Freebird Posted May 22, 2011 Share #1 Posted May 22, 2011 For any of you who are interested, remember, V7Goose and I...mostly V7Goose...will be holding a clinic on Friday where we will repack the steering head bearings on my '99 RSV. Folks, this is a very important maintenance item and one that the dealer would charge you big bucks for. It is time consuming but is something that you CAN do yourself. This is NOT something that we will be doing on Saturday but something that you should be there to watch, take notes, pictures, etc. to do at some point when you get home. I repeat, this is an important maintenance item. It is easy to tighten the bearings on these things but at some point, they SHOULD be repacked. Tightening them when they get a bit loose is more of a bandaid than a fix. As with many items on these bikes, Yamaha, in my opinion, doesn't put enough grease in these bearings. They wear and get loose. Tightening them makes it all better but due to the lack of grease, pretty much just speeds up the wearing of the bearings. A very good local Yamaha mechanic told my friend Bob Dakin that these bearings are often shot at around 60,000 miles. In my opinion, that is simply because they don't put enough grease in them. We will start this pretty early on Friday. I would so probably around 8:30 - 9:00. I hope that you will put it on your schedule, it will be time well spent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeperhawk Posted May 22, 2011 Share #2 Posted May 22, 2011 Be great if someone took pics and notes to post them up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainJoe Posted May 22, 2011 Share #3 Posted May 22, 2011 Hopefully since your tearing it down that far, you are going to install (2) grease zerks ? I have read on other sites that it is very important to install (2) as if you installl one it will run the path of least resistance and the other bearing may not get any lube at all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freebird Posted May 22, 2011 Author Share #4 Posted May 22, 2011 Yea, I've read where some folks do that but I really don't think they are needed. These are tapered roller bearings and the biggest problem is that they don't get enough grease at the factory. I think if they are greased properly, they will go at least 100,000 miles or more. That's just my opinion though...and you know what they say about opinions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93 venture Posted May 23, 2011 Share #5 Posted May 23, 2011 That's just my opinion though...and you know what they say about opinions. What do they say:confused24: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingy Posted May 23, 2011 Share #6 Posted May 23, 2011 My humble opinion about these bearings is they take the vast majority of their abuse at exactly the same rotational point. Grease isn't going to hurt them, but after a few hundred miles they have reseated at a metal to metal contact point. They don't heat up at all, so there is no reduction in the grease viscosity to even get it to flow around the rollers. Every bump the front end encounters is transmitted to almost the exact same contact point on that upper bearing. Not saying pumping them full would hurt, but I have also heard you can put a large tube of grease in there with room to spare. The 88 parts bike I got had ribbing around the upper bearing race and it only had around 30K on it. There is no grease made that would have prevented that kind of wear under these design conditions. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7Goose Posted May 23, 2011 Share #7 Posted May 23, 2011 I'll be starting on the bike by 0900, but a lot of the early work is just removing the fairing and front wheel. If you can plan on being there at least by noon, you will be able to see the main work. Goose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingy Posted May 23, 2011 Share #8 Posted May 23, 2011 Goose/Don, As a plan B, I will bring along a new set of upper and lower bearings for the steering head. You probably won't need them, but I have a set here waiting to go in my bike when I get back in shape. These are Yamaha bearings, same P/N as your RSV. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7Goose Posted May 23, 2011 Share #9 Posted May 23, 2011 Here's why I feel the way I do.... My $10,000 260 Z Gravely lawnmower chewed thru (3) $45+ belts in a years time. It had "lifetime lubruicated" spindle bearindgs. The last time it threw a belt I got PO'd. I manually turned the spindles and they were dryer than a bone.... I took all three off, drilled, tapped and installed grease zerks and guess what??? I haven't replaced a belt since. Of course i grease them. Fraid to say I don't believe in "lifetime lunbricated" anything.Nobody has ever suggested that the Yamaha RSV steering bearings are lifetime lube - quite the contrary. As for installing a grease fitting on the RSV frame - I personally do not support that, but if an individual owner decides that they personally want one (or 2, 10, 12, etc.) grease fittings installed in their frame, well, that won't hurt anything as long as they do not contaminate the bearings with metal shavings. I do feel that two or more is absolutely pointless, as it will in no way change the amount of grease you can inject or the distribution of that grease. But just like adding a single grease fitting, adding 10 more also will not hurt anything if done correctly. But kinda like Don said, all that is just my opinion, and anybody is free to have a different one! Goose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freebird Posted May 23, 2011 Author Share #10 Posted May 23, 2011 Goose/Don, As a plan B, I will bring along a new set of upper and lower bearings for the steering head. You probably won't need them, but I have a set here waiting to go in my bike when I get back in shape. These are Yamaha bearings, same P/N as your RSV. Gary That's great Gary. If mine are worn, we may put them in. Doubtful but it is nice to be prepared. If that happens, I will pay you for them or order you a new set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary N. Posted May 23, 2011 Share #11 Posted May 23, 2011 Don, If it's OK with you, I may show up in your driveway Thursday afternoon so that I'll be there in time for this clinic. I'm really interested in seeing how the fairing comes off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freebird Posted May 23, 2011 Author Share #12 Posted May 23, 2011 No problem at all. Come on down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingy Posted May 24, 2011 Share #13 Posted May 24, 2011 Goose/Don, As a plan B, I will bring along a new set of upper and lower bearings for the steering head. You probably won't need them, but I have a set here waiting to go in my bike when I get back in shape. These are Yamaha bearings, same P/N as your RSV. Gary Goose/Don Plan B is not going to work. I was going to mail you the bearings tonight and was getting them ready. They looked small to me, so I went out and checked them against a spare lower triple tree I have and they are the wrong bearings. Apparently Yamaha also has a set of tapered bearings 93332-00080 & 93332-00010 instead of 93332-00008 & 93332-00001. Never checked them close till now, looked like tapered roller bearings to me. I don't know for sure if I will be able to get this straightened out by MD. I ordered them from partshark so it will take a while. I was going to mail them to you cause I found out today my surgery is going to be delayed due to a blood clot they found in my leg. Not sure if I can make it. I may still drop in Thursday night, and try for Friday night. But an all day thing may not be good. Back hurts like heck. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freebird Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share #14 Posted May 24, 2011 Sorry to hear about the delay Gary. Don't worry about the bearings. I'm almost 100% sure that I won't need them anyway so it's not a big deal. Just take care of yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradT Posted May 24, 2011 Share #15 Posted May 24, 2011 Don't worry about the bearings. I'm almost 100% sure that I won't need them anyway so it's not a big deal. Just take care of yourself. And if he does he can do it himself when he gets the new bearings Dingy Take care and best of luck to you getting through this ordeal. BRad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freebird Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share #16 Posted May 24, 2011 OK folks, I went ahead and ordered a set of Sonic Springs. Goose reminded me that now would be the time to install new springs if I had the desire to do so. So, that is another thing that you will see done if you decide to attend this clinic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyR Posted May 24, 2011 Share #17 Posted May 24, 2011 Goose/Don I don't know for sure if I will be able to get this straightened out by MD. I ordered them from partshark so it will take a while. Gary I recently had Partshark send me the wrong part too. It was in a bag with the right part number, but clearly the wrong part. It was for my Triumph, and they got it from their Triumph supplier that way and obviously no one knowledgable at either place looked at the part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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