you are still under warranty. Those bearing failures can be dangerous, particularly for a rider at speed on a freeway like you were. Thank goodness you got off the road okay.
On another note, how do you feel about the effectiveness and safety of re-packing sealed bearings, the route I'm thinking about taking? I know you didn't do that and are going with the new wheel but as an experienced, mechanical guy, any thoughts? Though with the danger involved in bearing failures at speed, and the ancillary damage many of the failures seem to include, maybe I should bite the bullet and get the new wheel. One thing holding me back from doing so is Buell's poor record with sealed bearings and the lack of data on how the new wheel will hold up. I've heard the 'over designed' comments but that is just talk at this point. Ths.
Ah, I just went back to read your initial post and I see that you're still under warranty. Cool.
(Message edited by buellerxt on April 23, 2010) |
Froggy
| | Posted on Friday, April 23, 2010 - 08:56 am: |
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Funny, I rode my bike with the sprocket side bearings totally missing at 50mph for several miles and I didn't die. |
Nobuell
| | Posted on Friday, April 23, 2010 - 09:47 am: |
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Froggy
I didn't either |
Nobuell
| | Posted on Saturday, April 24, 2010 - 06:21 pm: |
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Well I had a chance to stop by the dealer to look at the damage. The wheel had no bearings left and the wheel hub was almost completely ground away. It appeared that the axle actually spun and destroyed the threads in the swing arm.
Nasty stuff.
Now awaiting the new swing arm. All the wheel parts came in within two days. |
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