| Author | Message | ||
     Dirty_john |
Brief history 09 model year 1125R delivered Nov 08 Both axles immediately removed and copaslipped, retorqued to factory manual spec with calibrated torque wrench. Axles removed and retorqued at at least six month intervals. 1800 miles later slight vibration from back of bike, investigation reveals both bearings shot in rear wheel. Never had wheel bearing issues with the Firebolt and used the same process as above for many miles 1125R has never been washed with a pressure washer and has only been ridden in the rain once or twice. Spacer length was Ok as well. Back wheel replaced by a model year 2010 version, using SKF bearings. We shall see if this re-engineered solution works any better.. There is no reason why wheel bearings should be shot within such a short mileage - this is pathetic - shame the bike is out of warranty and I can't even be bothered to contact HD-UK about this - keep an eye on your bearings - failure at high speed doesn't bear thinking about. My 1125R is a great bike to ride let down by a sucession of irritating faults like this. I had a Free Spirits belt tensioner on the Fire bolt from new and I wonder if this is significant. I will have to look at the relationship between the 1125R drive pulley and the swinging arm pivot - are we having excessive belt tension on high levels of braking? (Message edited by Dirty_john on February 08, 2011) | ||
| Xnoahx |
cool story bro | ||
| Cataract2 |
Well, there are upgraded bearings that have black seals in use now. Just an FYI. I upgraded to the 2010 wheel and black bearings. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Rear bearing failures are apparently relatively common on pre-2010 Ulysses models. The 2010 wheel has 3 bearings (two on the sprocket side), they're bigger, and they have external dust seals. You shouldn't have any more problems. | ||
| Mountainstorm |
There have been three revisions of wheel bearings. They were having trouble with the longevity of units produced by the first two manufacturers but the KBC made bearings (3rd revision) are apparently doing the job. My bearings for th rear went out at about 12K miles. | ||
| Jdugger |
I'm using some Boca Bearings replacements. It's a hybrid bearing with Ceramic balls but steel races. They are around 3x as much, but roll much smoother, and reportedly last longer. I find I have to replace bearings around once a season or so if I use the stockers. It's a wear part like rotors -- they just wear slower than say tires or brake pads. | ||
| Jules |
Jdugger - Out of interest are those replacements for the 2009 (two bearing) or 2010 (3 bearing) wheels? Are they a straight swap too? It'd be useful to know that for when i need to replace mine sometime in the future. Would you happen to have the part number for them too  | ||
| Rogue_biker |
Must be Hong Kong bearings. Sorry. I couldn't resist! LOL! | ||
| Hughlysses |
Jules- all you ever wanted to know about rear wheel bearings can be found in this thread in the Uly "new owners" section: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/442488.html?1280712967 It was written for Uly owners, but all the info should apply to 1125's as well. | ||
| Zacks |
Rogue: In the immortal words of Ronny Reagan: 'there you go again...' Why ya gotta poke the bear?  | ||
| Dirty_john |
I too have looked at higher spec replacements such as full ceramic and part ceramic bearings. Never had problems like this with Triumph/Suzuki/Yamaha/Moto Guzzi/Ducati owned in the last 36 years - disappointing when the the Buell MOCO name was linked with engineering innovation - innovation but at what price reliability? I know HD MOCO are responsible for some issues but wheel bearings that last less than 2000 miles - just not good enough in the 21st century - I would really like to buy the 1190 when it comes out but do I need hassle like this? I noted that the 10 wheel had dust seals and thought to myself that this was a positive move forward, but my Suzuki has dust seals on the front wheel as well as the rear. Why wasn't the front wheel treated to the same upgrade? Production cost limitations come to mind again, I also ask myself why there wasn't a recall since it is a "danger of death" failure mode as are others listed some many times in the owners manual (Message edited by Dirty_john on February 08, 2011) | ||
| Froggy |
The 1190 does not use the same wheel. The wheel that came stock on your bike had only two 6006 bearings as a cost cutting measure. It sucks that it took a few years before Harley allowed the redesign, but at least it’s available.
There was a recall due to bearings, but even still, I have had bearings fail on multiple bikes, including Buell and Suzuki, and I am yet to even come close to being in a life threatening situation. I understand that any type of mechanical failure can lead to an accident, but based on my experiences every time I had a failure it happened slowly and progressively. You would know something is wrong and pull over; it’s not like the wheel falls off or something.
