for those who upgraded to tapered steering bearings...

[gbalias]

i dont suppose you happened to take any decent measurements of the components did you? im wanting to compare a couple stem OD's.

the tapered bearing's ID that I have from allballs, AND 2 new bearings from other mfg are all oversize compared to the stem. its not a press fit, they slide on freely. and because of this free play, it allows for a front end clunk.

ive seen a few people do this change and no mention of this. there is no way to adjust out this gap. its HIGHLY unlikely i have 3 bearings, all of which incorrectly sized......so....


i measured bottom of stem at .9986", and bearing bore to be .9992"

i peened the stem just enough to secure the lower bearing (needing setting with a pipe and hammer) and juuuuuust enough to remove the play from the top bearing but still allowing for adjustment.

rebuilt forks while i was in there and with almost 40k miles on the bike, it feels just as good as the day i rolled it off the showroom floor.

dare i say even better

[Gloomshadow]

mine tapped in like a normal wheel bearing then you grease up the rollers assemble everything and torque it up.. .. you sure they sent you the correct kit?

if you pause it, there is a number written on the box they came in.. is that what they sent you? My outer race or cup just tapped right in to the upper and lower...

[gbalias]

im sure. thats why i picked up bearings from auto parts too...i wanted to compare and all of them were equally larger than stem.


you had to tap the bearing onto the stem correct (all of mine just slid on with no resistance)? and also the outer races (top and bottom) tapped into the frame? the outer races i had no issues with, they are tight and pressed into the frame.

[Gloomshadow]

yeah.. tap them into the stem and then grease everything up. assemble everything... torque it up a bit, move the handlebars right and left, torque it up some more, then loosen it back down a bit, then torque it up to spec.. just to make sure everything seats properly.... AND I MEAN PACK IT FULL OF GREASE LIKE CRAZY.. make sure to use the dust covers and all of that


YEAH just outer races tap in.. rest of it just falls together. pack it with grease and torque it to spec correctly

[snrusnak]

Hey the bearings do not "tap" onto the stem, they are not press fit. They slide on. They should be "snug" though. When I did mine (twice now) it was tight. I've used all balls and some generic trailer bearings from autozone, I want to say Timken.

That said, I'm going back to oem. The tapered is better, but the dust covers are terrible. Within ~1 year or so they had dirt in them and were binding up, were getting "notchy" while making slight turns at high speeds. Was getting very unsafe. The dust covers are the issue. That's my experience anyway.

[Gloomshadow]

mine wouldn't slide in , no-way.. I had to put the old bearing over them and tap.. it was a gentle tap mind you but it wouldn't slide in, I tried that.. I cleaned up the stem too. Must be a slight variation in the stems.. the old bearings were bad, maybe the stem went slightly oval on me?

[snrusnak]

Yeah I don't know. The way I did mine I pressed in the outer races top and bottom, then slid one bearing on the stem with the lower triple tree, then guided it from the bottom to the top, then dropped the top bearing over the stem and attached the top triple and nut. Went to together easy, no resistance from the bearings. But they weren't loose either. They should be able to be put on with out external force (force other than your hand).

[Gloomshadow]

mine were stock busted bearings at 85000 miles.. as I was backing down my driveway hitting my brakes I could hear and feel that "click" of the front end as it wobbled.. I didn't feel anything strange while underway but hitting the brakes while rolling backwards I could feel the wobble.. I think that wobble made the steering stem slightly oval.. had to be. It didn't take much to get mine in but you had to tap them in may case... evidently in his case too. Just depends on how much abuse that stem went through I guess..

[gbalias]

You guys have the right idea..,but all the bearings I tried were all loose.just under .001" of free play. The lower bearing would fall off if I turned the lower clamp upside down on the bench.

Even if tqed to 100 ft lb it would still have clunked. I do not think you should tq the tapered bearings to the spec in the manual. That'sfor the sealed balls, not tthe tapered rollers. I always do tapered by feel how gloom stated

[Gloomshadow]

Im not sure what you are talking about... the cups will be a tight fit into the holes in the frame.. the other stuff just drops on to the lower triple tree and you pull it up into the lower cup.. drop the top stuff into the cup and tighten it down... the inner roller bearings are just loose on the triple clamp they will slide up and down on the lower. its not tight..

and I DID tighten to spec.. I just did it in stages.. tighten , move, loosen, tighten back up, move it ect ect .. just to make sure it all falls into place and doesn't bind up.