BUell Disassembly

[cascadetiger]

Its not so much the horsepower, but its how the bike puts the power down.  It all about torque.  Coming out of a turn, almost any RPM, and it just goes hard.  Its all done at 5,000 rpm, but for riding on the street its a great engine.  I have had Japanese bikes that don't get started making powder until 6,000 rpm.  The Buell will spank them.  It has a great character to it.  It is also loud, crude, and shakes like the hardware store paint shaker.  This requires weekly inspections to tighten various fasteners.  This would not be my only bike, but makes a great 2nd one to the Steamer.

[Colonel Nikolai]

Its all done at 5,000 rpm, but for riding on the street its a great engine.

But it starts at around 2,500 rpm in my experience.  :?

I have had Japanese bikes that don't get started making powder until 6,000 rpm.  The Buell will spank them.

Maybe in a quarter mile. A friend with GSXR 600 said he would race one of them from a dead stop and they'd hesitate from a stop at first (it's a twin, after all), the gixr would pull out in front, then the firebolt would fly past him until he hit second gear (the gixr can go to 50 in first :shock: or so I'm told) and blow it away.

It has a great character to it.  It is also loud, crude, and shakes like the hardware store paint shaker.  This requires weekly inspections to tighten various fasteners.

It does grow on you. I like the sound of the Buell. It's louder than my tiger but not loud like these crazy-loud Harleys with megaphone pipes on them. Drives me nuts and gives me, a responsible motorcyclist, a bad reputation by association. I don't like that at all.

They are very simple motors. Check it out:

This would not be my only bike, but makes a great 2nd one to the Steamer.

Completely agree. You haven't talked about how Buells handle, though! They are, frankly, amazing. At least the XB models like this one. The bike feels like a feather when I'm riding. Sticks to the road like glue.

[cascadetiger]

The Buell is not so fast in a straight line, its not a quarter mile bike.  It is fast in corners.  My son rides a Daytona 675.  Its not even close in a drag race.  But when we ride in the hills in Western Wisconsin, he can't keep up with the Buell.  Yes, it handles awesome.  It corners in such a way that the driver feels confident.  

Why does the Uly need an overhaul?

[Colonel Nikolai]

... But when we ride in the hills in Western Wisconsin, he can't keep up with the Buell.  Yes, it handles awesome.  It corners in such a way that the driver feels confident.

Cascadetiger, we need to talk. I ride those hills in Western Wisconsin too and I love 'em. When we ice out, let's meet!

Why does the Uly need an overhaul?

It's an '03 Lightning, not a Uly, sadly. Wish I had a Uly. But it's just as you say: a cornering monster. I bought it cheap with 8600 miles on it because the tranny sounded like a cement mixer. I rode it around for a week and noticed it was getting louder. Tried everything: changing the primary (tons of metal flake in the fluid ... oh-oh :shock:), adjusting the clutch, etc. Took it to St. Paul Harley who diagnosed it with "complete internal transmission failure" and wanted $3600.00 to rebuild it.

At that point I decided I'll take a swing at the rebuild. So here we are.

Wish me luck!

[cascadetiger]

Sounds good, on meeting and riding Western WI, let's touch base when the snow melts.

I have been told that the Sportster transmission is a cartridge type that is easily removed for overhaul.  Easy being a relative term!

Got mine cheap because the clutch was going out at at 50,000 miles.  I put in a new clutch and drive belt and its been going strong since, its at 60,000 now.

[Colonel Nikolai]

Sounds good, on meeting and riding Western WI, let's touch base when the snow melts.

Check!

I have been told that the Sportster transmission is a cartridge type that is easily removed for overhaul.  Easy being a relative term!

Not on a Buell. Buell transmissions / drivetrain are more like a Ducati. The swingarm bolts into a mount that is part of the lower engine case and the tranny is in a compartment in the engine case behind the crankshaft.

Check out these pictures. This is a later Buell XB transmission:



And this is a harley davidson or pre 2003 Buell transmission (i.e. a Baker "cassette" tranny)



The later Buells use a lighter, more modern helically-cut-gear transmission. The older ones and Harleys use a heavier, clunkier (because the gears are straight-cut and weigh more), more expensive to manufacture but easier to work on Baker tranny.

