Steering Head Bearings

[jeridb]

I had new tires put on the bike and the front end was still handling a little junky. I took it back to the shop and he said the guy was supposed to talk to me because my steering head bearings where "dangerously worn". Not being mechanically inclined I requested a quote. Cried a little bit and called around for more quotes. The cheapest I can get it done is $180 plus parts. I made mention to a gentleman here at my work who laughed and said do it myself. I have manuals on this bike (it's a 1982 KZ 650 CSR).
In all honestly... not being very mechanically inclined... the most I've done is replace car belts, brakes, oil change, and thats about it. How big of a job is this going to be? Am I better off dumping the $180 and $40 in parts?
Any opinions would be appreciated... also, if opinions say to do it myself, any tips? Special tools I would need?

[wiredgeorge]

Replacing the steering head bearings is typically not that big a deal. I am not sure if your bearings are ball bearings or your bike came with tapered bearings which are superior.

FIRST, verify that the bearings need to be replaced. The bike will wobble if the bearings are shot but it will also wobble if the wheel bearings are bad. An experienced hand can put the bike on centerstand while some one holds the back end down and move the bars back and forth and will generally be able to feel a "hitch" where a bearing is shot. If the bars just FLOP back and forth, you only need to tighten the steering head bearing nut and bearing replacement may not be necessary. Bikes with longer wheel bases and more weight tend to be harder on steering head bearings than do lighter/shorter bikes.

So, if you find that you need to adjust the steering head bearings, and that will cure the problems you have, then no more needs to be done. If you found a "hitch" or "clink" when you moved the bars back and forth with the front end up, then the bearings are shot. As I said, the bike will sometimes develop a wobble. If it wobbles, and the bars move freely with no hitch or clink when moved lock to lock, replace the wheel bearings. To replace the wheel bearings, look the part number up on buykawasaki.com -> parts diagrams for your bike. The number is a standard bearing number. Call a shop that sells bearings and these bearings will be called "electric motor bearings". The shop will be able to supply the bearings needed based on the number you give them.

If you find the problem IS with the steering head bearings, buy tapered bearings. www.z1enterprises.com sells them. If you don't see them on the web site, contact them. In any case, you essentially get the bike up where the front end dangles freely. You remove brake calipers and move those to the side. You remove the front axle after taking the speedo cable out of the speedo drive. Then you just loosen the pinch bolts holding the fork tubes and drop the tubes after taking off the front wheel. Once you have this stuff off, the steering neck will hold and upper and lower bearing race. You take a drift (long aluminum rod) and a BFH and pound the old bearing races out. A load of ball bearings will fall out. With the new bearings in hand, you just drive them into place. The bearings must be driven on the EDGE and not on the bearings. The edge is called a "race" and will be solid. To drive them, you can buy a bearing driver or use a socket that is the same size as the bearing race's diameter. You will then just put the triple tree back in place and bolt things back up like you took them apart. Be careful to pump up you disk brake after removing the caliper by pumping the brake lever a few times till you get some pressure as you don't want to figure out you have no front brake while doing your test drive.

Bearing replacement requires no special skills or tools except for a socket the size of the bearing race OR the proper bearing driver. It takes a litle while due to having to get the front end cleared of suspension bits but it is only a two hour job once you have done it one time.