broken stearing head bearings xb9sx lightning

[sirrudi]

Hello, i am new to this page from Norway, hope someone can help me

Is There some out there who have changed these before?
Pictures would be great
Have the big bibel

Anyone have SKF bearings on your bikes?

 

[tonysmallframe]

Replaced mine once or twice before - bike seems to go through them pretty quickly. Don't have any pictures - be gentle when removing the old ones - make sure to hammer them straight out. Gut an old bearing of it's insides, and you can use it to help press the new ones in. Had luck heating the headstock with a heat gun and popping the bearings right from the freezer on in - didn't really require any force at all.

 

[Blastonia]

I think mine are going bad too. Its knockin when I hit a bump.[mad]

 

[snrusnak]

I just did mine about 500 miles ago. I used tapered roller bearings from all balls.

http://www.allballsracing.com/

They work great and it's a pretty easy job overall.

 

[Rhino1]

I think mine are going bad too.  Its knockin when I hit a bump.

I would double check the top triple and nut to make sure that they're not just simply loose. The Buell steering head bearing system seems awful simple compared to the more robust-appearing Japanese systems...

If the bearing(s) are indeed bad, I would definitely do as mentioned above and go with roller tapered bearings.

 

[snrusnak]

It really is a very simple setup. The oem bearings are also junk, mine were all but locked up at 7,000 miles. When I did mine I had the whole front end apart, but you could easily just remove the upper triple tree, then raise the bike and remove the whole lower triple tree along with the forks, etc. to do the job. Probably could be done in half a day or so. Also, I used factory torque specs with the new aftermarket bearings and it is perfect, not binding and no movement or clunking or anything. I think I've done nearly 750 miles since I got the bike back together (only a couple weeks...I miss riding lol). I actually rode over 300 miles yesterday and took the bike up faster than I had ever gone on it and there was no shaking at all in the front end. Previously it would start to have some shake at 70-80mph.

 

[Blastonia]

Rhino:

I was also thinking maybe the clunk might be an engine mount? Would that resonate to the handle bars? The lower front mount has gaps on both sides. I thought it was loose but I couldnt tighten it any further.

 

[snrusnak]

Blastonia, I'd try just loosening and re torquing before a complete replacement(if you want to try to get out of doing the work lol). How many miles?

I don't think the engine mount would give the same clunk. And I think there is supposed to be gaps on both sides of the mount.

 

[Blastonia]

14000 miles. I wasnt sure if it was supposed to have the gaps. Thanks. Appologies to the op for the hijack.

 

[Maxo]

I just did mine about 500 miles ago. I used tapered roller bearings from all balls.

http://www.allballsracing.com/

They work great and it's a pretty easy job overall.

I did mine using allballs and now my cycle is extremely unstable. It feels like I'm riding on a tightrope and it just wants to fall over. She was very solid before. I think these bearing are too tall, I'm pretty sure I've installed them correctly, would be hard to screw it up. Anyone else experience this issue after switching to allballsracing bearings?

 

[Rhino1]

Max, sounds like you may have tightened the top nut too much. To test, with the front of the bike lifted, the bars should swing (or flop) from side to side with absolutely no resistance. if they are too tight, it will cause that weaving/wandering/unstable feeling. Too loose, and of course, they'll clunk.

 

[Maxo]

Hmmm... well, I know for a fact that the bars won't swing from side to side on their own while the front end is up. I actually tightened the top nut further thinking that would help remedy the issue but if what you say is true I exacerbated the problem. Thanks, I'll see if loosening that nut helps.

 

[bikboi]

I was just looking at steering head adjustment in my shop manual and on the 2003 XBS the specs say tighten top cap to 38-42 ft lbs!
Seems like alot but I guess wheelies/stoppies really load the headset and Buell expected the bike was going to be "stunted"...
When that tight, it acts like a tight steering dampner.
I've been experimenting with lower settings (1st I tried 15 ft lbs and now 10 ft lbs to try to get a bit more turn in).
Promising results (can really "tune" the handling) but I wouldn't recommend wheelies or stoppies...

 

[Rhino1]

All you want to do when tightening steering bearings is to eliminate slop--they are not meant to be any sort of steering damper nor should they inhibit rotation in any way. When they are over tightened, you'll know it--your bike will weave, handle like crap, and do the up-down-up-down thing when you're trying to corner...

Other manufacturers separate the "top nut" on the triple clamp from the steering stem bearings for a reason--you can snug up the castle nut type nuts properly, place the top triple over that, then snug the top nut. Buell chose to do it differently--but the concept is the same.

 

[snrusnak]

I did mine to spec and it handles great. Not binding and not loose, turns freely but firmly. I used new tapered roller bearings from all balls.

 

[konarider94]

I did mine using allballs and now my cycle is extremely unstable. It feels like I'm riding on a tightrope and it just wants to fall over. She was very solid before. I think these bearing are too tall, I'm pretty sure I've installed them correctly, would be hard to screw it up. Anyone else experience this issue after switching to allballsracing bearings?

yea mine is pretty twitchy now. i was thinking maybe the factory torque spec was too much for these kind of bearings. im going to try backing off the torque to see how it feels. i was planning on it anyway but its good to read others experiences.

 

[Rhino1]

Remember, the "torque specs" will be different for tapered bearings. I wouldn't follow the factory torque specs--I'd go by feel, or what AllBalls recommends for their tapered bearings.

 

[konarider94]

or what AllBalls recommends for their tapered bearings.

they dont recommend anything. it would have been nice if it came with a torque specification.

 

[konarider94]

thinking about it now... tapered roller bearings for wheel bearing are way less than 40 ft lbs. figured if it was different they would mention it.

 

[Maxo]

The maximum I was able to torque that nut was ~15ft lbs. Anything above that was too much it seemed and it could probably be loosened slightly more. Much much more stable now but still seems less sure on interstate exchange curves.

I still think these bearing are taller than stock. My LSL steering damper doesn't fit where it used to, I would have to lower the forks a good 1/8" if I wanted to use it. I used to have my forks close to resting on the snap ring and now I'm on the 2nd line.