| Author | Message | ||
     T9r |
This is an update to my previous Rant about the wheel bearing being replaced by Buell and within 1500 miles it failing. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/32777/231692.html?1160104586 I decided to do what I do best and deal with it myself. I had a heck of a time finding a place to get the bearings at a decent price. The New Holland, tractor dealer, could get them for $12ea though I found another great resource, FASTENAL. They can be found online as well as locally. I got them for $6ea. Here is what the old bearing looked like, on the bike after riding thru rain.  Here is what the old bearing looked like, with the rim off the bike. The front of the seal had already broke apart.   | ||
| Ricochet |
T9R, FYI, If you keep going through front bearings, you may need to replace the support tube in between the bearings. I went through multiple sets before figuring it out. The tube had crushed ever so slightly, probably from overtorquing, as my snap-on torque wrench can't do Left hand torque. Anyway this tube is what keeps the inner races apart, and keeps the sideload on the bearing under control. With it crushed, I kept changing bearings, not something I wanted to get real good at. Good luck. | ||
| Whodom |
Here is what the old bearing looked like, with the rim off the bike. The front of the seal had already broke apart Seal? What seal- it's gone. You're looking at the balls and the ball retainers inside the bearing, all of which should be hidden from view by the seal. Looks like the inner race has been crushed; ~75% of the outer side of it has been cracked off. Something caused that bearing to fail drastically like that. Ricochet probably hit the nail on the head. | ||
| Surveyor |
Ricochet, That's long been my theory about repeated front wheel bearing failure, I did the exact same thing with my torque wrench and the second bearing set also failed, I very carefully under torque the spindle and rely on the pinch bolts and safety wire now....so far so good. | ||
| T9r |
The seal was on it... I just removed it, in the 2nd photo to show the crack. I'll watch the support tube. I too use a right hand only torque wrench, and I put it on a different setting torque the shaft down and then back off and I hear the click. BTW... the first stock bearings had 14,000mi on them. I got the safety recall and that was when they were replaced... then 1500 miles later they fail. Thanks for the comments. | ||
| Hogs |
Thats a Good Heads up on the bearings & pre load bearing spacer... Thanks 1500 miles they failed... Wow Shows how important it is to do things by the Service book On the other hand T9r you have showed what Can happened ,When one don`t follow The Almighty BooK.. Thanks for Warning alll (Message edited by hogs on October 16, 2006) | ||
| Etennuly |
T9r Do not count on an accurate torque reading that way. Break away torque is totally different than tightening torque. You could be way over tightening it. | ||
| T9r |
Correct. It actually can be calculated but for time sake I just estimate. If 31 ft-lbs is the correct torque you can use an estimate of about 5 ft-lbs (maybe too much but better safe) to compensate for the break away. | ||
| Whodom |
A ~$12 torque beam (non-click) style torque wrench works equally well in either direction. Even for that one LH threaded axle, that would be a cheap investment. | ||
| T9r |
I agree. | ||
| Blake |
I've never heard of such a static torque rule; I wouldn't ever trust it. Torque to begin with is an extremely unreliable gage for obtaining desired bolt/axle preload. It just happens to be very convenient and if proper engineering precautions are taken, it works good enough. Strongly suggest you replace the inner spacer/support tube as Ricochet suggests. The front bearings need to be preloaded as specified. It should be a simple matter to replace the spacer tube. | ||
| Fullpower |
Also of note, one should be very cautious about the use of pressure washers in the vicinity of "sealed" wheel bearings. The general advice is "DON'T PRESSURE WASH THE BEARINGS" The XB takes commonly available bearings, 6005 front, and 6006 rear. available at any electric motor rebuilder, or bearing supply house. (check the yellow pages for a local source) I dont think it is unreasonable to change the wheel bearings after a few seasons, especially if you ride on dirt/gravel roads, and in wet weather much. | ||
| Surveyor |
I can't help feeling that a more substantial (MS) spacer would solve the problem, the OEM item appears to be an alloy which easily collapses under pressure due to over torqueing of the spindle nut....Court, please note that this is not to be interpreted as criticism of Buell it's just an observation, I realise that Buell Motorcycles are flawless.....just kidding | ||
| Khollister |
There is a pretty simple way to tighten this to the correct torque. Since it is a 5/8" interior fastener, take a sparkplug socket that has a 5/8" nut on top, put it into the axle nut, stick an extension through from the other side and put your torque wrench on the extension. Applying clockwise torque to the extension imparts CCW torque to the other side - voila! | ||
| Hogs |
Khollister, I think I know what you are saying, Hmmm That may work as long as one knows what to allow for the long extension that you used for that, as that changes the torque values, I do Believe.. | ||
| Blake |
KHollister, that is brilliant! Hogs, Torque equals the applied force times the distance between the it's line of action and the axis of rotation, the axle centerline in this case. So, since an extension does not change the distance between the line of action of the applied force to the axis of rotation, using an extension doesn't affect the torque.  | ||
| Surveyor |
KHollister, well done...pity you didn't post that sooner, you could have saved me a lot of grief. | ||
| T9r |
There are truely some engenius folks here. Good job KHollister. | ||
| Hogs |
HEy Blake, Thanks Buddy, Always learning something new, guess I was thinking of something else...LoL | ||
| Treadmarks |
Good job KHollister.  +3 on this handy trick. | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
I gave ya a 5  rating on that one! Good job indeed! | ||
| Fullpower |
axle is 7/8 internal hex. good tip. |
