3rd Gen steering head bearings...Tapered or not

My 91 has a violent head shake around 45 mph. I believe the main culprit is my severely cupped and worn out front tire which I will soon replace. My question is whether or not it is beneficial to change to tapered roller head bearings. I have read different opinions on this, but would like to hear from some of you who have experienced both. Is it worth the effort? The bike has 20k miles, and stock suspension. I have lowered the triples to recommended maximum, and plan to raise them closer to stock. Tapered roller or not?

 

I had a similar cupping issue develop after my stock ball bearings gave up the ghost at 6k. Switched to all balls rollers $35 a set and have been trouble free with better feel than the stockers. Fresh tires since have no signs of abnormal wear

I am sure squirrelman will post an admonition about chinese bearings within the hour, but do your research. They work.

He will present no facts based on their use in an actual bike and the Internet is littered with positive feedback.

Good luck

 

I'm not sure if I can get a cross reference, but if so, I can get Timken bearings free through my son. This is what got me thinking about the swap, not that it's that costly regardless. The price is small if it really is beneficial.

 

Unless there is something wrong with your geometry from a crash (eg bent forks) or a warped rotor (test by rolling the front wheel off the ground) would strongly suspect the headstock bearings.

Www.allballsracing.com

 

Change to the tapered bearings, no need to see your bike to know they are shot. Stock bearings are weak at best. No insult just a fact. Had a dozen fork seal job's in the last year that as soon as I lifted the weight off the front end Helen Keller could not miss the dead spot in the race.

 

Thanks, any pointers to make the job less painful?

 

http://vfrworld.com/forums/mechanics-garage/28894-5th-gen-steering-stem-bearings-replacment-joey_dude-method-read-cheap.html

 

Buy American-made, not crapola Chinese bearings. Quality costs only a bit more and lasts longer. USA, Japan, Germany make the best-quaLity bearings, so why use inferior ???

Two advantages of OEM ball setup are easier adjustment and more precise feel of front tire information....since the tapered rollers add friction into the tire feedback.

 

Sure the commie Chinese junk "works" but for how long ????

Numerous reports of allballs wheel bearing failures.

 

FWIW, I just replaced my steering stem bearings and went with tapered rollers. OMG... What a difference. I didn't have a dead spot in my race yet but my triple tree was loose. It isn't a terrible process to do either. I was kinda dreading it but really shouldn't have been. I know I'll never use anything other than tapered rollers again.

If you don't have a bearing/race driver kit you can make due with a socket for the lower race. I used a dremel and ground out the inside of the old upper race then used it plus a pipe to drive the new one on. Went for a quick super bumpy ride, came back, retightened everything, and all has been well for the last several weeks.

 

give it a rest you idiot. They are better than OEM and you know it. Count the threads on this board (and VFRD) on roller steering head bearings screwing up, the all balls permanent fix (15K miles and still going), and satisfied customers.

Your prejudice against Chinese anything is disgusting. You have not presented a single fact re: all balls being poor quality.

 

I'll testify to having numerous Timken bearings fail on me throughout the years in various things.... long before they should have. What most people don't mention is that the reason their all balls bearings failed were because they were over torqued and cracked under the extra pressure. Not because of inferior quality or excessive wear.