Got mine cheap because the clutch was going out at at 50,000 miles.  I put in a new clutch and drive belt and its been going strong since, its at 60,000 now.

Aww, I wish it were just the clutch!

[jphish]

Hey Col' - Saw a thread on the Buell "Badweatherbikers" regarding 'engine lifespan?' - good article from cycle magazine on the test they did in 05' comparing it to 9 other machines. You might be interested. Chow' j

[Colonel Nikolai]

Hey Col' - Saw a thread on the Buell "Badweatherbikers" regarding 'engine lifespan?' - good article from cycle magazine on the test they did in 05' comparing it to 9 other machines. You might be interested. Chow' j

Read that. Read the 30,000 mile test PDF from Motorrad. Buell has done a lot that they deserve credit for. They seem to have reached parity with some of the best in the industry. But the redesign of the transmission and rerouting of the oil in the drive train in 2006 are probably a result of early tranny death in my 2003, which, while not routine, wasn't rare, either.

I have pulled the clutch pack and have removed the neutral switch so I can see the shifter detent. All the bearings in the clutch look fine (like I suspected). Some carbon on the piston tops, though.

Soon the cases will be split and I will be looking at the tranny!

[cascadetiger]

Clunk is a good desription of my Buell/Sportster transmission.  Wearing tennis shoes is not recommended, you need boots to leverage the shifter to the next gear.  It helped a lot when a new clutch was installed, but it is not a smooth shifting tramsmission.  It adds to the character of the bike.  

We did a compression tests on the engine at 55,000 miles, both cylinders were in the mid 140's.  I thought that was pretty good for an air cooled engine.

[Colonel Nikolai]

We did a compression tests on the engine at 55,000 miles, both cylinders were in the mid 140's.  I thought that was pretty good for an air cooled engine.

Agreed. My condemnation of the bike earlier has been reversed based on new evidence:

I've discovered what caused the infant tranny death on my XB. You can't see it in the picture above but the seal on the transmission shaft (the big fat shaft in the left side of the picture with the black center, that black center being the seal) was damaged and let water leak in. Someone must have hit it with a hammer or a rock or something. Maybe a P.O. beat on it trying to put a different sized sprocket or something.

This caused everything inside to fail in a couple of years of riding. The bearings, two gears and two shifter dogs are gone. Had a hackuva time splitting the cases because 5th gear was fuzed to the left side of the case with corrosion. Surprised it didn't cause some catastrophic failure.

In hindsight it might have been better to buy a new used engine and either sold this one for salvage or something. My costs are going to somewhat exceed the cost of a used engine. The only advantage of not going that route is perhaps avoiding getting unlucky with a used engine.

Right now since the engine is almost totally disassembled, I'm doing rings, oil pump drive and lifters while I'm in here. The only thing I'm not doing is valves, rockers, pushrods and cam gears all which look good.

[jphish]

Hey Col - Glad the tear down & diagnosis completed...sorry it ended up being on the high side of the cost equation. However...you should have a very reliable & fun 'twisty road' bike at the end of it all. Again, on the upside - the engine looks good - If you had gone the used engine route you may / maynot have been pleased. It's a crap shoot, unless you really know the engine's history. I admire your mechanical ingenuity, in tackling the great unknown. Will await test ride report. Im in process of getting the KLR running, after sitting for a year. Work isnt difficult, but frozen garage is a real handicap - fingers don't work right. Neglect never seems to work out in ones favor. Toodles, j

[Colonel Nikolai]

Good luck with the KLR. Let's hope the XB comes out of it as good as it should. I would never have tried this without the crowd here. Frankly without the Internet and Google, I would never have had the confidence to do this with just a manual.

[Colonel Nikolai]

Here's the old main transmission drive gear for the XB9S:



Here's the new one:



Tiggers have seals on the tranny too, but they aren't this big and they aren't this odd and they tend to be near the bottom of the tranny, not the middle like this. All three of these facts tend to make such a leak on your tigger less catastrophic. Even over time.