Installing All Balls Racing Tapered Steering Head Bearings

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JimLor

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I’m writing this for those of us who aren’t wrench-turners by trade or by hobby and experience, but still want to delve into the inner workings of our bikes and do as much maintenance as we can w/o dealer involvement. If you’re at the upper end of mechanical expertise, you can move on unless you want to check my details here, which is fine!

I replaced my steering head bearings with the All Balls Racing (AB) set (22-1003) from All Balls Racing All Balls Racing which as you will see, are much more substantial then the OEM bearings. I will caveat this by saying that I was not unhappy with the OEM bearings and I wasn’t having any problems – I was overdue for the bearing maintenance (I’m at 25k+) and figured I’d go the whole route and put in new ones.

To get this done you have to remove the side plastic, front wheel, forks, and the upper and lower brackets. Here’s a picture of what my upper setup looked like with the upper bracket removed, looks dirty but the grease/dirt wiped right of and the components looked good.

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One note of caution – you must remove the brake wire jumble that is attached to the lower bracket. There are 2 horizontal screws (bolt head) that go in front to rear and 2 vertical Allen head bolts that go in from the bottom up. Do not get in a hurry and loosen the single larger bolt underneath (vertical) – brake fluid will leak out and you will realize you screwed up! I got done yesterday, put Maxine back together, crossed my fingers, …nope, no front brakes – no I have to bleed them before I test ride.

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The upper and lower bearings consist of 3 parts; inner race, bearings, outer race. This is a mixed picture, it shows the OEM bearings on the left, and the All Balls bearings in the center (inner race comes installed inside) and the All Balls outer race on the right.

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EDIT - here's another picture that shows the difference between the OEM outer race (left) and the AB outer race (right); AB is significantly more robust!

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When you pull the lower bracket you’ll see the inner race which is pressed onto the steering stem (pull the rubber dust shield off), it’s a different color then everything else;

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the bearings which are ball bearings in a plastic race; and the outer bearing which is pressed into the steering head. Upper bearing: the outer race is likewise pressed into the top of the steering head, the bearings are the same as the lower bearings, and the inner race is easily removed as it just sits on top of the bearings. I should mention here that the AB bearing sets only have 2 components, the outer race and the bearings which have the inner race already installed.

You need to remove the lower inner race off of the steering stem. I went to 2 dealers (1 Yami and 1 BMW) and neither would remove the bearing (I suspect that didn’t want to take the 30 seconds necessary). So, I took Smitty’s advice and used my handy Dremel with a cutoff wheel and cut a slot in the lower inner race (being careful not to cut into the steering stem) – I whacked it occasionally with a cold chisel hoping it would snap, what finally worked was using the cold chisel at an angle in the slot as if to unscrew the inner race, that did loosen the inner race and I was able to tap it off. This probably took all of 10 minutes.

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To remove both the lower and upper outer bearings (in the steering head), you take a Drift (a. A tool for ramming or driving something down; b. A tapered steel pin for enlarging and aligning holes) and drive the outer races out of the steering head. As you look down into the steering head, you can see where the race sits, you will also see at 3 and 9 O’clock small indents (I should add that the outer race is already gone in this picture).

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You position your drift on the race within those indents and tap away. You don’t need to whack away for all you’re worth, but “firm” taps are called for. Alternate from side to side and eventually the race will pop out. Put a towel over your gas tank so the upper inner race won’t scratch it when it pops out.

Clean the grease off of everything. I installed the new lower and upper inner races first. I used the old OEM outer races on top of the new outer races to tap the new ones in. When you place the new race into the steering head it will go in about half way or more (just try and get it evenly inserted). I then placed the old race over top of the new race matching their edges, and tapped away with what is actually a small upholstery hammer – rotate your tapping around and you’ll feel the race seating itself. You can feel when it’s reached bottom by the feedback you feel in the hammer, it’ll sound solid and bounce back. The upper is much easier to insert – for the bottom race you’re working on your back looking up, and you have the brake lines in the way, but neither job is difficult.

Getting the lower inner race on the steering stem is next. You first put the dust shield on the stem (you’ll find that the dust shield will actually snap onto the lower part of the bearing to help you tell which side is up/down) then the bearing. You will have to drive the bearing onto the shaft. I put the bearing on the shaft and then used the old inner race (the one I cut off) on top of that. That lets you hit the inner race on the AB inner race and not the entire bearing (put the old inner race on upside down, skinny part down). I then used a 1 ¼” PVC pipe over that, put a piece of wood on top of that, and whacked away. Note – the bottom of the lower bracket is not level, the ends stick down and the center is not supported – put the center of the bracket on something solid to support it, an anvil would be nice if you have one handy. Now, my bearings did not seat all the way down, there is a small gap. But, I did get the feedback that indicates that the race is as far down as it’s going to go. I’ll keep an eye on it in the future, but I’m confident it’s seated as far as it’s going to go. (Edit – sitting in a meeting a few minutes ago I was bored and jotted down a picture of the stem/lower inner race – lo and behold it hit me like a freight train – the lower inner race is wide at the bottom and narrows at top to accept the bearings. In other words, the bearings actually sit on the lower inner race above the bottom of the stem! So, if the AB bearings are to seat at the same place on the stem, there will be a gap at the bottom – that’s my story.)

