All Balls Steering Stem Installation Question

[J_C]

Howdy folks. Got my all balls kit which I will be installing here... For those of you who installed them.... do you have any info? Thes things come without directions.



I'm trying to figure out where these washer things go... Best guess is that the go on the bottom of both the upper and lower bearings, but confirmation would be great. Thanks!

[courier11sec]

Bottom of the lower bearing and top of the upper bearing.
It will become pretty obvious once you get the thing apart.

[J_C]

Ah, of course, because that will put the washer on the top between the bearing and the triple clamp, correct?

[courier11sec]

Check this out:

http://www.bigshaftie.fsnet.co.uk/STEERING.gif

Lots of exploded views for you. Good stuff

http://www.bigshaftie.fsnet.co.uk/page4.html

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Going by that pic' you have, you bought the wrong bearings.
You should have tapered needle bearings in your 1100?

[Mojoe]

Going by that pic' you have, you bought the wrong bearings.
You should have tapered needle bearings in your 1100?

I was thinking the exact same thing. Those look more like wheel bearings, but the id it too large.....and no need for the washers.
There might be some bikes that take bearings like that, but I am not sure what models.

However, could this be a "conversion"? If you remove the race for the tapered bearings, a bearing the same diameter as the od of the race would work.
So ya...they might be the ones......just a different style of bearing.

[SqDancerLynn1]

The washers are dust shields When you take it apart you will see it is part of the old bearing. THOSE bearings look fine I would bet if he lifted the outer bearing race off you would see it is tapered bearing

[Mojoe]

The washers are dust shields When you take it apart you will see it is part of the old bearing. THOSE bearings look fine I would bet if he lifted the outer bearing race off you would see it is tapered bearing

correct me if I am wrong, but didn't he say these were BALL bearings?
Tapered bearings use rollers. I believe it is impossible to make a tapered bearing using balls....isn't it?

so here is what I think it is. It is indeed a "conversion" of sorts.
a stock bike comes with tapered bearing for a reason.....they are adjustable per say. as in if they "loosen up" with use, you can take the play out of them by tightening it down some more. Also, they are easier to remove. with a sealed bearing, the bearing can "mate" to the head by corrosion....and possibly the shaft as well to the inside of the bearing. You all know how tight the race is in the head.....and how tight the shaft is in the bearing, so imagine trying to remove everything with a sealed bearing. That is probably the MAIN reason the facory uses tapered bearings. Two seperate pieces to make it easier to take everything apart. You just have to remove half the bearing from the head, and the other half from the shaft. With a sealed bearing, you have more pounding to do, and all of it with a punch down through the head. With a tapered, you only have to pound the shaft down through the top bearing, and then it just drops out the bottom because the lower bearing splits in two....then you just grind, cut or pry each part off. or this is what I believe. I might be wrong, but don't think so.

A bearing like he has....ball bearings, or sealed bearings, will indeed fit on his bike. they will fit on any bike. You can use either I would think.

which is better?

I think the ball bearing might have the advantage. Smoother and longer life. I have seen more tapered bearing just fall apart when you remove them than ball bearings. The advantage with tapered is you can take the play out of them a bit. with the bearings he has, you get what you get until you knock them out and put new ones in. If I was going to use a bearing like this, I would make sure I used something on the shaft to make sure it doesn't jam into the bearing too tightly.

but hey...this is all just speculation. I am just going off the fact he said it was an "all balls kit".....and what makes sense to me.

He is the one who bought them, so he should be explaining this...

[BMcLaury]

correct me if I am wrong, but didn't he say these were BALL bearings?

He said that he got an "ALL BALLS" bearing kit in, not that he got a ball bearing kit in.

I got to go with Lynn on this one, those look like tapered roller bearings to me.

BMcLaury

[BikeNut]

That looks like the same kit I just installed on my 750. They are indeed tapered bearings from the company "All Balls."

[bonanzadave]

This is my next project so all this info is golden. Do you get the bearings right from all balls? How far does the bike come appart to do this work?

[J_C]

Thanks guys, I tried to respond to this last night before my flight to Connecticut, but the forums were down for maintenance and I haven't gotten online since.

They are in fact tapered bearings that appear almost identical to the stockers. In fact, they seem to sit right inside the stocker outter races. The only thing to determine now is whether to remove the outer races in lieu of the new ones (Granted I haven't packed them with grease yet, but there seems to be a little hang in the middle of the steering range of motion)

[J_C]

Yes, got them right from allballs., Ordered them Sunday night and got them Friday afternoon. My bikes is completely taken apart right now, so not exactly sure what the process is. But, as far as I can tell, in order to install them, you need to remove the steering stem, which basically means remove forks, take off the triple clamp (and bars and gauges, and choke cable etc), take off upper bearing and unscrew the steering stem bolt and pull the lower triple tree out from the bottom.

Then you have to get the lower bearing out and decide if you want to remove the outer braces. Then put the new bearing on the lower steering stem (pound it down by whacking a hammer on a pipe the same diameter as the inner race). Then replace outer races and reassemble, etc

[Mojoe]

I stand corrected on the bearing types.