Wheel bearing question
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Significant rear wheel bearings change, last year-models, XB series, rear wheel: (3) wheel bearings: drive-belt side and (1) bearing opposite side.
Back in the day, there was concern about seal color and bearing life. Those days are past, IMO.
Back in the day, there was concern about seal color and bearing life. Those days are past, IMO.
Rays
Well-known member
The differences between the '07 and '09 are manufacturer, they are the same size / quantity.
The '07 would have orange seals (made by NTN) - part numbers are:
Front - E0004.02A8A
Rear - E0005.02A8A
The '09 would have black seals (made by KBC I think) - part numbers are:
Front - E0004.02A8B
Rear - E0005.02A8B
If the bearings are OK in your new wheels (they may even have the later ones fitted), I would go ahead and use them as a lot of the 'bearing problems' are induced by ignorance around fitting the wheels. Tyre replacements by people who don't bother about torque settings or looking at the L/H thread warning on the front axle account for quite a percentage.
I have an '06 X that has just reached 99,500km and it has had the front bearings replaced once and the rears twice. All were done pro-actively with no failures as such. Mind you, I'm one who subscribes to regularly removing the seals and topping up the bearing grease. There are people who change their wheel bearings with every tyre - whatever floats your boat.
There is no doubt that the earlier XB bearings are not best practice with the bearing seals exposed directly to the elements and the rear bearings in particular being on the fragile side so for the '10 model year Buell introduced a redesigned 3-bearing rear wheel that has 'normal' seals outside the bearings. The bearings in this set-up are much bigger than the earlier ones so the drive side having two is a massive overkill in some ways.
I have purchased one of these for my X (not fitted as yet) as it will give me piece of mind when I have the bike overloaded with luggage and pillion.
The '07 would have orange seals (made by NTN) - part numbers are:
Front - E0004.02A8A
Rear - E0005.02A8A
The '09 would have black seals (made by KBC I think) - part numbers are:
Front - E0004.02A8B
Rear - E0005.02A8B
If the bearings are OK in your new wheels (they may even have the later ones fitted), I would go ahead and use them as a lot of the 'bearing problems' are induced by ignorance around fitting the wheels. Tyre replacements by people who don't bother about torque settings or looking at the L/H thread warning on the front axle account for quite a percentage.
I have an '06 X that has just reached 99,500km and it has had the front bearings replaced once and the rears twice. All were done pro-actively with no failures as such. Mind you, I'm one who subscribes to regularly removing the seals and topping up the bearing grease. There are people who change their wheel bearings with every tyre - whatever floats your boat.
There is no doubt that the earlier XB bearings are not best practice with the bearing seals exposed directly to the elements and the rear bearings in particular being on the fragile side so for the '10 model year Buell introduced a redesigned 3-bearing rear wheel that has 'normal' seals outside the bearings. The bearings in this set-up are much bigger than the earlier ones so the drive side having two is a massive overkill in some ways.
I have purchased one of these for my X (not fitted as yet) as it will give me piece of mind when I have the bike overloaded with luggage and pillion.