Grease, I did use the grease in the palm and run the bearing over your hand method before I drove on the bearing – I also put more on the outside just before inserting the lower bracket/stem back inside the steering head.

Next, I greased the upper bearing and put it all back together, wiggling the bracket every once in a while to make sure it was seating/seated and moving properly. The upper bearing goes in like this – outer race (already in the steering head) bearing, dust seal then the various nuts, etc. The book says to torque the nut (the one you need the million dollar spanner to properly tighten) to an initial 37 Lbft, then back off and retorque to a final 13 lbft. Smitty (my guide in this process who deserves and has my appreciation!) said that because these are tapered bearings, he added 10 lbft to both. I split the difference and initially torqued to 43 lbft, backed off and torqued to a final 18 lbft.

Once I got everything back together, I found I had no clutch and no front brakes! No clutch I assume because I had the handlebars laying on top of the bike at strange angles and I assume the fluid was “upset.” (Note – I have the D&D risers and have to remove the handlebars from the upper bracket (triple tree) in order to get the socket on my million dollar nut (Stem nut). After letting the bike sit and squeezing the lever a few times, the clutch is back to normal. I’m sure my brake line harness loosening fubar let air into the front brake system and I will need to bleed the brakes to get them back – it did.

I think this job is well within the capabilities of most shade tree mechanics and those who want to learn to do stuff to their bikes. Looked at in its entirety it might seem a daunting task, but when you break it down into its component parts, nothing is difficult The only special tool you need is the spanner and a drift – frankly, any long, thin, probably metal rod will work in place of the drift (stout screwdriver, metal rod, etc). This took me almost a week because I was doing it in between doing other household chores and duties. If I have set aside the time to do it all at once, I would guess 3 – 5 hours would probably be total time from start to finish with disassembly/assembly taking the majority of the time.

Additionally, the folks at All Balls Racing agreed to send me 2 sets of the bearings to give out as door prizes at EOM – so 2 folks out there will have an opportunity to do this thanks to “All Balls.”

Got my brakes bled last night and rode on Tuesday. Steering feels very nice, smoother at low speeds and I guess I’d say more solid at higher speeds; not difficult to turn, but it does feel more solid. I’ll also add that I did have the “wobble under deceleration” that some folks have mentioned. Yes, it was after I put on my Avons, but it was also after 19,000 or so miles without steering head maintenance. And, it was not at all noticeable unless I took my hands off the handlebars while decelerating (and even then it wasn’t a big deal). That is now gone – can’t say whether that’s because of the tapered bearings, or whether normal maintenance and retorqueing of the OEM bearings would provide the same results. The All Balls are a nice addition and now I know more about my bike then I did before.

I hope this helps explain in sufficient detail (w/pictures) how to do this for those sitting on the fence not sure if they have the skill or not. Not that you need to do this, but if you want to, it’s not too difficult. As a way of thanks one more time, Smitty was very helpful to me on this project and his advice was much appreciated. If anyone has any questions, I’m more than happy to try and answer them based on my vast, vast experience of having done this exactly 1 time.

And I did this in Aug 2007:

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Nice write up, thanks!

Now I'll wait until after EOM before I buy a set ;)

 
Took my first longer ride this morning. I think the steering is too "loose." Hard to explain, the bearings aren't loose, they are solid in the steering head, but I think I need to torque the lower ring nut tighter than the 18 lbft I have it now to provide some more steering resistnace, if that makes sense. Smitty said he ran his 10 lbft tighter than the stock 13 lbft (I split the difference at 18); I'm going to go ahead and tighten mine to that setting also - 23 lbft. I'll post what differnece this makes. Might be a while though, Lorie and I are headed out on vacation tomorrow and I may or may not get to it before next weekend.

 
You are indeed supposed to tighten tapered steering head bearing a good bit more than you would for caged ball bearings..... this is due to a greater surface area contact with the tapered bearings compared with OEM caged bearings. The 23ft-lbs mentioned is a good figure; that's about what I used as well.

 
Thanks - if I can get the car packed for our trip quickly this afternoon I'll tighten them today!

 
...and the rest of the story. I took Warchild's advice and increased the final torque of the bearings to 25lbft. Better but still somewhat vague. Sat down, stared off into space and considered what was going on. Headslap, original initial torq 37 / final 13. Roughly a 3:1 ratio. Mine, with the increase of final torq to 25 was 43, about 1.7/1. Soooooo, one more time removing upper bracket, I tightned initially to 52lbft and final to 26lbft. Went for a ride and it's much better, no more "vague" feeling in the front. Again, this is a worthwhile change, not that hard to do, and actually kinda fun!

 
...and the rest of the story. I took Warchild's advice and increased the final torque of the bearings to 25lbft. Better but still somewhat vague. Sat down, stared off into space and considered what was going on. Headslap, original initial torq 37 / final 13. Roughly a 3:1 ratio. Mine, with the increase of final torq to 25 was 43, about 1.7/1. Soooooo, one more time removing upper bracket, I tightned initially to 52lbft and final to 26lbft. Went for a ride and it's much better, no more "vague" feeling in the front. Again, this is a worthwhile change, not that hard to do, and actually kinda fun!
Since you were a little unsure about whether or not you got the lower bearing seated all the way down on the triple tree, is it possible that there was a gap there and the bearing is working it's way down a couple of thousandths under use causing the bearings to loosen up?

When I did this job I used a long steel pipe rather than PVC, and I worked it as a slide hammer to pound the bearing down tight. It was a very tight fit, but there was no doubt that it was fully seated when I was done. I was hitting it solidly enough that don't think a PVC pipe would have held up. I taped the shaft to protect it while I slid the pipe up and down to pound the bearing.

If I were to do it again I'd heat the bearing in the oven to open the center up a little, as recommended by one or two people on this forum.

And add my thanks to you for getting a couple of sets of bearing for the EOM swag pile.

 
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Could be...I was concerned about that at first, but I'll tell you I beat the living crap outta that inner race and it gave all indications (bounce back, solild feel) that it was as far as it cared to go. I agree that a better "tool" would be a metal vice PVC pipe. I was real concerned at first, but then I looked at the old inner race and you can see that it lifts the bearings a fair piece (probably close to 3/8") off of dead bottom - so I convinced myself that all was ok. But, yes, you certainly may be right. Maybe increasing the initial torque did seat if farther down - all seems good now.

If I had to do it over again I'd also heat the bearing (I stuck the bottom bracket in the freezer); actually, I'd make a concerted effort to find a machine shop or the like who could pull the bearing off and seat the new one with some hydrolic press or the like!

 
Some opinions may differ, but there seems to be some size difference in the lower All-Balls bearing set. Heating of the race and freezing of the steering pivot is probably a very good idea. When I did the install, the lower All-balls bearing set did NOT want to fit all the way down. Repeated attempts to fit this peice resulted in the lower inner race finally breaking. (This was after I resorted to using a hydraulic press) When I removed the now-damaged new bearing assembly, the steering shaft had actually be "scarred" and damaged. Thus, I am not convinced that this bearing set is sized exactly. That, or perhaps there is some manufacturing variance in the steering shaft, as the All-Balls bearing contacts a greater surface area than the factory ball bearing set.

 
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Maledizione! Can't even correct my spelling when the word's right in front of me. Time to go sleep with a beautiful woman! Ciao!

 
Scab you are right in with that info. All bearings are measured in millimeters, gives the best fit. Something you culd have done before the install is get the measurement out of the service manual for the steering shaft and then measure the inside diameter of the bearing going on and see how close or to much difference there is . you may need to get a different set of bearings. If you would have taken the numbers off the bearing you could have gone to a bearing whole sale house and got bearings there most likely at a lower price.

The easiest and best way to put that bearing on goes like this: Clean the bearing shaft do not handle let set, the tempurature from your hands will expxnd the metal and cause problem when you go to put the bearing on. Next heat the bearing up to about 400F than with a welding glove or something that can with stand the heat drop the bearing down the shaft, have the shaft in a vise so you will be able to take a drift punch and tap in the bearing if needed to get it to seat. Do not worry you can beat on the inside of the bearing race and not harm it . That metal is quality you will not even scratch it.

That is the easiest and simpliest way to install nothing to high tech. what qualifies me for this technique I got to work with some older good Catapillar and John Deere mechanics when I was younger.

The way Jim Lor cut his bearing off is a good way just have to be careful . Scratches running parrallel are O.K. it is when you make them at right andles or vertical that matter. I you are worried about a scratch, you can go get some liquid steelad fill the hole than sand back smooth and to specs so bearing will go on.

The bearings that come on the bike are more than adequate for riding. That is why you have or up grade your suspension by the time the impact load reaches the bearing its engery has diminished greatly to where there is no punishment to the bearing.

I am saving my money and just adding grease.

Did you think about putting a grease fitting on each bearing, so you so not have to take it apart again???

It is a good up grade for the bike

As far as torking a bearing to a set amount or tork, I believe is you will have more problems than if you do it by feel and the amount of movemet that you want or would like for drag. Somethings do not need to be torked experience and feel works best for me.

weekend rider :)

 
Just a tip, and I've used them on several occasions for auto ball joints, NAPA has press services. They have all the fixtures and attachments and can do it for you in a day, usually.

I just ordered my tapered kit from All Ball, along with all the parts to rebuild my forks from Yamaha. Can't wait to tackle it. From what I'm hearing, Dremeling off that lower inner race is going to provide the most excitement.

By the way, Incredible post. I've studied the diagrams of this assembly long and hard. I didn't even need the pics!

In the service manual, they tell you to get the lower inner race off the shaft with a Floor Chisel. They even illustrate a hand holding the chisel pointed straight in, and the other striking it with a hammer. Has anyone tried this?

 
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