I know this subject has been covered many times. The numbers I can find on previous posts (32005XA/26 upper & 32006X lower) I presume are for all models. I.e.Do these fit the early model cane too?

 

I found these for the 90 model.
BEARING, HEAD PIPE
91015-KT8-005
91016-KT8-005

Check Timbuctu's posts, Blue, he' knows a good bit about this.
Tapered bearings are better, I'm told.

 

Thanks my friend. Long time no speak. I've been a bit slack lately.

 

Too right you've been slack - thought you'd shot through, Mate ![X(]
Good to see you back !

 

Me????[sm=shootshoot.gif]Not likely. I'm not that easy to get rid of. Just joys of work & family & not forgetting meeting up with naga tai from Melbourne. More on that one later but I hope we do it again. [sm=icon_cheers.gif]

 

I found this link had some helpful tips when i replaced my steering stem bearings this weekend.I used tapered bearings from "All *****" purchased through Bike Bandit.
http://home.insightbb.com/~mmartin36/Steering.htm

My forks were already removed sinceI recently replacedthe fork seals. Estimated total time for steering head bearing replacement is about 1 hour of labor not includingfreezer time.

My .02:
1.) I sprayed WD-40 on the old bearing outer races in the stem head and let it sit over night before removing them. I'mnot sure how much it helped but they came out pretty easily.
2.)Instead of a bearing puller or bent rebar to remove the outer race in the lower stearing head you can use a bent screw driver. (I actually used a weed puller. That's right, a garden tool - worked great.)
3.) I always put the inner races in the freezer over night - seems to work.
4.) I like the idea of cutting a small section (thickness of cutting tool) out of the the old races to allow them to contract so they dont get stuck when tapping in the new ones.
5.) dont forget to grease the new bearings
6.) Removingthe lower bearing - inner race from the sterring stem was easier thanI thought it would be.I used a cutting tool to partially cut the race. ThenI used a hammer to wedge anarrow screw driver between the stem and the lower race/dust seal. Once there isenoughspace bewtween the race and the stem base I used a large screwdriver to pry it off.I'm not sure how much partially cutting the race helped but at least it may have heated the race causing it to expand enough to where it pryed off farily easily.
6.) I currently have the steering stem in the freezer overnightandI plan to tap the newinner race on using the old race (inverted) and a 1-1/4 piece of black pipe. * Be sure to tap the race, not the bearing cage. (The tapered bearings come in one piece with inner race, bearings an cage whereas the OEM bearings had the race separate from the ***** and cage.)

Good luck!

 

Excellent !
Thanks Paul - one for the memory bank - I still haven't done mine (slackarse)[X(]

 

Great writeup - love the pictures and the workarounds. Thanks for taking the time to share.

 

Cheers Paul. I'm about to do mine & I hope they will be as easy as yours. I've done hundreds of bearings over the years & usually they go to plan but..........not always. Hopefully they only go wrong when the boss is paying.
I once wasasked to destroy a bearing (big & expensive) used in the steering gear of a ship just so the builders could see what was in it????. I got payed that week so I didn't complain.