tjhess74
boo-yah!
after acquiring my 08 recently, i discovered that it too has the dreaded ball type head bearings. i prefer the tapered ones, so i replaced them with tapered bearings from all balls racing.
ive found an easy way to to this, although ymmv.
i put a bungee around the front to hold the handle bars back/up and removed the inner dash panel.
after taking the forks/wheel off, i hammered out the old races. i used a 4"x4" square of plywood and a large socket to hammer the new ones in. the new races sat in the freezer for a few hours, then put them in place, put plywood over them, then the socket, then hammer into place. they went in nicely.
i used a self sacrificing cut off wheel on my dremel and cut a deep groove into the race on the steering stem. the groove was cut at a shallow angle to accommodate the dremel and not to cut the stem or bottom clamp...dont go to deep or youll nick the stem itself.
once the groove was cut, i put a large screwdriver blade into it, then popped it with a hammer. this split the race and it practically slid right off.
reinstalling the new stem race is just a matter of using the old one and a punch/hammer to seat it in place. hammer, turn the stem, hammer, turn the stem...well, you get the idea.
ive found an easy way to to this, although ymmv.
i put a bungee around the front to hold the handle bars back/up and removed the inner dash panel.
after taking the forks/wheel off, i hammered out the old races. i used a 4"x4" square of plywood and a large socket to hammer the new ones in. the new races sat in the freezer for a few hours, then put them in place, put plywood over them, then the socket, then hammer into place. they went in nicely.
i used a self sacrificing cut off wheel on my dremel and cut a deep groove into the race on the steering stem. the groove was cut at a shallow angle to accommodate the dremel and not to cut the stem or bottom clamp...dont go to deep or youll nick the stem itself.
once the groove was cut, i put a large screwdriver blade into it, then popped it with a hammer. this split the race and it practically slid right off.
reinstalling the new stem race is just a matter of using the old one and a punch/hammer to seat it in place. hammer, turn the stem, hammer, turn the stem...well, you get the idea.
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