Service your steering head bearings
 

My bike is now 2 years old at the end on this month so a little more maintance needed.

How to service you streering head bearings in place.

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Undo the lock nut first.

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My bearing were still very good after 2 years buy a little short in grease. You need to inspect each bearing for damage & pitting. If needed wash then out with degrease or petrol, blow them dry then regrease them. If there are any signs of pitting or flat spots they will need to be replaced.

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The grease should be forced behind the the rollers so it is well greased.

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Clean both the top & bottom seals & apply a small film of grease.

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Fit back the nuts & tighten the bottom one up just until it stops turning with a little resistance, turn the wheel left then right & recheck the nut tension.

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Once you think to have the adjustment is right move the wheel left then right, then feel for free play by grabbing the fork legs & move them back wards & forwards, there should be no free play. If the adjustment is correct the wheel should fall from the center position to either side.

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Nice job, Kev another great addition to your recipee of maintance tips.

And for those who haven't heard about this yet, Kev has compiled a huge list of maintenance procedures in his new "blockbuster" CD-ROM containing all possible procedures to maintain your bike from easy tips on tricking the fuelling surging, or changing your sprockets and chain up to complicate engine removal and much more, it's a fantastic usable guide which can help anyone from beginners to advanced mechanics. You can find this CD-ROM available for sale on our website here http://www.xt660.com/site/node/325 or just PM Kev directly for your copy.

General rule of thumb... when packing any bearing with grease... 2/3rds full. Gives plenty of lube with space to expand when it gets warm.

That includes all radial ball, angular contact ball, roller, angular contact roller and needle bearings too I believe.

Just for those who didn't know :hcrap:

Being tapered roller bearings with only one seal on one of the side of the bearings, if you over greases these bearings the excess grease will be displace through the bearing opposite the seal into the sealed steering head area.

Yup!

Most of the bearings we use at work are usually in a sealed area, not sealed themselves. Things like this don't matter too much so long as there is grease there.

Not like their going to spin at 70mph! :hcrap:

1/3rd is enough. Manufacturer's recommendation. I have changed my bearings after 2 years. Lower one was gone. Black and rusty. Unbelievable.

When I did my bearings course a few months ago, they told me no more than 2/3rds.


The problem being with a bearing is because of the tight tolerances they're likely to sqeeze grease out from between rollers/balls so they taught us that 2/3rds was enough to keep plenty of grease between faces prevent loss of lubrication from not having enough. At the same time is doesn't hydraulically lock...
That bearings shouldn't be removed from the packaging untill they're to be fitted... to not clean the oil off them they come in (unless its an lub oil bearing of which we have a fair amount of on plant!)

etc...

Different teachings I guess!


:BaseballHat_LNY2EG:

Also...

Do not use WD40 on bearings or chains either...

Might say its a lubricant, which it is, however, its also a degreasant! I've seen o-ring chains that have been lubricated with WD-40 and its seeped in past the o-rings and displaced the grease in the rollers!

It's great for cleaning however!

And for burning as it smells great :pjrlaugh_61OD3G::pjrlaugh_61OD3G:

Hi there.
My ten has reached 20k kms, so I�ve decided to service the steering head on my own, and thus it'll be the first time I�m doing it.
1) I'm looking for an adaptor to attach a torque wrench to the toolkit�s steering/ring? nut wrench. Do you think I should use a torque wrench or not?
2) A second special tool is also needed: a ring/steering? nut wrench. I gather they are both c type spanners. Is there any significant difference between a ring and a steering nut wrench?
Thanks.

Good step by step guide there. Did this on my drz this spring as the steering had got notchy. There was ****** all grease in there so no wonder it felt horrible. Once I'd done it it was so much better.