Steering Stem/bearing play

[b1dude]

After accomplishing my KX fork swap...which I love....I've started to notice a little play in the new bearings I put into the steering headset. Everything is still torqued to spec..even tried slightly "over torquing" to try to draw the headset together...zero effect...still some minor movement.

Question for all...how much if any play do you have in your stock steering stem/headset bearings? Mine is very little but by the time it's magnified at the front hub there's as much as a .25 inch in "wiggle" where the tire makes it's contact patch.

The way I check this is..bike on a maint. stand..front wheel off the ground....stand if front of the forks and gently pull/push on the fork tubes. This makes the movement I refer to.

Just for grins tried out a buds YZ 250 to see if it had any "head play"...it was rock solid..undetectable. Not an "apples to apples" comparison but left me curious. I honestly can't remember ever noticing this on the stock setup.

Can't say this has affected the handling any....we've run the bike up to 6th pinned on some desert trails...it's shmooov...with the exception of the "wiggle" which does get felt in the bars (as a slight "thunk") on the occasional bump

Thanks in advance for the comments fellas,

Eric

 

[lepper]

dude... you need to make sure the stem is "set" before checking the torque. How you do this is overtorque it, back it off and then retorque. I have 03 KX forks on mine with zero play.

Also... at you absolutely sure you got the lower bearing completely seated? If not... over time it will creep. Just some things to check....

 

[b1dude]

The over torque makes sense. Can't say the KX or KDX manuals I was trying to piece together gave out the details...just the final torque. What kind of numbers should be used for the "set" torque before backing of to the relatively light torque called out in the manual?

Again thanks for chimin' in.

Eric

 

[lepper]

I cranked on mine...then backed it off completely and immediately torqued it to spec. How much...can't say... it's a feeling thing... but a good amount.

I have had the issue in the past when replacing bearings and this always works.

 

[b1dude]

What socket to use on stem nut?

What is everyone using to tighten the bearing set nut (the castelated one)?

True confessions :ohmy: ...I used a set of water pump pliers. Got it pretty tight then backed off...but will start to make a mess of the nut before long if I keep repeatedly using the wrong tool :coocoo: .

Thanks in advance fellas,

Gill

 

[b1dude]

What I just learned.

This all happend because of my mishmashed frankenbike approach to my front fork swap. The reason I went frankenbike instead of a full front end swap was to avoid damaging any of the stock parts (like pushing out the stock steering stem) to be able to make a full nuts/bolts swap back to stock if I wanted to.

Parts I used were an 87 KDX stem, 95 KX forks and bottom triple, 96 KLX250 top triple (avoided the spacer problems).

Everything worked great. Except I missed that the 87 had a different bottom bearing than my 2003. I put in the 87 bearing/race after removing my brand new 03 bearings and everything is locked up tight...like it should be. Interesting piece...you can't tell w/a micrometer the difference between the 03 bottom bearing and the 87...except in my combo I would wind up w/some steering play.

Just lessons learned...do your research when modifying stuff...I missed this small piece. The Kawi site is great for comparing part numbers....go over everything twice to avoid missing anything.

Goin riding tonight w/my new tight front end...really digging these inverted forks :) :ride:

 

[canyncarvr]

Taper might be different.

 

[b1dude]

Last lesson learned. I'd recommend Moose bearings...at least for steering stem applications.

The stock (Kawi) KDX bearings, right out of the package, for both my 03 and the 87, when placed in their respective race would render some minor but detectable sideplay at the inside of the bearing. :coocoo: The Moose brand bearings don't budge...tested as above or after the install. The Moose brand bearings appear to be made to a much tighter tolerance. Albeit it doesn't mean they last any longer....might be after a year or so all things will be equal again.