| Author | Message | ||
     Blakeaspencer |
I keep hearing these horror stories of cranks going bad and transmissions going out. I'm kindof starring to worry how much longer my 06 uly has. How to I preserve my bike to make it last a little longer I guess is what I'm wondering? | ||
| Froggy |
Don't ride. Other than that, just stay on top of the maintenance. Most cases of bad cranks were due to a manufacturing defect on a specific year, so there is nothing you can do except ride and hope it never happens. I can't say I've seen many transmissions fail in all the years I've been on here. There are more probable things to worry about like belts and wheel bearings than crank or transmission failure. | ||
| Blakeaspencer |
Thanks for the fast reply Froggy. I hope to get 60,000 miles at least. But I drive it a little hard and fear that I will cause the end of its life | ||
| Reepicheep |
Most 06's seem pretty solid. Like Frank says, the straw that breaks the camels back seems to have been a manufacturing defect with a particular batch of cranks. The system was marginal to begin with, but generally sufficient, for street applications. They developed the oiling and crank updates for the race program, which was frying bikes, and just retrofitted it to all the 08's to create a bigger margin. Here is the failed crank tracking thread. You can see the problem clustered around the 07's. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/384 2/648773.html?1374261251 | ||
| Phelan |
My 06 has 74,xxx miles on it and the crank is still going strong. | ||
| Teeps |
There are more than a few '06s with over 100k on the lower ends on this board. Got 38k on mine so far. Hope to double or triple that figure before rebuild or ???? I'd say, if you're not continually breaking belts; you're probably not abusing the bike that much. | ||
| Blakeaspencer |
Before I got the bike the dealership laid it over on the left side and broke some things, that I'm slowly fixing, one of which being the shifter inside of the primary. The clutch was also roasted and bearings in the basket were also toast. Once in a while the transmission does feel klunky and refuses to shift untill I pull in the clutch and try again. And sometimes it feels like I'm bending something with the shifter but it does shift. | ||
| Blakeaspencer |
And I just broke the belt. Good thing I'm not far from home. So does anyone know where to get a belt for an 06 uly? | ||
| Teeps |
A replacement belt can be ordered from any H/D dealer that still services Buell brand. | ||
| Blakeaspencer |
what about a chain conversion kit? Ive tossed it around a little and i kind of like the idea. Does anyone know anything about such a kit? | ||
| Reepicheep |
The only up side of the chain is the ability to quickly change gear ratios. Unless you are running the Uly on a road racing course, it would be a step backwards in every other way. More expensive, more maintenance, harder on the engine, less reliable. (OK, if you hemorrhage money constantly replacing high quality worn but not broken chains, and are methodical about maintenance, then you will also get a couple percent better effeciency from the drive train...) | ||
| Blakeaspencer |
Alrighty then, the belt sounds like the way to go. The harley stores around here don't know what a buell is. I'm skeptical about ebay parts so buell parts.net has one for $184 ish. Is there anyway to change the ratios on the pulleys or is that something that you just don't do? I like the idea of lowering the rpm at interstate speeds | ||
| Reepicheep |
I'd order the belt from a good Buell friendly HD dealer. I think Al Lighton recommended somebody at St. Paul HD, can somebody chime in here with contact information? The way to change the gearing while retaining the beld drive on an XB12 is to change to the XB9 primary pieces. You need a new primary chain, and stator bell with attached sprocket. They kick around used for $100 to $200. I always lowering the gearing of my dirt bikes, and generally lowered it on my chain drive street bikes. And I had the parts to do it on my XB12X literally in my hand. I choose not too, because I think rev's kill the long stroke XB12's, and I was trying to save my "known to be weak" 07 crank. (Which didn't help me, I kept stock, and I think my crank may be starting to fail now right on schedule at 30k). | ||
| Blakeaspencer |
Well wouldn't the xb9 primary Raise the revs at highway speed? I was looking to lower the revs for a higher top end | ||
| Reepicheep |
My mistake! I misread your post. Nope, no easy way to lower the rev's on the belt drive bikes. The 12's are already geared pretty tall. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Is the gearing the same on European bikes? I remember that the European tubers were geared taller. That used to be a popular item to swap across the Atlantic. If you were successful,then of course your speedo would be wrong.... | ||
| Froggy |
For the XB there is no difference in gearing for Europe. I did see a while back a kit to change the primary gears to give you a taller ratio, but it really hurt the bikes ability to hold 5th gear without lugging. | ||
| Phelan |
The revs don't hurt thesee bikes. The 07 cranks are just bad apples. Mine is rarely run under 3500 RPM, and I raised the Rev limiter at one point to 7400 RPM. | ||
| Blakeaspencer |
Not to change the topic or anything. Does anyone know what the part number on the rear wheel bearing spacer is for a 06 uly? I think the harley dealer bent mine. Also where can I get one? | ||
| Griffmeister |
I believe all the two bearing XB wheels are the same. Part number G0323.02A8. Surdyke has them for ten bucks or your local ex-Buell dealer should still be able to order them. Back to the original topic, Froggy should know about transmission problems because he followed me part way home when my trans failed to be sure I could make it. Luckily failures are pretty rare, I was one of the unlucky ones. The problem is that the XB trannys were designed to be mass produced with off the shelf parts. No more trap doors like the tubers, no more precise fit with special shims, just throw them together. Mine was probably a victim of tolerance stacking, one side of third gear and fork just wore down until it would pop in and out of gear under load. I took the tranny out and sent everything to R&D Motorsports. They replaced what was bad, micro finished and back cut all the gears so that won't happen again. Good work if you need it. Hopefully, like most people, you won't. |
