[Chromo]

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Well, in looking for several problems I found one.
I have not been liking the way my 88 1500 handles sometimes.
I found the dreaded bump when checking the movement of the front end.

Like a little notch where it wants to sit in the center facing straight.
I did the pull test on the fork lowers and wheel, I get a little movement I think but not much. Hard to tell, it's not much if it's there, and I could have been rocking the bike most of that sitting on the center stand.

Now the big question, I am getting ready to leave MONDAY for what might be a 2500 mile ride by the time I get back home. The bike handles well enough now, I just have not liked
the feel in the twisties mostly and felt I got a bit of oddness more on tar snakes etc.. than I should.
So would this most likely remain the same as it is, which I can live with fine for now, OR is it likely to get real bad very fast that could stop me from living at all :shock:

No time to get bearings and replace them before the trip, and I don't want to cancel the trip.
If it's going to remain about the same then that's fine, it's how I been riding it for awhile anyway I guess.

I thought I had checked before and it seemed fine, I guess I did not check or it got bad fast?

 

[Spondulas]

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If the problem isn't any worse than you described, I doubt 2500 miles will make a difference.

Does it "porpoise" in the twisties? If so, you might want to remove the center cover off the handle bars (snaps off) and check the nut on the top of the steering stem. Mine was doing the porpoise and it turned out the bearings were fine but the nut was loose making the entire fork assembly wallow around on curves.

 

[Chromo]

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Thanks, I will check that.
I guess what I get sometimes might be a porpoise?

 

[Rudy]

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Nothing worse than bad head... bearings.

 

[skip20]

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It's the FORK TREE bearing.
The head doesn't have any bearing that I know of, maybe the cam, but I think they are bushing.

 

[Lightin]

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Steering head bearings Top and bottom

 

[Chromo]

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Lightin wrote:

Steering head bearings Top and bottom

Ya, Those! LOL

 

[jnel57]

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Rudy wrote:

Nothing worse than bad head... bearings.

is it even possible to get bad head... bearings

 

[gumbyred]

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Just had new steering head bearings, along with complete fork rebuild on my `98 S.E. Cost more than I would have liked, but what are the alternatives? A 22K new bike, or a used one that may, or may not need the same items. As long as you have the steering head bearings out, might as well do the forks also.
Tom Bishop
`98 S.E.

 

[weewillywing]

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Lightin wrote:

Steering head bearings Top and bottom

Yes two bearings, and not an easy job by the look of it. http://www.goldwingfacts.com/1500steering.htm

 

[Dusty Boots]

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As long as the forks/steering head are tight and not flopping around, the 2500 mi wont bother it.

Try increasing the air pressure in your front tire to43 PSI. IIRC, you have a darkside tire up front and the extra tread depth will cause a little bit of vagueness in the turns.

When it comes time to do the steering head bearings, you might as well rebuild the forks, as well as install a set of Progressives.

 

[Chromo]

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Dusty Boots wrote:

As long as the forks/steering head are tight and not flopping around, the 2500 mi wont bother it.

Try increasing the air pressure in your front tire to43 PSI. IIRC, you have a darkside tire up front and the extra tread depth will cause a little bit of vagueness in the turns.

When it comes time to do the steering head bearings, you might as well rebuild the forks, as well as install a set of Progressives.

Yes, double darkside now.

Maybe that extra tread depth and being a new tire with full tread compared to the E3 that was well worn is why my handling problems showed up more now?
I'll bump up the pressure and see what that does.

I been thinking about Progressives, I need to pull out what I have and see what they are. Problem with buying a good bike without records is you don't know what's been done. I may already have those Progressives and not know it.

I'm used to the thick brake pads used on cars trucks, when I saw my thin ones on 1500 I thought they were getting worn pretty good till I saw the pictures of new ones while looking for a set, now I think mine might be fairly new LOL
About 3/4 maybe? I'm going to measure them later and look for specs, I may not need to change them for next season like I thought.
I knew of course bikes have thinner pads than cars, but I did not realize just how thin new pads actually are!

 

[wingsound]

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Is there a rule of thumb for when to replace steering head bearings (mileage) on the 1500's? I have about 65000 on my 93 and I assume the front end has never been worked on- I've only owned ita few years.

My 81 only had about 31000 miles and the bearings and fork bushings were bad whenI rebuilt that about 3 or 4 years ago.

I have been debating whether to put it in the shop this winter and replace bearings, fork seals and springs or wait another year. I only put about 5k per year on it.

 

[newday777]

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Chromo
I got that feeling on my 1500 also when I went double darkside. I tightened the head steering nut, was loose, which helped. It might be the swingarm bearings loose too.
Yes bumping up the tire pressures will help. I ran front @42 rear @45-48 but still got the squiggles on the grooved concrete on rt 287 between Loveland and Longmont CO, on my x-country trip, now at 6,000+ miles in NH visiting family, friends and now the colors are coming out too.
Is your fork oil fresh? It will help too.:july4thflag::july4thflag::july4thflag::july4thflag::july4thflag: