Steering Head Bearings Question

[CairnsDuc]

G'day all
I have a 2007 S2R 800, now this week I am going to do the Goldline Upgrade kit for the Front Brakes, and I figured while the front end was being worked on, I may as well get to the bearings and give them a clean and a fresh lot of grease, now here's my question, I have asked a few guys in the know and I have been given different info:

1. One said wait until they get worn or noisy, then replace and worry about it then

2. The other guy said he rips out the bearings every 2 years without fail, cleans and puts in new grease and reinstalls

So I'm a little torn as to which way to go, clean and repack, or wait until they get rough/noisy and then replace, I just cleaned and repacked the Rear suspension pivot bearings and the Rear Hub bearings (Swingarm was out for repainting)

Or am I getting ahead of myself here, should I wait a little while longer to do the work on the bearings?

PS: The bearings are fine, nice and smooth and working well with no problems, just preventative maintenance

[bigiain]

My advise is that if you're in there anyway, regreasing can't possibly hurt - I have heard of bikes being found to be close to dry from the factory too, so if you've never looked in there before you might want to anyway.

You are quite unlikely to need replacements yet unless you're a _really_ rough wheelie lander (I got ~150,000km out of my first set, and I've got ~95,000km on the replacement set with no signs of needed a third set yet).

big

[scott_araujo]

I was doing springs and oil in the forks so I figured it couldn't hurt to take a look.  I checked the Ducati manual and you're supposed to replace the seals and bearings every time you take them apart but that sounded like overkill.  What I did find when I opened it was very little grease and some minor rust on the bottom.  The bike had 1800 miles on it in San Diego, no rain, and about 8000 from me over two seasons in Portland, OR with some rain.  That seems like way too little abuse to be rusty.  Since it wasn't that bad and I'm short on funds I decided to clean and regrease.  I'll probably replace them this winter or next spring, maybe get the fancy roller bearings.  Cleaning and greasing the headset bearings is now on my list of things to do EVERY winter.

I would say take it apart while you're there, I'm sure it needs grease.  One note, get the headset tool.  Desmotimes has them for $40 and it makes the job easy.  I was lucky enough to borrow one from Neikos but would have bought one otherwise.

Scott

[Mr Earl]

Seems like there's a lot of extra work involved with steering head bearing replacement, above and beyond just replacing your brake lines.  For my time and money, and on a bike as young as yours, I'd just leave the bearings alone (you could check adjustment), unless they start acting up.

I'd guess weather/environment has a lot to do with bearing condition.  I replaced mine at 14,000 miles (didn't need to as it turned out - that's another story) and saw no corrosion, no seal issues, and an OK but certainly not excessive amount of grease in good condition.  I live in Denver, so the climate is dry - maybe similar to where you are in Australia?

If you decide to change them, post back and I'll link to an online video I found that's helpful.  And as Scott said, buy/borrow the head tool, but not the bearing knock-out tool; a 18" length of 1" Sch 40 aluminum pipe (or equivalent) works fine.

[dlearl476]

Old School = Clean and repack
New "Thinking" = wear out and replace.

IMO, there is no way properly/frequently cleaned, re-greased, and adjusted bearings shouldn't last 75,000-100,000 miles.  Unfortunately, most of us don't take the time to do it, so it's more like 35-50,000.  The time involved being roughly the same, you're looking at 50¢ worth of solvent and $1.00 of grease, vs $60 for a set of bearings.
I say as long as you have it mostly apart, clean and repack.  The disassembly/reassembly is 50%< of the work.

[erik822]

If you decide to change them, post back and I'll link to an online video I found that's helpful.  And as Scott said, buy/borrow the head tool, but not the bearing knock-out tool; a 18" length of 1" Sch 40 aluminum pipe (or equivalent) works fine.

Any chance you can post the video you mention here?

Thanks.

[Armor]

If you have the forks off, you can easily clean and re-grease the bearings.  Use a torque wrench to set the preload.  (I don't recall the setting).

[Cider]

+1.  Changing the bearings is a lot more work than replacing brake parts.  Mine were bad after 20k miles, but personally I thought changing them was a pain.

[brad black]

the later ST based frames (S4, 02 2V onwards) use the ball bearings introduced with the 916 series.  they often come with very little grease and can be rooted within 10,000km easily.  they're sealed top and bottom, but often when you take the top off and drop the lower clamp out water will come out too.  well worth greasing them.  i usually replace them with a tapered roller like the older style.

[LA]

i usually replace them with a tapered roller like the older style.

I've been thinking of doing the same with over 30,000 on mine.

I think I've seen ceramic tapered head bearing too or did I dream that?

LA

[Mr Earl]

Any chance you can post the video you mention here?

Thanks.

Here you go:

http://www.garagenight.tv/ep-5-replacing-steering-head-bearings

[scott_araujo]

Very nicely detailed video!  Thanks.

Scott

[erik822]

Thanks for the link.