[chay250]

having replaced my standard steering head bearings with tapered ones i find that when i fit the steering tube to the bike and hand tighten the top nut the triple clamps are not turning freely but binding - they turn smoothly but it is as if there are a couple of clicks on the steering damper - after much head scratching i can only conclude that the problem appears to be the bottom bearing shield rubbing on the inside of the steering tube - is this ok? and will it free off with use?
i can't see how you can do much wrong on assembly.
donsy what do you think?
cheers colin

[Donsy]

Hi Colin.
Remove the steering damper and check the movement again, it does not sound right to me. If it is the seal, then that should be okay, but it's a bit weird that the seal can catch anywhere as it's a pretty flat object.
Did you grease the bearings up thoroughly ? And made sure they where seated all the way into their positions ?

[theknurl]

Colin;
I'd say no......find out what is wrong
like Donsy said, pull the damper, it should be totally free to rotate

[esq'z me]

Must be careful with tapered bearings as torque load will affect steering. There is a spec for using a spring gauge to measure torque on a lot of older Jap bikes that use tapered bearings. I'll try and find it for you. Ball bearings have less friction than tapered .....just sayin'....

[gotojoe]

Hi Colin,

I would remove the steering tube/bearing carrier and check the bearing for smoothness and no binding.

I would then fit the carrier to the bike and locate the "pin bolt" correctly in it's recess. I would then fully torque the carrier ring "nut" as per manual and then torque the pin bolt.

I would then preload the bearing with the bearing nut. For tapers I usually overtighten slightly..don't go crazy, and then back off gently until the steering is free .

The steering should turn freely side to side with no binding whatsoever and no discernable play when you tug on the bottom T/fork legs to check for looseness.

I would do all this without the steering damper in place.

Hope it works out ok Colin.

joe

[chay250]

thanks for the input guys appreciated - what i was trying to get accross is this >> take the top bearing first(same for the bottom bearing) - when the taper bearing is placed in it's seating position in the bearing cup the bearing shield is then fitted on top - there is a couple of milimeters of the inside circumference of the steering tube showing and it is this that the outer lip of the shield presses into - so the shields turn with the triple clamps correct? it is the shield lip turning inside the steering tube which is causing resistence without the shields the bearings running freely.dose this make sense?
cheers colin

[chay250]

guys please note reply above - i have tried to explain in more detail.

[gotojoe]

Colin..it would help to have a nice clear picture of the area to look at,

joe

[chay250]

ok joe i am sorted - when i put the fork legs in the and there was some wieght on the triple clamps all was well.
colin