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Buell Forum » 1125R Superbike Board » Archives 001 » Archive through July 08, 2010 » Some thoughts on Steering bearing "clicking" « Previous Next »

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Dipstick
Posted on Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - 11:54 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

It seems to be temperature related. I have had "front end clicking" on my 09R since new. Installed a GPR stablizer at 8000 mi. with the front wheel elevated and re-torqued the steering bearings in the process in a cold air-conditioned shop.

The clicking was still the same after the installation.

Took it on a 60 mi. ride in 90+F and the clicking (when holding front brake and pushing and pulling the bike) was gone.

This has to be the valving in the front forks because after a few hours back in the cold shop, the clicking was back!

Parked the bike outside in the heat the next day for a few hours and the clicking was gone again.
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Rsh
Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 02:46 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

The clicking can also be caused by the front rotor floating on the drive bushings.

The rotor does move when holding the front brake and pushing and pulling the bike.
Depending how worn the drive bushings are, the click will become more pronounced as the bushings wear.
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Jdugger
Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 02:58 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

> The clicking can also be caused by the front rotor floating on the drive bushings

Yup. Keep an eye on those bushings, too. They are a wear part. Mine seem to need replacing about every 3 sets of pads unless I wanna toss the rotor.
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Bueller4ever
Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 08:29 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

I finally got mine to stop by loosening all the pinch bolts for the fork tube and wacking the lower triple tree(correct terminology?) with a rubber mallet to free it from the fork tubes. After torquing the steering bearing and all the pinch bolts, the popping is gone. It seemed like the lower triple tree clamp was in a bind. Tapping it with a rubber mallet made it move down quite a bit, but the forks didn't move in the upper clamps.

The popping may have been all in my head.
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Carbonbigfoot
Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 10:00 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Mine had the clicking, got worse over time, and it went completely away with replacing the bearings.

Some data indicates increased wear if you tend to use the front brakes aggressively.

As always, FWIW.


R
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Drawkward
Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 10:41 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Bueller4ever FTW. I did something very similar and by clunk is gone.
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Bueller4ever
Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 11:10 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

My first try actually made the clunk worse, but after smacking it with the hammer all is well. You can fix anything givin a big enough hammer.

Replacing the bearings is HD's shotgun approach to fixing things. You could easily replace the bearings, improperly torque everything and still have a clunk.
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Dipstick
Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 11:50 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Front rotor drive bushings are a good thought.

I repeated the "cold/hot" test without touching the front brake, just compressing the forks. Results are the same, clicks when cold, silent when warm.

This has to be valving in the forks.
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Milleniumx1
Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 - 02:00 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Same with mine ... Sitting in my garage (unheated but insulated) in the winter, the front will clunk every time you compress the forks or even when returning it to its sidestand. Once spring got here, no clunk of any sort no matter how hard I try. My money says I'll be hearing it again around December or so ... But it always rides fine!!

Mike
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