| Author | Message | ||
     Blake |
Jim, I've heard of that happening on pretty much all cast aluminum wheels. I don't know why though, probably improper tolerancing/assembly. I believe you can get a set of oversize bearings and have your wheel hub's bearing housings machined to the applicable diameter rather than spend big $$ on an entirely new wheel. | ||
| Loki |
Jim, ditto on Blake's idea. Also find a bearing wholesaler and see what they have access to in the next outer dimension size up. When I changed the wheel on my kustom-kwak GPz I had to do the same thing with my axle dimension. | ||
| Ocbueller |
Jim, Some have had success with knurling of the hub to create a tighter fit with the bearing. SteveH | ||
| Jim_Sb |
Blake / Loki, Thanks guys. What kind of shop would I be seeking to machine the rear wheel? I wouldn't even know how to find such a place. Steve, as for knurling, I don't even know what that is. Could you elaborate? Thanks. Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| S2pengy |
Regretfully this is a lot more common than you think... I have heard of welding the area and remachining.... Wrapping shim stock around the bearing.... Staking the bearing in place.... Using loc-tite to secure the bearing... The later cast-alloy wheels do not seem to have this problem.... | ||
| V2win |
Jim, Was the hub failure on the belt side of the wheel? If so, I have seen this before. Your bike is too old to get a good will fix. Mine was just a little out of warranty when it happened to me. Cost me $100 for a new wheel. Mine were PM's. I have put over 40K on the replacement wheel with no problems. I think mine might have been caused from running the belt too tight. The dealer set my bike up with the belt far too tight when it was new. As I said, no problems since then. | ||
| Jim_Sb |
Yes, the hub failure is on the belt side of the wheel. The mechanic doing the work indicated this was a 'race type' wheel, meaning there was no 'cushion' of any kind between the belt sprocket and the wheel itself. He pointed out several bikes in the maintenance area that do have such cushioning. Having said that, it's hard to fathom why a bike with less than 10k miles would have such a problem unless it's faulty manufacturing or metallurgy. Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Littledog1 |
Jim, The belt functions as an effective cushioning device for the final drive on the Buell. It's one of the benifits of belt drive. I think this WOULD be an issue on chain conversions. Mickey | ||
| Ralph |
Actually, this is the first I've heard of either Marchesini or PM wheels having a problem with spun bearings. I have heard of several Castalloys having this problem (after it happend to me). I tried knurling the ID of the wheel to tighten the bearing surface and then Lock-tited it for insurance. That lasted about 15K. The best fix I can think of at this point is to turn the ID bigger and press in a sleeve. Welding is an option, but not one I would take. Best fix? Buy a wheel off of ebay. bighairyralph | ||
| Jim_Sb |
Mickey, I was wondering if the belt provided some cushion. Ralph, I am inclined to agree with your "best fix". But with some of the unscrupulous folks on E-Bay, I could end up buying a wheel that has the same problem. Any chance that the bearing I have is for some odd reason undersized? Would I be wasting money to simply order a new one just to see how it fits? Thanks for all the help guys. If any of you knows a good shop out here on the Coast that does this sort of repair work I'd appreciate it. Jim in SB | ||
| Littledog1 |
Jim, I'm pretty sure this problem can be traced to runing the bike with the belt way too tight. With the various spring/shock changes, and inept set up by some(many) HD dealers, tight belts have been pretty common. This site has had a LOT of belt tension questions and the people that frequent this site are definitly tuned in to their Buells. A tight belt would (1)'use up' the stretch (cushion)in the belt, and (2)put very high loadings on the secondary drive train every time the suspension cycles. Looking at the components from the front drive sprocket through the rear wheel, the wheel is probably the softest part. The hard bearing race being driven into the softer wheel every time the suspension cycles could explain your situation. Get another wheel off Ebay and set the belt tension per instructions on this web site. Mickey | ||
| Ralph |
Jim, in my experience as long as you ask the seller a pointed question you will get the truth. I would doubt that the bearings are the culprit when it comes to size. Bearing makers hold "fairly" tight tolerances (that was sarcasm  ). At first I thought Castalloy was a little sloppy but since the same thing has happend to PMs and Marchesinis that evidently isn't the problem. It had also crossed my mind that possibly it was the castings at fault, but PM uses billet center sections. I'm with Mickey that the best thought is belt tension. But your are an old Buell hand and would run your tension correctly. bighairyralph | ||
| V2win |
Jim, On my setup, the hub opened up just enough to let the outer bearing spin freely. There is two bearings on the pulley side. The inner bearing was still tight. Like I said, I have had no problems since I changed the wheel and kept the belt within proper specs. Fix? You have already heard it. Change the wheel or machine the hub out some and press in a bushing. On the PMs there is not a lot of material to work with when considering the bushing fix. | ||
| Ocbueller |
Jim, Knurling is a general roughing up of the surface. It can be done with a punch and hammer. It lifts little bits of the metal tightening up the clearance. It may not be the most recommended method. Results may vary. I would probably opt to weld in some material and have it resized. You'll need a very good welder and machinist. SteveH | ||
