Guest Xtreme Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 I have now succesfully replaced my steering stem bearings for the All Balls tapered ones. This replacement fixed the slow speed weaving problem I have descriped at http://www.vfrdiscus...-at-slow-speed/. What surprised me was that the bearings had been changed earlier also as they were tapered ones too. I might've gotten away with just greasing the old ones, but I thought that ones started... The thing I can't understand is, if someone goes through all the trouble of changing the bearings (Probably a couple owners before me) and leaves them ungreased and instead they squirt in a few drops of oil, yeah you read right, thats what the old bearings looked like. There was some residue of liquid brown stuff which smelled and felt like oil, but no sign of any grease ever being there. I was surprised that the races and the bearings looked all right, but didn't feel like leaving them in :) I thought I'll write it up, in case it helps anyone in the future: First I lifted the front in the air with a floor jack and the bike on centerstand and stripped off front fender, wheel and brakes, took the clipons aside, loosened the stem top nut, removed the forks and lifted the top yoke aside and after that the bottom yoke was free to be removed. The part above (Stripping...[the bike]) is somehow familiar to everyone I guess, so no more about that. As a next step I punched the bottom bearing off using a chisel and a hammer and a bit of heat from a blow torch. This took a while of pounding, but came off pretty nice after all. It was late at night, so I threw the stem to the freezer to wait for the next morning. Next morning I punched the new bearing in using the inner race of the old bearing as a driver and hammering it evenly. That took a while, but it got home nicely. After this it was time to remove the old outer races. First I tried with a screwdriver (which was too short) but after that I noticed the lever of the floor jack laying on the ground and thats it...it was the ultimate bearing race punch-out tool known to man! Two punches each and the races were off. Then it was time to install new races. For the bottom one I decided to create a tool of my own, so I could hammer and force it in evenly. The top one went in very easily using the old race as a driver. Then I just smeared some more grease into already well packed bearings and some to the race and installed the stem. Next step (the most "HiFi" of this job) was to set the adjustment nut in there. I first tightened it as tight as I could by hand and a bit more with a hammer and a puncher and pushed it a few times from lock to lock to seat the bearings. After this I loosened the nut and tightened it to the point were I could feel some drag. Then I backed it off until I felt some play and tightened until no play was noticable and left it there. Tightening was done by three fingers, so thats not very tight (I don't know, if thats too loose, but it feels fine while in use and theres no play in there). Then I just locked the locknut and put all the remaining pieces on and went for a test drive...and oh boy, did it feel good! I think I will check the bearing after a while again, as it could loosen just a bit while settling in. And yes, I know this text would've been so much more informational if I had some pics to go along with it. All I can provide now is a pic of the "special" tools used during the operation: Over and out for now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 If they didn't have the correct grease on them, or were not greased enough, it could have just leaked out over time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 That might be, although I would've used lipbalm or my wifes hand cream over liquid oil :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Question: did the top bearing easily slide down the stem to seat on the top race, or was this bearing tight on the stem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Question: did the top bearing easily slide down the stem to seat on the top race, or was this bearing tight on the stem? Yes, it did slide in very easilly to the well cleaned stem, virtually with almost no resistance at all. I suppose your's isn't sliding in easily, cause you ask ? What's the number on the top bearing ? There are also small tolerances while making bearings and when the bearing meets the tighter end of the tolerance, it might be quite a tight fit in some cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Yes, mine was a pretty tight fit. Discussion here: http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/71663-installing-new-steering-stem-bearings/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.