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2 consecutive bearing failures. I need help bad

Buellxb Forum

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young scooter

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 29, 2019
Messages
92
Same wheel bearing. Brand new on the belt side on the rear. Failed within 30 miles. What is causing this????
 
Preload issue

great call Josh.

Sir: your possibilities are as follows:
1-wheel hub bearing floor "lip" is cracked
2-incorrect bearing installation. typically during installation, the inner race was pressed upon or smacked via hammer/driver.
3-worn/bent/chipped/twisted/under-sized hub spacer tube not checked and re-used
4-incorrect axle installation and tightening sequence during wheel installation
5-three-bearing rear wheel style installed with missing left side spacer. causes immediate bearing destruction

take your pick.
 
Any other parts that could cause this to fail? Its a brand new skf bearing. Theyve worked on my bike for a while now. The old one lasted 6k miles and they failed because of water damage due to frequent washes, my theory.

I dont wanna walk in and blame the mechanic about sequence of tightening things and such. I also dont k ow what you mean by preload
 
Barrett nailed it.
Pre-load is the process for correctly tightening the wheel bearings and it is VERY specific, VERY important, and in the free service manual. Page 2-31.
http://buellmods.com/content/downloads/manuals/2009_xb_service_manual.pdf

One more thing to check is the bearing spacer between the bearings has not been squished by over tightening them EVEN ONCE. That will cause the outer races to bottom in the wheel and the inner races to still be side loaded causing rapid bearing failure, until you replace the spacer. They are cheap and available at HD
 
I find it interesting the procedure isn't the same for the front wheel after a bearing replacement.
 
guys how should I try to handle this at the shop? I've had them servicing my buell since the beginning of last year and I cannot say I've ever had any bike related issue (tire patches don't count). They serviced my harley and they are on a first name basis, small father/son business, build race bikes and work on everything. I don't wanna insult their intelligence by procuring a buell manual and asking if they followed it, but the way you make it sound its highly likely that a mechanic error caused this issue.
 
One more thing to check is the bearing spacer between the bearings has not been squished by over tightening them EVEN ONCE. That will cause the outer races to bottom in the wheel and the inner races to still be side loaded causing rapid bearing failure, until you replace the spacer. They are cheap and available at HD

I’m putting my money on this.
Aka #3 on Barrett’s list. Others from the list are probably factors causing #3.
IMO this sleeve should be replaced whenever the bearings are replaced.
 
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I talked to the mechanic on the phone. He seemed to know off the top of his head (at 11pm no less) the procedure of doing this. Tighten, loosen, then retighten to a lower torque. He said 100 ft lb and then to 65ft lb. I don;t know if he actually hit it at those numbers but that was what he said. I then asked about that lip, he said the lip inside the wheel is chipped up and damaged. No idea how bad but he said theres a spacer between the bearings and although he isn't calling bull**** on it, he says he can't really grasp how the lip would affect anything because even if it wasn't there the bearings would be unable to move laterally. He said he could be wrong but just going off memory he doesn't see why its there. He said he'd look into it and do a full inspection of every part and try to get down to the bottom of it. He said he'd check the concentricity of the axle too.
 
Sheesh 100ft-lbs???

This is why I do all my own services on my Buell and use strictly Buell guys if I need help. Get on the Facebook BuellXB forum and try to find a real Buell guy in your area. I fear the damage that has been done to your bike can be quite profound.
 
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Son: some of the best "Buell minds" in the world are on this site. i believe you're aware of that by now. simply put, your mechanic made a mistake and it happens. who you choose to perform this work is entirely up to you. perhaps work things out with your shop in question and "correctly" repeat the installation. diplomatically, with printed-out manual instructions and a few notes in hand from what we've provided, have them repeat the repairs. i have no vested interest or opinion either way.
then as follows:

have your mechanic follow the AXLE/BEARING INSTALLATION PROCEDURE-SEQUENCE as listed by Shaughn and Aaron above.

purchase both new bearings AND hub bearing spacer. see pic....schematic part # 7.... available either online or most every H-D authorized dealer.

