| Author | Message | ||
     Slacker83 |
Ok first time poster long time lurker. I just replaced my steering stem bearings on my 06 uly with the all balls bearings. I took measurements on my forks and they were protuding 19mm from top of the triple to the top of the fork. When I reassmbled everything with the all balls bearings I get 15mm and that is with my lower triple hitting my reflector on the forks. Looking at pictures it seems the reflector is really close or hitting the lower triple. I couldn't find a torque setting for the stem bearings but they seem to be tight and don't slow down movement. My wonder was if the seals are causing the difference like my triples are sitting up higher because of the seals? Or am I crazy and just go ride it? Steve | ||
| Panhead_dan |
You may be crazy but don't just ride it until you get it all sorted out. | ||
| Xbimmer |
I just did mine this past weekend and ran into the same issue on my '06. I used Timken Set-14's and HD Sportster seals not All Balls. The stack of bearings/seals was just enough of a larger dimension to cause the upper triple clamp to sit a little higher, and the reflectors would bump the lower clamp before the forks could push up high enough to seat the stop ring. I simply removed the reflectors, this allowed the forks to seat properly into the upper clamp, then I snugged (not tightened) the upper clamps to the forks. I snugged/not tightened the upper cap nut, loosely snugged the lower fork clamps, loosely installed the wheel and compressed the forks a few times to line everything up. I backed off and then torqued the cap nut to 7 lbs/ft as recommended by BadWebber Teeps which gave me 5 lbs resistance on my fish scale. Finished up with the normal procedure for fork installation torque sequence, rode around the neighborhood a bit and nothing fell off. I gotta say the steering is excellent with these tapered rollers. Went for a ride Monday and what an improvement over my notchy second set of stockers. I may reinstall the reflectors, may not. My only reservation is the Sportster seals aren't going to cut it, it's a double-lip design and apparently the steering head of the Sporty is taller than the XB, the seal lips won't contact the outside perimeter of the XB's bearing recess since the bearings can't seat any deeper. Guess I'll have to get some All Balls seals, if they're any different. | ||
| Skifastbadly |
I replaced mine recently with OEM bearings and everything went swimmingly. | ||
| Teeps |
Skifastbadly Posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2015 - I replaced mine recently with OEM bearings and everything went swimmingly. Yes, that works, too. | ||
| Slacker83 |
xbimmer that is exactly the info I was looking for! I'll work on it tomorrow and follow what you have listed. Glad to see someone else got the same results. Steve | ||
| Xbimmer |
Couple more tips. Use antiseize on the cap nut threads and the bottom edge where it contacts the upper clamp, but none on the side. The 7 lb/ft torque is very light and you want little resistance, and you don't want antiseize on the clamping surfaces. Teeps pointed out once the nut can be accessed from the bottom and he's right! In the future I can make any adjustments without removing the bars. When torquing the lower clamp bolts and the axle pinch bolts I've found when you tighten one bolt the other loosens, so torque those down alternating in stages. I use red threadlock on all clamp bolts but antiseize on the axle pinch bolts, YMMV. I also hit all major fasteners on my bike with the wire wheel before reinstalling but I may be a little obsessive there. Remember the axle is reverse thread and double check everything. Enjoy your serviceable new tapered rollers. | ||
| Arcticktm |
Interesting. I replaced my worn out '06 stock bearings with the All balls tapered set up last spring, but didn't seem to have this issue. Forks are still seated against the stop rings. I imagine the reflector location may not be very precise perhaps. I didn't read teeps post first, but I also ended up pretty close to the 7 ft-lbs, with just slightly more resistance (fish scale measurement) than the service manual specfies for the stock bearings. Happy with them so far (1.5 years later). I did go back and re-torque them once just to be sure. Toughest part for me was seating the all balls tapered race in the upper steering head location. | ||
| Slacker83 |
I've put about 500-600 miles on the bike since the install and everything seems well. I really wondered if it would have been smart to over torque them first to squish the seals a little and then loosen and torque to the 7 ft lbs. I haven't done that but had wondered if that would make a difference. When I measured I was about 4mm short. I would guess that after the new seals settled you might get 2mm of deflection out of each of them. | ||
| Sagehawk |
Most wheel bearings that are Timken take a torque and then back off and tighten by hand until cotter key finds home. I thought ford's were 18 ft/lbs for setting bearings. |
