Steering head bearings

[Sam]

Would you trust these ones:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Honda-VFR400-VFR- ... 240%3A1318" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Or wemotos £32 bearings which seem like the same items (not identical i know) but tapered bearings nonetheless.

Also any tips on replacing the bearings? First time im doing this.

Thanks.

[Mansie]

Tapered barings have to be better than ball bearings because the contact surface area is bigger. I was about to buy the Wemoto ones but if people say the Pyramid ones are OK then I'll go with them.

[shaun1988]

Hmmm
what is wrong with genuin honda parts?
I replaced my headstock bearings when i first started building my bike(nearly 2 years ago) and just used genuine honda parts from david silver, are the genuine honda head stock bearings weaker? i havent used the bike yet so i cant say how well they are lasting lol

[Sligeach]

i am with shaun on this one, for a critical part of the bike like the headrace i like to go OEM too

[Acid]

As well thought out as oem parts are they are still made to a cost

After market bits can be made for better quality and improved performance

Tapered head bearing in theory can act like a cheap mans steering dampner as they provide move friction due to having a larger surface area, so if you clamp them down harder they make harder ( more resistance) and like wise if you have them loose then the steering is faster.

Hope this helps

Acid

p.s i just got the tapered ones from wemoto :)

[Sam]

Well i ordered the egay ones, let you know how they are when they arrive.

As for getting the old ones out and new ones in, any tips?

[Mansie]

There's various ways of getting them out. I went to a mate who has a sort gripper-pulling tool. It consists of two arms with small hooks at the ends. They are adjustable in distance from each other to fit inside the headstock, just clamping the bearing from under. The tool had a thread and a nut at the other end to which he attached his adjustable spanner. While the gripper hooks held the bearing, my mate banged on the adjustable with a hammer. This way we got the headstock bearings out.

On ebay you can look for bearing pullers. Here's a few examples:

Or with three legs:

Not too deer.

On the yoke sits another difficult one. That one was banged-out with something like a needle / point chisel.

or:


Be careful not to damage the yoke (your hands / the floor) while hammering away.

As for putting the new bearings in, I have no experience but the sensible thing is to put bearing bits that need to shrink for fitting in the freezer first, together with the yoke, while bearing bits that need to expand go in the oven for gentle heating.

[Dynamohum]

be extra careful fitting the bearing seats into the headstock of the frame ensuring they are evenly drifted in and properly seated use a peice of wood or a nylon drift to avoid damaging the bearing seat the top one is straightforward bottom one a bit more akward if you get too much resistance start again as probably not evenly lined up the old bearing seats can be used to get you started but don't drive it too far in and be careful not to clout the alloy headstock with mr hammer.