ULYSSES DANGEROUS REAR WHEEL BEARING FAILURE

MY 2007 ULY (3000 MILES) HAD A SERIOUS SUDDEN REAR WHEEL BEARING FAILURE CAUSING AN UNPLEASANT AND UNSAFE TAIL SHAKING THAT ALMOST HAD ME KISS THE GROUND AT 85MPH. MY WARRANTY EXPIRED APR/2009 AND AFTER CONTACTING BUELL'S CUSTOMER SERVICE ABOUT IT I'M LEFT WITH A $1,200.00 WORTH OF DEMAGE AND A GREAT DISBELEIF ON BUELL SAFETY AND RELIABILITY.
I'M GOING BACK TO THE JAPANESE BIKES.

Maybe something happened to the wheel while the bike was sitting in the garage, which apparently it did quite a bit. 3k miles on an '07 bike - especially a Uly - ain't exactly riding the wheels off the thing.

did some high pressure cleaning & aimed at the axle/bearings? let is sit & dry for a nice long time?

all & all, a good thing you made it out without being hurt.

now, japanese or not, regular check & oiling doesn't hurt any bike

ain't exactly riding the wheels off the thing.

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Pun intended, or no?

I have had two sets of wheel bearings replaced on the rear wheel of my 2006 Triumph Sprint ST, luckily under warrantie, but it currently has 22,ooo miles on it. So going to another brand of bike is not always a garrantie. Bike is cleaned regularly and never with a high pressure nozzle. My 2000 X1 Lightning didn't have a single part failure in 16000 miles. But ofcourse I am a bit different, I RIDE my motorcycles.

07xb12s here. My rear bearing went out at 12000 while riding. No damage besides that to the bearing itself. What did it do to cause $1200 worth of damage??

Sorry about the bearing but Japanese bikes do it also.Always remember"Squeeky wheel gets the grease".Please make some noise

I picked up a used wheel that had the bearing go out for the guy on the sprocket side. It had ruined the inside sleeve and also damaged some of the bearing area too. I just got the new inside sleeve and cleaned up the bearing area and put the new bearing in it. It hasn't bother any yet and I don't know which wheel I have on the bike right now. I know that I have used that wheel long enough to have to rplace the rear tire. When the guy came in with the bad bearing the allen screw wasn't tight to pinch the axle shaft and he had a new tire put on a 1,000 miles before that. I know that you have to tighten the axle once and then loosen it some and retighten it again to the right spec's. I would think that you could put some undo pressure or load on the bearing if it would not seat right and stick to the axle some, maybe. My 2 cents worth anyhow. I turned over 19,000 miles the other day on my bike and haven't had any rear wheel bearing problems yet.

I would like to give everyone here a [up]. Not many enthusiast forums that would take a post like this IN stride. Makes me much happier to be part of this community. hspinola, Sorry to hear about your misfortune. With that said, think about if you were on your "Japanese bike" going 130mph. Doubt if you could have held onto it HURRAY FOR "SLOW" BUELLS'!

Maybe something happened to the wheel while the bike was sitting in the garage, which apparently it did quite a bit.  3k miles on an '07 bike - especially a Uly - ain't exactly riding the wheels off the thing.

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lol Yeah get off your ass and ride the dang thing. Maybe it's just retaliating for not being ridden

What did it do to cause $1200 worth of damage??

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Umm yaaaa Is that in pesos?? I could have done the job for $200 parts included. You got ripped off!

I just had same issue at 6000 miles. It did not provide any warning, and the bearing looked worse than any bearing I had ever seen. Only reason it was caught was a tire swap. Buell replaced the bearing and axle at their expense (after the 2 year warranty expiration). I also had the rusty muffler replaced under warranty...there was an issue with the coating on these mufflers (mine is an 07).

What's next?

Buy a painting and look at it!

They are great bikes, but they are bikes. Things will go wrong, so you fix them and keep riding. Riding them causes some things to go wrong sooner and prevents other problems from happining at all.

That's just bikes.

My bike has the orange seal bearings.. There is a squeak coming from the rear wheel area when I push it backwards. I was assuming it was just the brakes.. Now, because of this thread, I am thinking that it might be the bearings.. I will have to look more closely at it and see which is really making the noise. I would like to have an extra couple sets of the updated bearings "just in case" Where can I buy them??

Sorry AdventureUly, but I consider the engine and wheels to be some pretty important parts on my bikes. This is far from my first bike and so far it's the most disappointing. I love the technology and concepts in the Buells, but failures at 6000 miles just doesn't quite cut it in my books.

"Things will go wrong, so you fix them and keep riding." doesn't really work if you are left laying in the road.

Over-tightening of the wheels after removal is a major cause of bearing damage. Follow the manual's instructions for torquing, untorquing and then finally re-torquing the wheels to the correct ft-lb. rates.
If possible, set your wheels up on a dynamic balancer when changing tires. Have a listen. If you hear sound, then bearings shot. You can't figure this out just by trying to spin the wheels by hand off or on the bike. Bearings are cheap parts to replace, not worth risking an accident by letting it go. If no dynamic balancer, then just change them out as often as you feel comfortable doing, knowing that you are doing preventative maintenance.

Also check the steering head bearings while you are at it.

@hspinola
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 2
2007 ULY (3000 MILES)

U right...GO BACK TO THE JAPANESE BIKES



greets keppi, red bearings since 2005, now 50.000 Kilometers on my "S" and 18.000 Kilometers on the Uly (Schnabeltier)
with some German Autobahnkilometers

What engine problems did you have chickn4? Mine is also an 07 and I have not had any issues..exept the rusty exhaust.

Fahren, thanks for the input. This was the first time the wheels were off since purchase. I had the bike in 1 month before the warranty was up and I asked them to look it over completely to catch any warranty issues....which they did, but they weren't going to tear anything apart to find this.

AdventureUly - I currently have a check engine light after the warranty muffler replacement (on the drive home from the shop). I have not gotten the code out of it yet. I am also on my 3rd set of plugs at 6000 miles. I would push the dealer to replace your muffler under warranty....they know it's a problem with the coating that was used. I had to wait 4 months for them to get the part in because of the volume of warranty replacements. The bill would have been over $800 for the muffler, bearing, and axle if I didn't push for it to be warranty.

Don't get me wrong...I enjoy the bike. Sometimes though (just once in a while...like when these things happen) I wonder if I want to risk my life more due to my driving style or to the manufacturer.

Since Uly owners are so far and few between I think someone needs to make a true Uly owner's manual. Just cut the crap and say replace the wheel bearings with a specific type, check the steering head bearings like this and replace/adjust like this, work your dealer to replace the muffler under warranty, get your driving lights from this place, etc. I know the forums deal with some of this, but you have to be searching for it to find it....and that's tough when there are several forum sites to find things on.

I have 30000 miles on my uly and it running like a top I'm on my 3rd set of tires, that only thing I have replaced besides the oil and filters. Its my first America biult bike I would have bought another in 4 to 5 years from now. But If H-D thinks that I'm going to buy one of thier P.O.S bikes now they are dreaming

Thanks chickn4, I think I will do that. I was going to take the exhaust off this weekend and rub it down and re coat it my self. But hay! a new one would save me all that touble.

I agree with you on the owner's manual thing. I have learned far more from this forum than I have from the Buell manual, infact I now use it to anchor my boat in a storm (its that big).

Every one should write a page on a topic they know lots about, from riding and owning the bike, then send it in to......... some one with a bit of time on their hands, who could put it all together and up load it some where.

Now that would be a true OWNER'S manual.