By Joe Gresh
I’ve kind of lost count on which Buell installment dealt with the muffler falling off. The story was about how the muffler was held on by a T-bolt clamp on the header pipe (basically a heavy-duty hose clamp) and two vertical brackets that located the rear of the muffler. Those vertical brackets would come loose letting the muffler slide back into the wheel. In that previous story I welded the rear bracket so the muffler couldn’t slide back unless the bolt was removed. This setup no longer relied on the clamping force of fasteners alone.
I thought I had it fixed, a common misconception that I have frequently, and both the muffler bolts of my belt-and-suspenders repair vibrated out. The muffler fell off again. Most riders would write this off as a bad design on Buell’s part, but I look at it as a challenge. Just like Lucy always pulled the football away from Charlie Brown the Buell keeps snatching success away from me.
The Buell lives and dies in real time. No waiting around for Honda-like reliability to finally fail. Each individual Buell-ride has a beginning, a middle and an end. The end being something to fix. And sometimes fix it again.
When the muffler bolts fell out one of the two rubber bushings fell out also. These bushings fit into two holes cast into the Buell’s engine crankcases. It was a good system and I should have used Loctite or safety-wired the bolts the first time.
I wasn’t in the mood to hunt online for another bushing and the thin, molded-in tube preventing the rubber from crushing made me wary of really cranking down on the muffler bolts. I decided to take things into hand and make two new bushings since it’s as easy to make two as it is one.
I have plenty of aluminum round stock and the crude bushings I spun out would shock a real toolmaker. I added a couple of grooves for o-rings to cushion the aluminum. Regardless, I now had something I could tighten a bolt against as much as I wanted. Putting the hangers back together I used nylon locknuts on fresh bolts hoping to slow down the rate of failure.
On yet another long test rides the bolts stayed tight and the muffler did not fall off. Lucy-1, Joe-1. I’m adding checking the muffler bolts to my pre-flight inspection list until this fix proves permanent.
After years of Kawasaki perfection, knowing every ride will be successful, I’m loving the Buell’s humanity. The Buell needs a steady handful of wrenches and ingenuity. Riding and tinkering with the thing brings me back to my youth of edger-powered minibikes roaring through the hot, humid Florida nights. Riding those old minibikes was a crash engineering course. You learned fast or you pushed the thing. So far, I haven’t needed to push the Buell.
Buell Parts 1 through 9 are here!
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I think of Buell owners in a sanguine situation. Yep, the machine is more a fun adventure rather than a reliable ride, however much aggravation is designed into the Buell’s anatomy, you are ever hopeful accepting and expecting random failures. namaste pilgrims.
Great piece, Joe. Your skills and abilities always impress the hell outta me. Your observation about the Buell vs the Kawasaki reminds me of a line by Peter Egan: “Japanese bikes don’t need me.” Your Buell definitely needs you. Cheers!!
When we get bikes that challenge us, we do spend much time scratching our heads. I have always wanted a Xlcr Cafe but like hens teeth they are hard to find and damn expensive if you do. That makes me wonder if a Buell would give me the same experience and not so much money out layed to have it. Thanks for the adventure….
Jim B
Buell’s are incredibly inexpensive. $2000 will get a decent runner. If you like to tinker $1000 will get one that needs work.