It’s a key area of wear and tear on a bike, and especially a big trailie - so replacing the steering head bearings is one of the essential jobs you’ll have to come to grips with on a long trip, or just as a long-term owner. Pete’s KTM 950 came back from South America with knackered steering head bearings, and in this episode we show how to remove the worn-out ones, pack the new ones with grease and install them.
Most automotive and motorcycle bearings are in constant, full rotation during their life, so they wear evenly as they turn. But steering head bearings move very little when you’re riding - generally rotating just a few degrees side to side. This makes them particularly prone to uneven wear, especially if they are not kept properly adjusted.
Think about it - you’re doing big miles, mostly in a straight line, over rough roads. Shock is transferred from the wheel, through the fork legs, via the triple clamps/yokes to the steering head bearings.
If the bearing is loose, each bearing roller begins to wear its own groove. This makes the bearing even looser, and it flogs around even more, accelerating the wear.
Eventually the steering becomes notchy - the handlebars don’t move smoothly from side to side - and as it gets worse you’ll feel a clunk when you hit a solid bump. You’ll get vagueness and imprecise steering, because the loose bearings are flapping around rather than seating solidly. A relatively small amount of free play in the bearings at the steering head can have an alarming effect on handling. In the worst cases of misadjustment and neglect the bearing can begin to break apart.
Each bearing, top and bottom, comes in two parts, the bearing and the cup. The bearings are installed on the steering post, which is part of the bottom clamp. The cups are pressed into the steering head.
The two most difficult parts of the job are removing the bottom bearing and taking out the cups - so watch the video for our tips. Don’t be tempted to leave the cups in and just change the bearings - you will be wasting your time and money.
A cursory dab of grease on the new bearings just isn’t enough. They need to be solidly packed, and Trent’s the man with the knowledge and technique.
Finally, make sure to listen to what Pete says about readjusting the bearings soon after you’ve replaced them. He is speaking from recent experience …
- Waz
Update: We’re embedding our videos at advrider.com and visordown.com - here are the links so you can read what people are saying and join the discussions.
Discuss this video at Visordown.com
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Ep 14, Dremel on a lathe: Rear suspension overhaul part 1
Ep 13: Mountain Madness 2009
Ep 12: KTM forks on a BMW part 2
Ep 11: KTM forks on a BMW F650
Ep 10: Replacing rear wheel bearings
Ep 9: New spokes on an old wheel
Ep 8: Chain and sprockets part 2
Ep 7: Changing a chain and sprockets
Ep 6: Mountain Madness
Ep 4: Wires, shocks and smoke
Ep 3: Sand, heat and nipples
Ep 2: Beads and bearings
Ep 1: Bikes, Blokes and Beer
Just finished watching all 5 episodes. I did pick up a few tricks, especially as I had never taken off a lower steering bearing.
Thanks for taking the time to makes these, and keep ‘em coming!
Regards from Austria,
Lukas
Hey guys,
Just wanted to say great job on the videos. I am really enjoying them and picking up a few pointers as well. Keep up the good work.
Regards from Western Canada!
Steve
Hi Garage Night Team,
Thanks for the videos - have just removed a steering head race - after watching #5. It seems to be the best resource on the net for this particular job.
The one I had (from a ‘92 900ss) needed a visit from Mr Dremel, and a tap from the chisel in the cut - broke through one side, no more tension & off it came.
Keep up the good work!
James.
Great site with lots of good stuff. Really enjoyed steering head bearing replacement. Keep up the good work.
Just about to tackle the bearings on my elefant 750. Thanks for the hints and tips. will have saved me a fortune by not wrecking my bike in the process. Cheers from sunny scotland
Absolute Fantastic Video. Thumbs up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hola Amigos!!!!!
Gracias por el video. Excelente. Lo que le faltaba a mi Africa Twin ´99 gracias a Garagenight se lo puedo hacer yo directamente. Felicitaciones buen trabajo.
Hernán
Chivilcoy. Bs. As.
Argentina
Translated:
Hello friends!!!!!
Thanks for the video. Excellent. What was missing in my Africa Twin’99, through Garagenight I can do it directly. Congratulations good job.
Hernán
Hey thanks for the tips guys,just away to attempt the steering bearings on my Suzi Rf600R, this vid has given me the confidence to give it a go myself rather than getting huge garage bills,keep up the good work.
Alec from Aberdeen (Scotland)
Wow, found this site thru ADVrider, FANTASTIC!!!…what a great site esp the video tutorials. Thank you for taking the time and effort to make these guys…..cheers Chris
Great video. Another tip for installing the bottom bearing is to: 1) freeze the bottom triple clamp and steering stem and 2) heat the bearing. The result is that the bearing typically falls right on; I’ve had great results with this approach.
Really good video.
Was going to get a dealer to bankrupt me, but now have the confidence to give it a go myself.
Keep up the good work
This video was really helpful when the bottom bearing on my KTM 950 SMR went tits up at 20K miles (days before leaving on a trip). The only difference I had was that the old lower bearing wouldn’t budge with a punch, so I resorted to a Dremel (cutting wheel too large to make a nice cut). A few whacks with a chisel managed to loosen it, not split it, and all went well from there. I picked up a tip to freeze the new races before installation to slightly shrink them.
Your videos rock! Keep up the great work…
great site guys
one small question i followed your video on replacing the bearings
short ride and get major wobble on the bars at 60+ how do i now how tight to tighten top bolt i think mine might be to slack but dont want to over tighten and crush new bearings
Hiya,
If the bearings are too loose, you'll get a clunk sound or feel when you brake or hit a bump.
If the bike has a main stand, get it up on that then grab the bottoms of the forks - With the wheel facing forward, pull and push the forks back and forth - if the bearings are too loose, you should feel some movement.
If you don't have a mainstand, try to prop the bike so the front wheel is off the ground.
Perhaps you should loosen the bearings off again, then use the technique above to feel the "clunk" I mentioned - you can then gradually tighten the bearings until the clunk disappears.
The nut / collar used for adjusting the bearings won't need much tweaking to tighten the bearings - try 1/8 of a turn at a time till you get the feel for it…
It should just be "nipped up" when the bearings are at the right tension.
When the clunk / movement has disappeared, you should be able to move the handlebars smoothly from side to side with the only resistance coming from the cables etc as they flex.
Note that you'll also need to loosen the fork clamps on the top clamp when you adjust the bearings - if you don't you'll find that the bearings may loosen up again after a while.
Cheers
Trent
ok to take this one step further
after removing top yoke i proceeded to tighten the bearing cap maybe 1/8th of a turn
replacing every thing i took the bike for a round 200k ride no high speed wobble
but a low speed wondering lets say,anywhere between 30k and 60k the bike sort of sways under me as if gently moving bars from left to right
after reading numerous forums i have decided to slacken them a little hear is why
(sorry can not find post )
apparently when i torque the yoke down (100nm) it will add pressure to the bearing cap
something about the thread so its trial and eror
i put bike on center stand and the bars do not fall when pushed but stay ther they are i think i need to slacken it about a 16th of a turn
will let you no how it goes
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-RnxkMUywQ]null
hear is the link to my own garage night
Thanks guys, big help whilst I was doing this tooday.
Please continue disussion on the forum: link