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Nobuell
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 11:49 am: | 
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19K on my 08XT. I have a new one on order. I will swap when received and keep the old as a spare. Upon inspection, the existing belt looks very good. There are no signs of rubber degradation and all of the teeth look good.
When the new belt arrives I plan to do some investigation to determine how the belt tightness changes as the swing arm strokes. After discussions with "someday" I share a concern that the belts are way to tight. This is also based on the recommendations I have received from the manufacturer. I believe that an overly tight belt contributes to belt failure, wheel bearing failure and cannot be good for the output shaft bearing as well.
I will post what I find after the new belt arrives. |
Discochris
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 11:59 am: |
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Posted in my other thread, but mine went at 8200. I suspect it was either a rock, or the extreme weather I was riding in (4 hours of snow). The new belts do seem sturdier - we'll see. |
Hooper
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 01:32 pm: |
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15,000 on my 2006 (original belt, bike purchased in July 2006). My bike sits under a cover on the street, so it's definitely out there in the elements.
That said, I just took her in for the 15k service and asked that they put a new one on so I can use the old one as a pre-stretched spare.
Oh, and of COURSE I'm doing new bearings. I mean, come on...  |
Bzrider
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 01:43 pm: |
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40,000 on and offroad daily commute over 100 miles a day los of wheelies |
Blasterd
| | Posted on Saturday, May 15, 2010 - 12:28 am: |
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Does the idler usually spin freely? I can't remember if it did on my CityX but I had 24,000 miles on it when it was sold.
I've got 4500 on my XP and I can spin the idler pulley by hand...
you guys are scaring me, anyone have an old belt I can use as a spare? please? |
Rwven
| | Posted on Saturday, May 15, 2010 - 06:56 am: |
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Blasterd,
I've been able to spin mine easily by hand from about 2 months after I got it. I think there is more to it than just a bit of belt stretching. Correlation does not equal causation.
That said, I've ordered a new belt for my upcoming 5K mile trip out to Colorado. Not because I don't expect my belt to last, but just for the peace of mind of having a new belt and a spare while I'm 2000 miles from home. Same reason I carry extra fuel, a tire plug kit and a spare clutch cable. |
Sanchez
| | Posted on Sunday, May 16, 2010 - 09:27 am: |
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33k on my 2006's original belt |
Buellerxt
| | Posted on Sunday, May 16, 2010 - 12:43 pm: |
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Good to hear, Sanchez! Any tips? Have you had similar fortune with your rear wheel bearings? If so, tips Man, tips, and thanks for posting!  |
Farnsracin
| | Posted on Sunday, May 16, 2010 - 07:14 pm: |
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i got 20000 seems like my front sprocket is worn will replace both |
Sanchez
| | Posted on Sunday, May 16, 2010 - 11:02 pm: |
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> Have you had similar fortune with your rear wheel bearings?
Yeah, but I had the wheels powder coated shortly after I bought the bike, so the bearings aren't original. I'm still on my first fan, too. |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Monday, May 17, 2010 - 12:21 pm: |
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First fan and belt on 06' with 24,000+. |
Xbeau12s
| | Posted on Monday, May 17, 2010 - 01:48 pm: |
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04 XB12S - 13K. Snapped doing a wheelie! oops. |
Natexlh1000
| | Posted on Monday, May 17, 2010 - 02:14 pm: |
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My 2008 made it to 16,000 before belt died and 20,000 before rear bearings filled with water. |
Buellerxt
| | Posted on Monday, May 17, 2010 - 07:08 pm: |
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Electraglider_1997, both went at the same time?
Natexlh1000, any thoughts on why the belt went so soon? Wheelies, abrupt starts, etc? Any thoughts on where the water in the bearings came from? Had you re-packed them? Thanks. |
Natexlh1000
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 - 05:12 am: |
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My dealer said it "must have" grabbed a rock.
I was in front of fenway park in Boston!
Game night too!
But yeah, abrupt starts, wheelies, you know, the usual.
My water in the bearings was from riding all day in the rain covering several new england states. It was a warm day and I wanted to ride!
They were the orange seal kind.
I got home and the bike felt like the brakes were dragging a bit when I put it in the garage.
I popped the rear wheel off and found that the axle area inside was full of water and the seals on the bearings were full of water.