| Jim_Sb |
SteveH, I understand now re knurling. Thanks. V2Win, your problem sounds exactly like mine. The inner bearing seems much tighter than the outer bearing. Mickey, I've had my S2 for just over a year and ridden all but the first 3100 miles and if anything, the belt is a little loose. Might that also cause the damage? Ralph, I appreciate your confidence in my wrenching skills (I'm not as good as you guys are) but honestly I haven't had reason to touch the belt. I've always been worried about belts being too tight and it hasn't been too tight while I've had her. I was told properly tensioned it should rotate about 90 degrees when twisted (not too hard) which is what it does. If you use the FSM method it's a little loose. I guess in my mind this is something of a safety issue. I sure don't want to have trouble with my rear wheel while I'm negotiating the mountainous twisties we have here in SoCal. I'm going to see just how much a new wheel costs... Or is that a "peace of mind" cost? Not sure just yet what I'll do but if anyone is interested in a used wheel with a less than perfect hub, I'm your cowboy... Thanks for all the great words of wisdom. Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Blake |
I understand that Buell may good will a wheel with the failure like yours. Call Modesto and ask them if they can help. Staking a roller bearing is very risky; it can deform the outer race and lead to premature failure. The knurling is something I've heard of working before, should work okay. Have a machinist perform the knurling though. If you truly are prepared to toss the wheel, then knurling and a good structural epoxy might be worth a try. Or, you have a good excuse to get a 5-1/2" wheel.  | ||
| Hans |
We did use solder tin with a solder iron to make the rollerbearing a little bit fatter to prevent it from turning in its seat. The low melting point did not influence the hardness of the steel outer bearing. Maybe it did but not that I noticed. It was common practice. The thickness of the layer seemed not that important: You could hammer the bearing always in its seat. If you could take it out: You made the layer a thad thicker: If not: Fixed for life. Hans | ||
| Ralph |
Steve, knurling is a procedure using a knurling tool mounted on a milling machine (or lathe). After indicating the ID of the wheel and solidly bolting it down to the table the tool is inserted into the ID of the wheel. The knurling tool is raised and lowered while incrementally (.005 is what I used) expanding the "cut" of the knurler. This precisely pushes out (and in) the amount of material needed to get a tight, press in fit of the bearing. I would not suggest using a hand punch. As well as not raising enough material, it would be slightly lacking in precision. bighairyralph | ||
| Ocbueller |
BHR, Thats why I like this board, I always walk away from the computer a little more educated. Truth be said tho' my knurling has never proceeded past the hammer and chisel stages. I have used the occasional rock and screwdriver in the boonies. SteveH | ||
| Littledog1 |
Jim, I run my belt pretty loose. I think the only damage from an overly loose belt would be skipping, which would probably destroy the belt. I set my belt up by disconnecting the shock and cycling the swing arm to insure that the belt was not binding at the tightest spot. I also had the wheel bearings changed at the 10K maintenance, just as a precaution. The old bearings look OK, but I'm glad I had them changed anyway. By the way, I have the PM wheels. Mickey | ||
| Ralph |
Steve, in the boonies, I'd be using a screwdriver and a rock too bighairyralph | ||
| Jim_Sb |
Damn, Ralph. Do you run a machine shop or do you just know how to run one? I am going to pull the wheel ASAP and take it to my local Buell dealer and see what they can do. Failing that I'll call Modesto Buell. Then I'm looking for a good machine shop... I punched the part # from my FPM into Chicago HD's online parts checker and it came up with "REAR WHEEL, COMP" and an MSRP of $596. Does this sound like the Marchesini wheel to you folks? I hope so. I guess it could've been worse. I thought they were about $900 each... Jim in SB | ||
| Jim_Sb |
Blake, one more question. You mentioned a 5.5" wheel. Not sure why I would want one as I love the way the bike rides and handles now. What am I missing? If I went to a 5.5" what would you recommend? Jim in SB | ||
| Josh |
Henrik - thanks. | ||
| S2pengy |
If you think about buying new, the Black castalloy rear sold for $220. in 2000 (43716-98yyt) | ||
| Ralph |
Jim, I think it would be fair to say I'm somewhat capable of fabricating and repairing mechanical doohickies. bighairyralph | ||
| Jrh |
I'm not sure if anyone already mentioned it but on the Buell website they show the castalloy wheels,$335 each,front or rear,black,white,silver,orange,nuc.blue.I would'nt want to HAVE to buy one but that price seems like a fantastic deal compared to the aftermarket ones. The Battle2Win,issue before the last one,Reg did an article showing the castalloy weights versus a set of magnesium Marchesinis. | ||
| Henrik |
Josh: you're welcome. I have a few tips to make it perform as expected I'm somewhat capable of fabricating and repairing mechanical doohickies. Ralph: now there's an understatement - seems like "highly capable of expertly modifying/improving" would be more like it  Henrik | ||
| S2pengy |
The Marchesinis used on the Buells were Aluminum | ||
| Jrh |
Yah, the article compared a set of magnesium alloy 5 spoke Marchesinis(almost $1900)to the aluminum Castalloys is what i meant.Anyways,the expensive ones were about 8 pounds lighter,total.They knocked off almost 2 more pounds by switching to Braking "Wave"rotors. |
