Steering Head Bearings

I'm convinced my head bearings are a tiny bit loose, but I don't know how to tighten them really. Is this a job best left to the shop?

Read up on this thread. They said that the steering head bearings should be checked every 12,000 miles.

http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-technical/7045-something-loose-front-end.html

I'm going on the UK rideout on Saturday, maybe I'll get someone else to ride it and get a second (and maybe third) opinion.

Well I have noticed for the past bit that my front end seemed loose. I tried just tightening the upper nut on the tripple clamp and that did nothing. Then I read through this stuff and remember the two nuts that are under the upper tripple tree. I had my roommate hold the bars while I removed the tripple clamp and with the help of a hammer and screwdriver... no more slop!

-bryan

I've had the entire front end off the bike it's not that hard. if you want to do it I can walk you through it. here's some pics of mine while it was apart.

http://www.600riders.com/forum/bar/1098-new-forks-installed.html

I plan on changing my bearing over winter. Anyone have any advice on the best bearing to get?

The one I hear about is usually All Balls All Balls Racing Home

I replaced my Steering head bearing this past weekend. It really wasn't that hard, matter of fact, it was really easy. I replaced them with the All Balls Bearings. So far I'm happy with them. I can say that the bottom factory bearings were nasty as heck, looks like water was just sitting there rusting them out.

David

Taper roller bearings in the steering head is by far the best mod I have done. The difference in road handling is indescribable...

Toni

The service guide shows a special tool to loosen the nut holding the bearings. Did you buy this tool from a Yamaha dealer? If so, how much $?

Thanks,

John

JohnP said:

The service guide shows a special tool to loosen the nut holding the bearings. Did you buy this tool from a Yamaha dealer? If so, how much $?

Thanks,

John

Click to expand...

I used a brass drift and a hammer to get the lock nuts off.

I want to get a spanner wrench and do it right, as mine feel as though they're working loose a bit (been 2 years since I replaced mine with the All balls tapered).

The most important part is to make sure you get the races pressed in STRAIGHT.

This is what I used to get my races pressed in. Once they were started, and everything was drawn in as tight as I could get it, I tapped them the rest of the way in with the old races

This issue was discussed a few months back. Someone posted that Grainger sells this tool:
Hand Tools > Wrenches > Spanner Wrenches > Spanner Wrench,6 3/8 L : Grainger Industrial Supply

I have a similar tool for working on bicycles. An old bottom bracket wrench. You can get them here:
Bike Tools Etc. - 1000's of bicycle tools and parts for the home mechanic!

I'm not sure if Yamahaha recommends using one or two of these tools. Two may be preferred (not "necessary", mind you) so that once the proper tension is reached on the lower of the two nuts, the lower nut can be held in place while the upper nut is tightened against it, thereby locking them down without changing the tension.

As for the cups, there again, I've got a bicycle headset press that I'm gonna see if I can use. If, for whatever reason, that doesn't work, I'll probably resort to persuading them in with a piece of precision timber...

Personally, I wouldn't really recommend the drift and hammer method of adjustment, as it's just too easy to overload such a set of bearings and pretty much negate your efforts at replacing them, as they'll just eat themselves and the races well ahead of schedule. But of course, YMMV.

I've got a set of the All Balls bearings waiting to be installed. Though mine aren't giving me any grief yet, from the experiences posted here I'd say that around 10k it'll be about time to check 'em and probably replace. Not sure how to mitigate the apparent exposure issue. Perhaps there's a way to fit a seal of some sort to keep the water out -- again, something I've seen and used on bicycles with rather mixed results (for an example, putting a piece of inner tube around the area). With my luck I'd only manage to keep the water in rather than out...

JohnP said:

The service guide shows a special tool to loosen the nut holding the bearings. Did you buy this tool from a Yamaha dealer? If so, how much $?

Thanks,

John

Click to expand...

The steering nut wrench from Yamaha is ridiculously overpriced.

I fabricated my own tool using a piece of 6mm x 100mm flat bar.

FZ6-ZN

04fizzer said:

I used a brass drift and a hammer to get the lock nuts off.

I want to get a spanner wrench and do it right, as mine feel as though they're working loose a bit (been 2 years since I replaced mine with the All balls tapered).

The most important part is to make sure you get the races pressed in STRAIGHT.

This is what I used to get my races pressed in. Once they were started, and everything was drawn in as tight as I could get it, I tapped them the rest of the way in with the old races

Click to expand...

I just pulled my front end down a few mins ago to change the fork oil. While I was at it I pulled the tripple trees to check those bearings. The inner race up top looks nice. However the race on the bottom not so much. The bearings on the bottom of mine look identical to yours. Tomorrow I am going to spend some time with a dremel and a polishing tip. That and some varsal to clean up the bearings and see where I get. Hopefully that will get them somewhere. We shall see.

-bryan

JohnP said:

The service guide shows a special tool to loosen the nut holding the bearings. Did you buy this tool from a Yamaha dealer? If so, how much $?

Thanks,

John

Click to expand...

You can use the spanner in the bikes tool kit to loosen those nuts(the ones with notches in them). Or you can use a wrench positioned so you don't strip anything.

Make sure when you are replacing the bearings that you completely remove all the old bearing races. The bottom one can be hard to remove and easy to miss(it looks part of the steering stem). I accidently forgot that, and ruined the lower All Balls bearing trying to install it, so I have the stock bearings on the bottom and the AB's on the top. :spank:

SovietRobot said:

You can use the spanner in the bikes tool kit to loosen those nuts(the ones with notches in them). Or you can use a wrench positioned so you don't strip anything.

Click to expand...

I saw this, too. In the service manual they show a different handle on the wrench itself, but the wrench part is the same one you'd use to adjust your shock spring preload.