I had caught it in time to prevent damage to the axle. |
Buellerxt
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 - 12:25 pm: |
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Thanks Natexlh1000. An Adventure bike that can't handle the rain! errrr! Not cool. I'm going to try re-packing the bearings and hopefully close up the voids. Time will tell.
Glad you caught it early. |
Natexlh1000
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 - 03:16 pm: |
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The funny thing about this is that I crossed deep water before and it didn't do anything.
I checked it out after doing it.
The all day rain thing is what did it.
My theory is that the inner sealed part of the hub allows for a pressure differential to build up and "inhale" from the outside.
The only place it's possible is via the bearings.
Next tire change, I will be drilling a tiny hole too. |
Motorfish
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 - 07:44 pm: |
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A lot of people coat the outside seals with never-sieze, to prevent water from entering. |
Dpb
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 07:53 am: |
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Just changed my belt and put a 2010 wheel update on my 2007 Uly at 23637 miles. Belt is now my spare and the bearing were still good. |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 10:46 am: |
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Buellerxt,
No, you misunderstood. My original belt and fan are still working, no failures yet. I suppose it is just a matter of time though.
With the comfort kit, my fan only comes on at shutdown so maybe the fan will last and last and last. I've wondered how many more ULY's would have been sold if the 2006 model would have come with that comfort kit, better sidestand, stainless steel muffler, increased steering lock, and that all important 3 bearing rear wheel. Buell would not have had to replace fans, mufflers, damaged parts from sidestand failures, and all the fuss over rear wheel bearing failures. I'm betting that they'd have sold many times the amount of ULY's. Hindsight is always 20/20.
I "almost" feel bad about getting a new muffler on warranty because of the rust since the replacement was exactly the same. Good muffler, just wrong material.
Buell engineers should have swallowed their pride and quit defending those design flaws years earlier. Warranty costs just must have been killer. That comfort kit is really nice.
One more thing. I really have never understood why they changed the engine so much between the 07 and 08 model year for no apparent gain in power. AND the oil level checks became a problem with the so called updated engine. When we got my son a ULY, I pretty much decided that we would only get an 07' because I didn't like what I was reading about the 08/09 models. I knew what we were getting with the 07. His bike is real nice. |
Froggy
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 11:35 am: |
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quote:I really have never understood why they changed the engine so much between the 07 and 08 model year for no apparent gain in power.
Reliability, emissions, costs, etc. The updated motor got rid of the terrible oiling system, timing issues, throttle/TPS issues, no crank nut to come loose, stronger crankshaft, and more. You can either update and improve your products, or let them stay the same for years and hope they sell based on an image.
I find it funny how you blast Buell for improving bikes year after year yet you wanted all that stuff to come on the 2006 back when nobody knew they were issues even after extensive testing. Hell the majority of them are preferences, not issues. |
Bosh
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 12:15 pm: |
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I had 18K on my original belt, it still looked new but seemed to be getting slack. Proactively replaced it and it serves as a spare now. 18K is more than I've ever gotten out of a chain. |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 12:37 pm: |
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Crank nut only came loose on motors that weren't torqued high enough and that was manufacturing's fault.
My 06 oiling system has worked just fine and I can easily check the oil level.
I'm not blasting Buell except in the case where they were against a RSS until they finally provided one themselves.
Rusty muffler is pretty lame when other manufacturers bikes have SS mufflers as stock. Replacing $500 mufflers with unimproved mufflers is pretty darned costly.
Stronger crankshaft?? Has anybody here EVER reported that they've broken a ULY crankshaft??? TPS and Timing upgrades are nice but I've read plenty here about TPS issues on 08/09 bikes. I've actually never had a TPS or timing problem on my 06'. I've reset the TPS but not because my bike was running funny, only because I thought I should because of mileage.
I figure that owning two Buells gives me the right to be critical once in awhile. Besides, I was only pointing out that they could have sold more bikes if they would have concentrated sooner on engine and rider heating problems, rusty mufflers, and a better engineered rear wheel then giving us a stronger crankshaft that wasn't causing warranty problems at all. Warranty issues were always Buell's downfall from the very beginning. It would be great if this was just a Buell love fest but that would get old real fast. Besides my wife, son, and I will be attending the Buell love fest next month in East Troy. |
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