| Author | Message | ||
     Timbscg |
Has anyone installed All Balls steering bearings on a Uly? Results? Thanks!  http://www.ebay.com/itm/390502739093?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2648 | ||
| Pontlee77 |
installed to a friends bike did put a good amount of the harley blue grease, and so far so good, good rubber seals. if i had to change mine i'd get these bearings with no doubt. | ||
| Bosh |
Those look like a great idea and for only $25.00 seems like a fantastic upgrade. I've already replaced my steering bearings once (with stock) and it seems like they may be starting to go out again. I can feel the front end "click" once in awhile when brakes are first applied. I'm going to order a set for when mine kick it. | ||
| Ourdee |
Plan on them for set #3 if needed. | ||
| Djohnk |
Yup, I put them in. They work great. Had to re-tighten them after about a week, but after that no problems. | ||
| Yjsrule |
I put a set in mine a year and a half ago, they work good. Better front end feel with the tapered bearings, no idea why though. The stock setup seems like a really bad design to me. | ||
| Dtaylor |
I too will be installing tapered head bearings, and have the bike stripped down in anticipation. Pontlee, Djohnk, Yjsrule (or anyone else for that matter  -- I'm curious how difficult it was putting the races in the steering head. I'm hoping that freezing the races and heating the steering head will make the job easy, is that even necessary? | ||
| Timbscg |
Excellent. And thanks for the feedback. To Djohnk's point, I saw one post that suggested they be tightened, loosened, and tightened a couple of times to ensure they seat. Appreciate the feedback. | ||
| Djohnk |
I threw the new bearings in the freezer for about an hour or so before I installed them and they tapped right in with a small hammer. Probably would have been better to press them in but I didn't have the tools. Had to heat the steering head with a heat gun to remove the old bearings. There are notches in the steering column where you can pound them out with a long screw driver. (Message edited by djohnk on January 23, 2013) (Message edited by djohnk on January 23, 2013) | ||
| Dtaylor |
Thanks David! I was tempted to leave the steering head bearings for another year, but I'm glad I didn't. I was getting tired of the clicking. Besides, it's winter, so there's lots of quality time for me and the bike! Lots of awesome fire roads and occasional wheelies seem to have hammered some play into the stock bearings. I expect the replacement tapered bearings will suffer the abuse more graciously. Cheap Harbour Freight blind bearing puller. I bought it for wheel bearings, but it worked well for this application: There's still a little dried grease in there. But not much:  (Message edited by dtaylor on January 23, 2013) | ||
| Motorbike |
Is there a good way to tell if the bearings are going bad without having to disassemble the whole front end? I get the occasional click while braking on my 08 XT with only 12, 600 miles but I'm not sure it is coming from there. I cannot feel any play by trying to shake the the forks while the bike is jacked up and the bars turn back and forth very smoothly with no notchiness that I can feel. I'm hoping it's just something like maybe the brake cable moving or maybe pads shifting slightly as brakes are applied? It doesn't always make the clicking or snapping noise..... Dtaylor, yours were obviously shot, as you well know. Did you have any play in the bearings while it was still assembled. Did you feel any roughness while turning the forks or did it only make the click noise? Thanks for posting the vids. The only thing better than a picture is a video! | ||
| Dtaylor |
Bike currently has 32,000km. I probably first noticed the clicking around 14,000km. Re-torqued the steering head and the click went away for maybe 6000km. Click was always intermittent. The bearings actually felt quite smooth with the triple trees in place. They only felt notchy by finger with the triple trees removed. The lousy bearings showed no play when assembled and torqued down. Probably because the preload squeezes the inner races towards centre. That results in the bearings loaded against the innermost races of the outer races. If you take my meaning. Edit: I was looking at the bearings and noticed they are designed to take a lateral load from one side. Then I found Tootal's post from 2009 which describes it well: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show.cgi?tpc=142838&post=1381107#POST1381107 Although the bearings I pulled are getting dry and notchy, I don't know if they show excessive play, since I don't have new stock bearings to compare to. (Message edited by dtaylor on January 24, 2013) | ||
| Teeps |
When the steering head bearings are bad, it's impossible to ride a straight line. Trying to do so produces a slow weave left and right. Also, if the front end is raised off the floor, by the muffler lift points. The handle bars will stop in the straight ahead position, as if a "detent" existed. | ||
| Arcticktm |
Just tore down my '06 with about 28k miles last night. Been clicking under hard braking for well over 1 year. Maybe 2. No other issues, though, tracks fine and straight. Top bearing seemed OK, but seals showed some early cracking. Lower bearing was sloppy, much like Dtaylor video shows. I have the Harbor Fright blind bearing puller, so hopefully it will work for me this time (I couldn't get it to work on my rear wheel bearings back when I bought it). Probably gonna order these tapered replacements, though the low cost is actually making me nervous. Kind of a pain tearing all this stuff off, so I would rather not have to do it again! Also noticed my main harness has rubbed through the protective cloth tape, but not any of the wire insulation yet. I do have the large plastic guide on my bike. Any other tips or advice on R&R or the use of these tapers would always be welcome. Wish me luck...I'll probably need it. | ||
| Teeps |
Arcticktm Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 Any other tips or advice on R&R or the use of these tapers would always be welcome. Wish me luck...I'll probably need it. Make sure all press fit races are squarely and fully seated. Observe torque or setup specs from bearing manufacturer. If no torque or setup instructions are provided, then use the specs in the Buell service manual. | ||
| Arcticktm |
Does anyone know of any reason for different listings for '06-'07 & '08-'09 models for the tapered repalcement bearings? I was not aware anything had changed since '06 for these bearings. Just wondering. (Message edited by arcticktm on February 12, 2013) | ||
