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Cruiser
Posts: 258
Akron, Ohio | I know this has been talked about several times before, and as a mater of fact, reading the threads is what made my mind up to do mine. Very glad I did. You could not tell with all the front end stuff on, but once I removed the wheel, forks and handle bars, the stem was rough to turn and had a detent in the very center. I removed the stem and inspected the bearing. Turns out the seal below the bearing was not on correctly and had let water get in. The SLIGHT amount of grease that was there was milkey white. I cleaned the race and bearing and repacked with new grease. Reassembed it all back and now feel like I had a good day with the bike. To those who have not done or had it done, I recomend not putting it off. Follow the recomendations in the book and do it. JMO
Also it is funny how big the hole in the front of the bike looks with no wheel or forks. :-) |
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Visionary
Posts: 4278
| How many miles on the bike?
Next question is how did you determine how tight to tighten the steering stem nut.
I wounder if there would be a way to put in zirk fittings. |
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Visionary
Posts: 3773
Pittsburgh, PA | what tools did you use to remove the nut, etc. also while im asking questions.. what type/brand of grease did you use to repack them? |
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Cruiser
Posts: 258
Akron, Ohio | I have just over 18,000 miles. It is an 08 Tour Premium. As far as the nut torque, well here is what I did and no this is not how the book says. I installed the stem and snuged down the nut. Then turned the assembly back and forth several times. Snuged down a little more and again went back and forth. I did this several times to make sure that I moved the grease around. Then the book says torque to 20 ft pounds and back off 90*. I felt this was too loose. I snugged it up to no play then went a bit tighter. I look at it like this, there is no real speed involved like wheel bearings. All you are doing is supporting the weight of the front of the bike. I did make sure that as I snugged it up, it still turned from stop to stop with no binding or tight spots. Again, I know this is not how the book says to do it, but I am going to try it an see what I think. Worst case is I might have to loosen it up a tad but that can be done without taking off the wheel and forks. Just remove the dash and bars. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 258
Akron, Ohio | Arkainzeye - 2012-02-26 7:15 PM
what tools did you use to remove the nut, etc. also while im asking questions.. what type/brand of grease did you use to repack them?
I used a drift and hammer to remove the nut as it was stuck big time. Also I can tell you that it was one heck of a lot tighter then what the book says from the factory. I used a synthetic Moble 1 bearing grease. It is blue in color and I have used it for greasing piviot points on truck lifts that are out in the weather and water does not seem to affect it. |
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Steering Stem Bearing....Done!!
