Steering stem bearing and seal??

[ChuckyBoy]

Hi all,

On the top steering stem bearing, is the seal supposed to be permanently attached to the bearing?

The reason I'm asking is because when I pulled the top steering stem bearing out to pack it with grease, the rubber seal AND bearing came out as two separate pieces.

The parts diagram only shows one part number so I am assuming that the two pieces should be mated, therefore rendering my top bearing damaged and useless.

Or, would it be safe to pack the bearing and put it back together just as I found it?

Thanks for your advice,
Chuck

 

[ChuckyBoy]

Never mind my previous question about the top bearing.

The bottom bearing was totally shot...rusted pretty bad. Since I'm going to need a new bottom bearing anyway, I'll go ahead and order a new top bearing while I'm at it.

The new bearings are packaged with the outer races, right?

Thanks again,
Chuck

 

[JasonWho]

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[canyncarvr]

The bearings (both top and bottom) come with outer races.

The bottom bearing comes with a seal attached.

I don't know what year is at issue either, but the 'H' model has a dust cover on top...but not a 'seal' as the bottom bearing does.

The bottom always will go south before the top. Your top bearing may well be just fine. If the outer race shows no damage...you could just as well clean/repack/reuse it.

 

[ChuckyBoy]

Thanks for the input.

The bike is a 98 220.

Rather than waiting for a week for my local Kawi dealer to get a new bearing, I ordered a Pivot Works kit from Dennis Kirk. It oughta be here in another day or two. The Pivot Works kits comes with a top and a bottom bearing so I'm gonna go 'head and replace them both. Hopefully the PW kit will come with the races as the lower race is rusty and worn beyond belief.

BTW, I've had GREAT luck with the search function today and I have found several useful threads dealing with bearing/race removal and installation. With knowledge gained from reading those threads, I realize I have to go buy a grinder with a cut off wheel to remove the lower inner race and a piece of pipe to press the new lower bearing onto the stem. I think I'm goign to use the old outer races to press the new ones into the steering tube.

Thanks for the help,
Chuck

Jason, You're right. I'm sure that everyone is familiar Waco by now. Ten years ago it was David Kouresh and the Branch Davidians. Now it's the whole Baylor Basketball thing. Go figure?

Waco is a relatively crime free community. In January of '03 the homicide numbers for 02 were published...just ten homicides! That's a regular weekend's worth in some big city's like Houston and Dallas!

 

[kelseybrent]

I haven't had to replace the steering head bearings on the KDX, mostly because I had to do it on my XR400 the day I learned that grease is sacred in Japan. I used a chisel to pry/push the lower bearing inner race off. It destroys the lower seal, but your pivot works kit will come with new seals. I'm not sure about using a cut off wheel, since you're cutting into a corner.

I did use a cut off wheel to cut the swing arm off of the XR, but that's whole nother no-grease story.

b out

 

[jmics19067]

I realize I have to go buy a grinder with a cut off wheel to remove the lower inner race and a piece of pipe to press the new lower

My favorite thing to do when I don't have a press and bearing separator is to use a regular 4"grinder not a cutoff wheel. break off the cage and rollers and grind the race flat in one spot. As you are grinding the race paper thin it will split when you get close to getting all the way thru. Just grind it flat and work that split up thru the width of the race and it will knock off fairly easy. have your lower triple camp secured in a vise and stop and check progress often , with patience , it is a relativley painless job.

Keep the old race ,take it with you when you need to get a piece of pipe so you can match up the diameter pipe you need. Also < not really recomended since you never should strike a hardened object against a another hardened object> you can lay the old bearing race with the split against the new bearing for a perfect fit driver adapter to rest the pipe against. WEAR SAFETY GLASSES!

 

[canyncarvr]

For the steering stem bearing it's 1 3/8" as I recall. I got a piece threaded on both ends...put a cap on the 'pounder' end.

Piece of cake.

...put the stem in the freezer for awhile....