H-D PART # G0323.02A8 SUFFIX L19-D LIST $11.80 FOR TWO BEARING REAR WHEEL

AS MENTIONED: there is a small lip or "floor" at the bottom of the bearing pocket on each side of wheel. each bearing during install bottoms out against it. helps to properly attain correct pre-load during installation. each should be checked closely.

this is NOT the XB rear tube that i speak of....but a visual reference. PURCHASE A NEW ONE!

204-473_A_V4.jpg
xbrear.jpeg
 
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What motorcycle on planet earth calls for 100 ft-lbs on the wheels anyway? Maybe single sided swing arms.... Clearly the mechanic was guessing, didn't bother to use Google for 10 seconds....
 
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god this is just so heartbreaking for me. I love this bike so much and to have spent 7 hours total on the side of the road across 2 fridays for the same 10$ part failing has just really shaken my trust in the bike. I think you know what I mean. How do I know the next time I get it back its not gonna be the same scenario all over again, with a third friday spent on the side of an interstate far from home? My trust is broken in this bike, even if they do it 100% correctly next time. I'm going to be paranoid for a very long time and theres no dollar amount that can fix that.

I appreciate your help, this time I'm going to forward him these links, I looked at page 2-31 but it seemed to be really generic instructions. I actually read them to him over the phone last night and I wasn't sure if I was looking at the wrong thing because I was thinking it would be a bit more specific.

The damage may be done, the wheel could be damaged, and this would cost me loads of money I don't want to flush out. I'm wondering if it would be less expensive to just cut my losses and sell him the bike for a loss just to be rid of this financial nightmare that he may have had a hand in creating for me. I'm an hvac guy, I dont make loads of money. I live good enough but to have to make multiple trips to the shop in one month is stressing my budget
 
Im sorry dude. Buells are great bikes. The majority of the problems I see on the forum are inflicted by the owners or someone that doesn't know what they are doing. Feeling safe and having trust in the motorcycle is extremely important. Do what you need to do to get that back.
 
god this is just so heartbreaking for me. I love this bike so much and to have spent 7 hours total on the side of the road across 2 fridays for the same 10$ part failing has just really shaken my trust in the bike. I think you know what I mean. How do I know the next time I get it back its not gonna be the same scenario all over again, with a third friday spent on the side of an interstate far from home? My trust is broken in this bike, even if they do it 100% correctly next time. I'm going to be paranoid for a very long time and theres no dollar amount that can fix that.

I appreciate your help, this time I'm going to forward him these links, I looked at page 2-31 but it seemed to be really generic instructions. I actually read them to him over the phone last night and I wasn't sure if I was looking at the wrong thing because I was thinking it would be a bit more specific.

The damage may be done, the wheel could be damaged, and this would cost me loads of money I don't want to flush out. I'm wondering if it would be less expensive to just cut my losses and sell him the bike for a loss just to be rid of this financial nightmare that he may have had a hand in creating for me. I'm an hvac guy, I dont make loads of money. I live good enough but to have to make multiple trips to the shop in one month is stressing my budget


Let’s see if I get your point:

Part fails.
You replace with non stock $10 replacement part.
Mechanic who installs part fails to RTFM and installs part incorrectly, and actually applies 4x as much torque as instructed to the part.
Part fails and potentially damages other part.

You feel this is the fault of the motorcycle.

Sounds legit.

I’d also blame Barrett for not intervening sooner. This could have been prevented sooner, if he wouldn’t have been negligent.
 
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SKF bearings were highly reccommended in place of HD bearings when i read through older threads on this website. I dont actually know how much they cost, i didnt look at the receipt, but bearings arent that expensive so i just said 10 bucks.
Anyway, i am not sure what youre trying to say to me here
 


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