Steering head bearings

[volcane]

Two F650gs twins at home. Around 22000 miles on both, now done the bearings on the second bike. It both cases the issue was with the bottom set. I changed both top and bottom sets and cleaned of all the crud from the inside of the headstock which naturally falls down on the lower bearing which i feel acted as a grinding paste and coated it with AC50 Regreased the bearings with a high quality aviation wheel bearing grease. The lack of decent bearing seals doesn't help in my view. I torqued per the manual and retorqued after a thousand miles. Despite all this I have no doubt I shall be replacing the bearings again, hopefully not until another 20,000 miles as per Micky,s experience.

 

[Micky]

I changed both top and bottom sets and cleaned of all the crud from the inside of the headstock which naturally falls down on the lower bearing which i feel acted as a grinding paste ....

Mmmmm food for thought ... except every time I've stripped mine down they were all nice and clean in there, no crud, just as I'd assembled them!!!

So not the problem

As mentioned, the next time I do them I'll use the molybdenumdysulfiedwhatyacallit grease for CV joints ...

 

[gspod]

09 GS:

Head bearings done for the second time - 48,000. Very few off road miles, I wonder if they need changing more often for people you do a lot of trail riding?

 

[Keith Chapman]

Is there any value in re-greasing the bearings every few thousand miles It would not take long to drop the yolks to add some grease during a service.. Maybe the failure is bearings drying out or water ingress ?

 

[frenchy3]

On most of my dedicated off roaders i replaced the steering head bearings at some point and also drilled and tapped the headstock and put a grease nipple in. Sometimes depending on the size of the headstock it would take a lot of grease and a few bikes with oil in frame like the Honda XR400 and the Harley Davidson MT350 would cook the grease out of the bearings when the engine got really hot.

Is there any value in re-greasing the bearings every few thousand miles It would not take long to drop the yolks to add some grease during a service.. Maybe the failure is bearings drying out or water ingress ?

 

[ymfb]

Thank you,i am taking delivery of my very first BMW GS, an F800 on thursday so i should order a set of head bearings,a comfortable seat,a bag full of wheel bearings and a taller screen

Corbin seat
BMW touring screen and frame
Bearings should be ok for 6000 miles

 

[volcane]

Hi
Yes I've no doubt they will fail again. If your over this way Micky I'll provide you with the aero shell wheel bearing grease, there isn't anything better. You can be sure sure of a warm welcome in Clare. Rgds

 

[Micky]

Hi
Yes I've no doubt they will fail again. If your over this way Micky I'll provide you with the aero shell wheel bearing grease, there isn't anything better. You can be sure sure of a warm welcome in Clare. Rgds

I have two weeks in Ireland in July, girlfriend Sue (Gracie on here) and myself, on two 650 Xcountries riding along the Antrim coast and down the Wild Atlantic Way

 

[nrg]

So, can anyone tell me whether it's normal for the steering to feel stiffer after the head bearings babe been changed or has my very competent BMW mechanic done something wrong? He tells me the steering will loosen up after a bit of riding.

Cheers.

 

[volcane]

Absolutely not, they should be perfectly free. In my opinion anyway having done a few.
Best regards volcane