Member Contributer maxredline Posted February 4, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted February 4, 2015 Okay, I'm getting frustrated... I have been looking for steering head bearings of the roller variety. I have heard that roller bearings may be the way to go but I would like to source out roller bearings and then make my decision. Of course there are parts from Honda, Ron Ayers.....which are ball bearings for the triple clamps Anyone know of a good source for after market bearings? I will probably be changing all the bearings I come across as I take things apart and clean things up as it is time at 60K kms, more choices the better! All your help is appreciated, Cheers all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer gll429 Posted February 4, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted February 4, 2015 allballs!!! http://www.allballsracing.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer maxredline Posted February 4, 2015 Author Member Contributer Share Posted February 4, 2015 Looks very promising, is the quality there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I did mine about 13 years ago in FL... I popped them out and took them to a machine shop / bearing shop. They looked at them, measured them, compared part numbers and cross referenced them. And then went in the back and came out with exactly the set of roller bearings that I wanted. Maybe even better quality than the Chinese bearings which you will be buying today. I should have kept the bearing part number. It was like 15.00 for both. The good ole days before the internet was so popular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer YoshiHNS Posted February 4, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted February 4, 2015 I've used the all balls on every bike I've had to do bearings on. Can't give a long-term report. I think they are actually Koyo bearings. Japanese. You can always try and find the equivalent timken bearing by size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Rush2112 Posted February 4, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted February 4, 2015 VXB sells all kinds of bearings... they have ballbearings in the web address but they also have roller, tapered, etc... http://www.vxb.com/ballbearings.html?gclid=CPaIlYWjx8MCFSgQ7Aod0zgAx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNRabbit Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I replaced my OEM steering head ball bearings with AllBalls tapered rollers last year. Been very happy with them. Over 20, 000 miles now without issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer VFROZ Posted February 5, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted February 5, 2015 Any industrial bearing suppliers will have any bearing you could possibly want for half the price. Just stick to "made in Japan", which is easy to do at industrial suppliers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 ^^^^^ What he said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer JZH Posted February 5, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted February 5, 2015 I'm sure the AllBalls bearings are fine, but I wouldn't buy bearings unless I knew who had manufactured them (or trusted the seller's judgment, i.e., Honda would only sell bearings of an acceptable quality; "eBay Bargin Bearins" might not have quite as rigorous quality control...) Bearing supply houses (another company I've heard of in the 'States is CBR Bearings) carry everything available, usually from several different manufacturers. Seals, too, are standardised. Most bearings used on Hondas are standard automotive bearings, identified by the numbers etched into one side of the bearing. This page I created many years ago when I replaced all of the non-engine bearings in my FP is out of date for pricing, but is nonetheless still quite useful for RC36s and can give you an idea what would be involved if you were to attempt the same thing on an RC46. Good luck. Ciao, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 IIRC All Balls typically sells KML bearings which are Chinese. At least the ones I've looked at were. Personally I would rather use FAG, NACHI or SKF if possible. Honda OEM, the ones I've bothered to look at and remember, were Nachi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer YoshiHNS Posted February 6, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted February 6, 2015 I thought All Balls were Koyo. I'll have to check this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer maxredline Posted February 7, 2015 Author Member Contributer Share Posted February 7, 2015 Thank you all. I bought steering stem roller bearings and the fork bushing kit from AllBalls, Dust seals from Ron Ayers and some 10W fork oil from Lordco. The right fork came apart easy but I am still having trouble with damper rod nut on the right. It has pen oil on it at the moment. I maight have to add some heat from a heat gun to get this nut off. FYI the bushing were out of spec on the left side and would imagine the right will be the same. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer jeffyjeff Posted February 7, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted February 7, 2015 I have logged over 130,000 on two bikes after the all-balls conversion, a 1998 Pacific Coast and a 1998 VFR. The Pacific Coast, in particular, benefitted most from the conversion. It had a front end shimmy at around 40-45mph when you took your hands off the bars. The taper roller all-balls conversion cured the problem, and I went on to ride that bike 8 more years after that. I did the same conversion on my VFR shortly after acquiring the bike. Now I have 4 years and 50,000 miles on that one without complaint. For the record, the steering head bearing swap was much easier on the VFR. Jeff J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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