| Tootal |
The triple trees changed, maybe they went with a larger bearing since the forks are now further out increasing the leverage against the bearings. I'm theorizing here, somebody will correct me I'm sure!  | ||
| Uly_man |
I think the issue is not "if you can" but if they give the bike the same "feel" as before. Which on this bike is, if you can notice it, is just great. You also have to ask yourself WHY Buell would go to all the "extra cost/effort" of fitting a ball bearing head race in the first place. | ||
| Froggy |
That is what happens when you use fitment guides on Ebay. All XBs use the same bearings, the part number was superseded for 2008, they may have just changed vendors. | ||
| Teeps |
Uly_man Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2013 You also have to ask yourself WHY Buell would go to all the "extra cost/effort" of fitting a ball bearing head race in the first place. From a manufacturing point: I suspect this bearing/race setup is actually cheaper and easier to install. As there are only 2 parts to deal with as opposed to 6 pieces for the tapered bearings or even more if loose pack ball type steering bearings. Plus there is the element of misalignment of which the annular bearing can self correct. | ||
| Ourdee |
Plus the element of adjustment in the factory setting. | ||
| Uly_man |
"You also have to ask yourself WHY Buell would go to all the "extra cost/effort" of fitting a ball bearing head race in the first place." Sorry I said that because the OEM bearings are a special size and must have been "made to order" just for these bikes. Or at least I or no one else could find a set that fitted and the reason you had to use the OEM ones. Its only recently that the taper ones have been around. I think they were fitted to give a better "feel" on the bike. As far as the manufacturing costs go I think it is a very well built bike and the best I have ever had. Of course it does have the odd problem but nothing serious. I was talking to a guy today that had bought a brand new GS, as did his buddy, and they had nothing but problems over two years of ownership. | ||
| Motorbike |
Ourdee, I'm not understanding your comment on the element of adjustment in the factory setting. It seems to me that this needs to be done with either type of bearing, right? Thanks! | ||
| Arcticktm |
Froggy, Just to be clear, I certainly wasn't using a fitment guide from eBay. Not that naive. I was just safety checking to see if by chance some parts seller knew something I did not about the XB bearings. I later found that though they list a different item for '06-'07 & '08-'09, the bearing manufacturer Part Number is the same. | ||
| Arcticktm |
Finally got time to work on it.. Old bearings came out pretty simply using harbor freight blind bearing puller and heat gun. Putting in new All Balls stuff not so easy for me. Lower went in after a couple tries using threaded rod, washers, old bearing and nut as a install tool. Problem was keeping the race going in straight. Top one game me fits. Cocked sideways and ended up leaving a witness mark in the frame bore. Had to Dremel polish it out. Finally got it seated. Going to set the torque manually very light. Used SM torque of 40 ft lbs no seat them and was way too tight steering. Loosened to 10 ft lbs and is still a bit on the heavy side I think. I sure hope these work out since the buell setup is not the same as bikes that come its tapered rollers. Only the one top nut on our bikes may have me checking its torque at lot until I am satisfied. I did find my harness was work thru the outer cover during this work. Might have saved me from a future electrical gremlin. I'll look for some plastic conduit to cover it and consider leaving the frame mounted wire hide off. | ||
| Motorbike |
Arcticktm, did the All Balls bearings come with any instructions at all? Thanks. | ||
| Arcticktm |
Nothing but a tacky sticker! Didn't find anything very useful on their website, either, since our bike is not an OEM tapered design, which usually has some sort of spanner nut UNDER the top triple clamp to set a small amount of bearing preload. I will use a generic method of making sure there is no noticeable free play, snug down a bit (will be very little, like maybe 7 ft-lbs in terms of torque), check that steering feels "free" enough, and then check the top nut periodically until I feel secure. Thinking about securing the top nut in some way (dab of RTV?) just for peace of mind. | ||
| Motorbike |
What type of grease did you pack the bearings with? Also, what kind of job was it to just get at the bearings? Would it work to just swing the whole fork assembly and triple clamps off to the side after removing the pivot shaft from the bearings? Did you follow service manual instructions? I apologize for all the dumb questions but I just have a feeling I will be doing this job sometime, hopefully not for a while though. Thanks! | ||
| Teeps |
Arcticktm, I would like to revise my above statement about using factory torque specs to; do not use Buell torque spec. Instead follow the instructions, except the torque spec, found in the service manual. See pg 1.12 in maintenance section of Ulysses service manual. You will tighten the nut to remove all play. Then check the turning force as measured with a fish scale. And, adjust tighter or looser as needed to achieve the desired turning force. And, yes the manual says to use Loctite to secure the setting. | ||
| Arcticktm |
Teeps - That's pretty close to what I plan to do. Not sure if I will bother getting a fish scale or just go by feel and comparison to other bikes I have. I did use a tighter setting (about SM spec) just to initially seat things and get the new parts settled in with a few turns back and forth. Mbike - I just got normal bearing grease tub from auto parts store. Specifically I picked a Ford spec version with moly in it. Most of work getting to bearings is in disassembly of the headlight shroud area. I took apart more than I needed to in retrospect. Could have left the top instrument cluster intact. Honestly, you could leave most intact and just remove the clutch cable and brake level asm when removing entire front end as a unit. I choose to take it all apart (removing forks, etc) to make it easier to handle with 1 person. Note the shaft you refer to is actually a spindle pressed into the lower triple clamp. The OEM bearings will stay in the frame, since they are a pressed in, ball bearing type, and not the tapered type I used to replace them (as shown in initial post here). Mostly followed SM instructions, except as noted above in removing more parts for easier handling. |