The front does not suffer from the same issues as the rear. In all my years on this board, I can only recall one person having a front bearing fail, and that was on the recalled bearings. | ||
| Hughlysses |
If you go by the owner's manual, using the wrong touch-up paint on your Buell could be lethal.  | ||
| Jdugger |
> Out of interest are those replacements for > the 2009 (two bearing) or 2010 (3 bearing) Two bearing. I have something like 5 sets of wheels, so I don't mix 2010 vs. earlier types so I have cross-compatibility between my wheels and bikes. > Are they a straight swap too? Yes. Rear bearings: 6006 2RS 30x55x13. MR6006C-2BS/TP/C3 #5 UDL/SRL http://www.bocabearings.com/main1.aspx?p=product&i d=16171&n=MR6006C-2BS/TP/C3_#5_UDL/SRL. Front bearings: 6005 2RS 25x47x12 MR6005C-2BS/TP/C3 #5 UDL/SRL: http://www.bocabearings.com/main1.aspx?p=product&i d=16170&n=MR6005C-2BS/TP/C3_#5_UDL/SRL. | ||
| Jdugger |
> The front does not suffer from the same issues as the rear. I've had to replace fronts that have gotten notchy, but as you indicated it's a slow wear process. It's not like the dang thing locks up or fails. Yes, I know we have all seen a trailer with a wheel locked up or that has even caught fire, but I've ever experienced anything even remotely close to that on the bike. You put them on the balancer, and you know long, long, long... like many, many tire changes before, when they need to be swapped. | ||
| Americanmadexb |
I'm getting around to ordering new tires soon. Might as well get the updating bearing too while I'm at it. To be clear, the updated 2010 bearings will fit a 09' rim, with the same axle? | ||
| Froggy |
No, the 2010 bearings are larger, it would be like a square peg in a round hole, or in this case a large round peg in a smaller round hole. | ||
| Americanmadexb |
Yeah I did some searching... imagine that! Thanks Frank! | ||
| No_rice |
im not sure what happens for some of you guys, but i have never had to change the wheel bearings in any of my buells. my 03 still has the original updated bearings with 20,000+ on them, my 1125r still has the original with 12000 on them, just to rattle off a few. my bikes see trackdays and off road use. ive been engine case deep in water with them and lots of rain riding. i can not be "just that lucky... | ||
| Rpm4x4 |
Ive never had a bearing failure either. 26k on the XB and 10k on the 1125. | ||
| Rogue_biker |
I used to say that about my XB12R, which never had any bearing issues until the 28k mile came along. I was riding in down town Los Angeles, CA, the city with probably the worst "paved" roads in the USA. I hit the Pot Hole from hell and I thought my back broke as well. It took a week and the front bearings went poof! The rears are still okay though. | ||
| Dirty_john |
I guess then that I may have just been unlucky, but XB and 1125R wheel bearing failure is not uncommon here in the UK. Luckily I had bought a 2010 rear wheel and bearing/axle kit last year and only just got round to installing them, needless to say I bought my own bearings and didnot use those that came with the axle kit. I will not risk catastrophic rear wheel bearing failure either on the track or on the road and if my warning to all saves one life then my time has been well spent. (Message edited by Dirty_john on February 09, 2011) | ||
| Spectrum |
im not sure what happens for some of you guys, but i have never had to change the wheel bearings in any of my buells. my 03 still has the original updated bearings with 20,000+ on them, my 1125r still has the original with 12000 on them, just to rattle off a few. my bikes see trackdays and off road use. ive been engine case deep in water with them and lots of rain riding. i can not be "just that lucky... Same here, I wonder if some of these failures are related to improper installation after having the rear wheel off. The service manual calls for first torquing the rear axle to 23-27 ft-lbs. Then back off two turns (720 degrees) and re-torque to 48-52 ft-lbs. I think the purpose of tighting, then loosening and retighting is to make sure the rear bearings are properly seated. Between my XB and 1125R, I've put over 40K miles on Buells. I've always made sure I follow this procedure and have never had a failure. The Uly's definitely have a higher failure rate and most likely have other factors involved. | ||
| Jdugger |
Bearings just wear, too, keep that in mind. In just asking around the paddock, servicing wheels with new bearings from time to time seems to happen across all brands. | ||
| Dirty_john |
Spectrum - as I am a fully qualified mechanical engineer responsible for multi million pound sterling installations from design thru to commissioning and having worked on bikes for over 40 years I think I know how to follow a manual to refit a rear wheel - since I have rebuilt more engines for myself, my family and friends than I care to remember - so I doubt if its an incorrect installation technique | ||
| Zac4mac |
I'm sure the statistical MTBF is a LOT more than 1800 miles. You got an outlier/anomaly John. I'm still running the same bearings/wheels Ian(Americanmadexb) sent me in a BWB wheel-swap spree. Spring 2008, I put them on right after I got back from a trip to Texas. I had them on for Homecoming 2008 so they have close to 20k miles on top of what Ian put on them. Bryan(Spectrum) how are the bearings in the wheels I sent you in that deal? Zack | ||
| Spectrum |
John - My post was not directed at you and did not intend to offend anyone. I was just making a general statement trying to suggest a possible reason why some have high failure rates and some do not. Zac - Bearings and wheels are doing great.  (Message edited by Spectrum on February 09, 2011) | ||
| Rogue_biker |
I have never had a bearing failure in any of my Japanese bikes. I had an '01 VFR800 that I rode across California. At one point, I was on this road that was so beat up from the ground moving under it from rains and the San Andreas Fault that I thought for sure my bearings or wheels would break! It never did. I would think that bearing failure is more common in places where the roads are not smooth all the time. Buells seems notorious for bearing failures. That's just the reality of it. Having said that, I was told replacing wheel bearings regularly (maybe every 12k miles?) is good practice on any bike. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Having said that, I was told replacing wheel bearings regularly (maybe every 12k miles?) is good practice on any bike. There's a downside to that practice. The bearings are a press fit in the wheel. You can only replace them so many times before you wear the bore of the wheel and lose that press fit. The thread I linked above about Uly rear wheels really has some good info on all this stuff, including a detailed post by Al Lighton that includes dimensions, tolerances, etc. for the spacer. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I'd stop poking at the bearings. Don't remove/retorque at six month intervals...that puts more stress on the materials and the parts than just letting them be until it's tire-time does. There really *is* a reason the factory publishes the recommended intervals they have. Use them. Don't - pardon the pun - reinvent the wheel for no reason. Stick to the book. Ride. Grin. Repeat |
