Steering head bearings
- Thread starter Lutin
- Start date
Steve T
Well-Known Member
Getting the races out of the headstock should be straight forward as long as you have a little bit of lip visible to thump with whatever long, blunt steel thing you have to hand.
Getting the bearing off of the stem is a bit different. Personally I strip it down till I've got the stem with the old bearing still attched / fitted and get the local dealer to cut it off.
Fitting the races, I use a home made tool to squeeze them in straight to start with then finish them off with a soft drift till they are fully seated in the stem - the sound changes when they are fully home. The home made tool is a length of 10mm threaded bar and some sturdy bits of steel plate that actually contact the races. A couple of nuts screwed down & up the threaded bar do the trick of squeezing the races home, keeping all level as they do of course.
The stem I put in the freezer for an hour or two and just before that time is up I heat up the bearing in the oven. The tolerances are such that the bearing should virtually slip dowm the stem. Finish it off with a suitably sized socket that only contacts the inner part of the bearing and tap it down the final few mm.
Steve T
Getting the bearing off of the stem is a bit different. Personally I strip it down till I've got the stem with the old bearing still attched / fitted and get the local dealer to cut it off.
Fitting the races, I use a home made tool to squeeze them in straight to start with then finish them off with a soft drift till they are fully seated in the stem - the sound changes when they are fully home. The home made tool is a length of 10mm threaded bar and some sturdy bits of steel plate that actually contact the races. A couple of nuts screwed down & up the threaded bar do the trick of squeezing the races home, keeping all level as they do of course.
The stem I put in the freezer for an hour or two and just before that time is up I heat up the bearing in the oven. The tolerances are such that the bearing should virtually slip dowm the stem. Finish it off with a suitably sized socket that only contacts the inner part of the bearing and tap it down the final few mm.
Steve T
Philwhiskeydrinker
Well-Known Member
Good luck are the first thoughts that come to mind!
I gently grind the lower inner race to remove, make sure you get at least a new lower seal too, pref upper & lower.
The outer races can be a pain as there is virtually no exposed lip to get a drift onto the back of the bearing!
One method that sounds plausible (but I've never personally tried) is to dremel 2 or 3 grooves into the bearing seat to expose more of the bearing outer race.
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I gently grind the lower inner race to remove, make sure you get at least a new lower seal too, pref upper & lower.
The outer races can be a pain as there is virtually no exposed lip to get a drift onto the back of the bearing!
One method that sounds plausible (but I've never personally tried) is to dremel 2 or 3 grooves into the bearing seat to expose more of the bearing outer race.
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Philwhiskeydrinker
Well-Known Member
Ironically, on the alloy framed Honda's, they machine notches into the bearing seat, it's a shame they can't be arsed to do the same on steel framed variants!
None of which helps you Lutin, good luck!
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None of which helps you Lutin, good luck!
Sent from my SM-A320FL using Tapatalk