Hi all,
I had the front wheel off the ground and was cleaning up the wheel when I noticed soemthing odd. The forks would actually center themselves if push right or left slightly. I turned to the right and left several times and could feel what I would call a detent at center? Is this stock? Normal?

My opinion is the guy that owned it before me, until last week, burned a flat spot in the rear tire doing smoke shows. Could that pressude on the frond end cause this flat spot on the bearing race? In essence causing a detent? Far fetched?

Is this a must replace part at this point?
Thanks guys

 

Actually, that flat-spot is probably from pulling a lot of wheelies. No, it's not desirable. Eventually you'll probably want to change the bearings out. If the head is still tight, it's not an emergency but I, personally, would at the first opportunity.

You can tell if the head is still tight by getting on the bike, grab the front brakes and rocking it. Look at the top of the mount, if you see any movement of the collar, it's time.

Another symptom is hear/feeling a 'clunk' when you apply the front brakes while out riding.

Technically, not a hard job. Practically speaking, it involves dis-assembling the entire front end of the bike. On my 98F3, I even had to pull the air-box/ducting to get the lower-tripple to drop out. In all, taking my time it was a 6 hour job (start to finish).

If you decide to do it your self, do a search there are several recent threads on the issue.

Hope this helps, Ern

 

P.S. When you do decide to do it, DO NOT replace with stock bearings. Get tapered roller-bearings instead. I just did this about a month ago and got a complete set of taper-bearings/seals for $18+free shipping. OEM is about $23(x2) for ball-bearings and $6(x2) for the seals.

The advantage of tapered bearings, they spread the load over a much larger surface. You sould never have to do this again for the life of the bike if you go with tapered.

Ern, again.

 

+1

The tapered roller bearings are the duck's nuts imo. I've fitted them myself to 3 bikes and cheated with this one and got them fitted for me.

Definately do the job as soon as you can. You'll feel like you are on a different bike, it's such an improvement.

 

Its avery odd feel, no loose feeling at all. Very free actually side to side, just centers..I will see if it get worse but will do this fall. I think I need a special socket for the top nut? Any idea what the dealer charges to do something like this>?

 

First symptoms with my bike were steering wobble when riding no hands. I checked the steering and the forks settled centrally, like yours. I ran a bicycle shop for years and saw this on bicycles too - usually there was a slight indentation in the bearing surface corresponding to each ball bearing. I reckoned if I can replace a bicycle's head bearings I can replace my CBR's too.
The job was actually pretty easy (I'm not a mechanic); I used a bit of improvisation (like using an old furniture castor to knock the race in) and my bicycle skills to set the bearing pressure just right. Three thousand miles later and it still seems OK.
However I didn't use tapered roller bearings so might have to do the job again after another 35,000 miles!

 

I'm just about to replace my headstock bearings on my '88 F-J. Couldn't find any play in the bearings if the bike was on stands, but got a knock, knock, knock from the steering when the front brakes are applied hard. The steering also seemed vague and tended to wander from side to side when riding in a straight line. Didn't affect it, as far as I could tell if you were going round twisties tho????

 

You can make a specialty socketftor the top nut with a grinder and a regular socket. Or, if you are lazy and confident enough in your soft touch, you can use a pipe wrench.

To actually seat the races, use a piece of all-thread and a couple of large washers and nuts and seat both at the same time. Just tap/start them and then thread the all-thread thru the steering head with the washers and nuts on each end against the races. Thighten the nuts together until races are fully seated. Hope that makes sense/helps.

Ern

 

How To link : -------- https://cbrforum.com/forum/how-tos-8...socket-114367/

 

It will be top on the list to fix, love the ideas!