[alski425]

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Here I am again: Hey you wingers. I am going to put new bearings in the steering head. Clymer's manuel says you can use a large drift and hammer or make a special tool to loosen the adjust nut on the steering stem. What I would like to know is how do you`tighten the nut to specific lbs. Is there a special socket to use with a torque wrench or What? Thanks again guys.

Alski

 

[exavid]

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alski425 wrote:

Here I am again: Hey you wingers. I am going to put new bearings in the steering head. Clymer's manuel says you can use a large drift and hammer or make a special tool to loosen the adjust nut on the steering stem. What I would like to know is how do you`tighten the nut to specific lbs. Is there a special socket to use with a torque wrench or What? Thanks again guys.

Alski

Basically you tighten it until it takes 4lbs pull on a tangent to the fork tube to start the fork swinging. When the tension is right the fork should not swing freely from side to side. There have been several ways to fellows on the forum have made tools to adjust the head bearing. I used a piece of scrap pipe I had on hand, ground notches in it and welded on a handle. You could do the same thing with a large socket that has the same outside diameter as the nut. The hammer and punch method leaves kinda amateurish marks on things but it does work too. You might need a new lockwasher.

 

[Gambler]

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the nut is not that tight, you can do the adjustment with a toothedspanner, or chanel lock pliers. I just do it by feel, before you doubt yourself, remember you tighten spark plugs by feel, and many other things. finding the correct socket could be difficult.

try this, when you get the new bearings packed and installed, tighten the nut by hand as tight as you can, turn the triple tree back and forth to seat the bearings, then back it off and then tight by hand just snug. then see if the tree swings back and forth freely.

make sure you put the upper grease retainer in the head before the race, the book is wrong(it says to put it in after).


I just read his responce, the tree shouldnt bind and shouldn't flop.it's a feel thang''

 

[exavid]

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Gambler wrote:

I just read his responce, the tree shouldnt bind and shouldn't flop.it's a feel thang''

Yep, should just have a little drag, and it should be about the same amount throughout the steering range.

 

[twisty]

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alski425 wrote:

Here I am again: Hey you wingers. I am going to put new bearings in the steering head. Clymer's manuel says you can use a large drift and hammer or make a special tool to loosen the adjust nut on the steering stem. What I would like to know is how do you`tighten the nut to specific lbs. Is there a special socket to use with a torque wrench or What? Thanks again guys.

Alski

Alski, good information above.. I'm not sure what your are working on but if the current bearings are ball bearings you might want to look into replacing them with tapered roller bearings & new cupsas that improves the long term durability & holds the initial adjustment much longer than the ball bearings do...

Twisty

 

[BRowan]

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Bear in mind that when you tighten the locking nut, it puts some pressure on the adjusting nut so don't overdo teh adjusting nut in the first place.

 

[Hobie1]

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http://us.geocities.com/warren1m/steering.html

http://www.wingworldmag.com/archives/apr2002/magazine/article/stembearings.html

Here's a couple of articles that will help you out also.

Hobie

 

[Jluvs2dive]

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twisty wrote:

Alski, good information above.. I'm not sure what your are working on but if the current bearings are ball bearings you might want to look into replacing them with tapered roller bearings & new cupsas that improves the long term durability & holds the initial adjustment much longer than the ball bearings do...

Twisty

Doyou get these from the dealer or are there aftermarket parts for this? Any part numbers? I think I'm getting a little clunk from mine, so I'm adding this to things I'm going to be replacing.

Thanks,
John

 

[twisty]

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Jluvs2dive wrote:

twisty wrote:

Alski, good information above.. I'm not sure what your are working on but if the current bearings are ball bearings you might want to look into replacing them with tapered roller bearings & new cupsas that improves the long term durability & holds the initial adjustment much longer than the ball bearings do...

Twisty

Doyou get these from the dealer or are there aftermarket parts for this? Any part numbers? I think I'm getting a little clunk from mine, so I'm adding this to things I'm going to be replacing.

Thanks,
John

John, "All Balls" makes (made anyhow) a roller bearing kit for the older Wings.. It was in the mid $30.00 range.. There are many suppliers of roller bearings for the older Wings so check the web sites or call around..

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/partslist.aspx?Bike=1582&Style=12884

Twisty

 

[wingwarrior]

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Here the place i got mine https://www.partsnmore.com/cat_index.php?model=GL1200&category=chassis

 

[Jluvs2dive]

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Thanks guys. Another quick newbie question. It says that it comes with the lower seal. Is there an upper seal too and if so, will it need to be replaced as well?

Thanks,
John

 

[rcmatt007]

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somehow when I did our 1200, I did not get a good lock on the nut.... since I do not usually drive the bike I did not notice. there is a little tab thingy to make sure it does not loosen on you.

 

[77GL1]

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I just did this myself on my GL1000. The explanation that Clymer gives (for tightening the tension) works perfectly.

 

[exavid]

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There's a lower dust cover, not quite like a normal seal, looks like a washer with rubber on one side. Nothing on top. Good ideal to order a new lockwasher, rematt's little tab thingy, when you replace the bearings. The new head bearings I got for my 1100 had the seal along with the bearings. I didn't know that it came with them so ordered one from Saber Cycle. So if you come up short let me know and I'll send you one. The bearings are the same for the 1100 and 1200.

 

[rcmatt007]

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the seal on the bottom is two peices.... a rubber seal and a washer, you will probably need both as the washer usually gets ruined taking it off.... both are available from honda and fairly cheap

to bad honda does not stock a lot of the other parts for older bikes

 

[twisty]

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Jluvs2dive wrote:

Thanks guys. Another quick newbie question. It says that it comes with the lower seal. Is there an upper seal too and if so, will it need to be replaced as well?

Thanks,
John

John, as mentioned above just a lower seal, the upper isonly a tincover.. You didn't say what year bike you are working with but some of the 1200's came from the factory with a tapered roller bearings already in them.. On those you might be OK with the original bearings yet.. If you install new bearings be very careful not to drive on the bearing race separator as that ruins the bearing..

On my personal 1200 I also drilled the side of the frame neck tube that the bearings ride in then threaded the hole & added a grease fitting.. That way I can grease the bearings occasionally without taking it apart (Harley hasthat grease fitting set-up on their dressers)..

Twisty

 

[rcmatt007]

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that is a good thought twisty about adding a zerk fitting. I think I will do that on my project '75. When I look at the bottom seal, it sure looks flimsy and being able to grease it would be great. I think they went over to tapered bearing at lest by '78, as that was what was in my '78 originally. they do last better than balls, but as the steering stem has a lot of very small vibration type movement, even the tapered bearings wear flat spots.

 

[Jluvs2dive]

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exavid wrote:

There's a lower dust cover, not quite like a normal seal, looks like a washer with rubber on one side. Nothing on top. Good ideal to order a new lockwasher, rematt's little tab thingy, when you replace the bearings. The new head bearings I got for my 1100 had the seal along with the bearings. I didn't know that it came with them so ordered one from Saber Cycle. So if you come up short let me know and I'll send you one. The bearings are the same for the 1100 and 1200.

Thanks exavid. I will probably get one with the kit but if not, I will give you a shout. I appreciate the offer.

rcmatt007 wrote:

the seal on the bottom is two peices.... a rubber seal and a washer, you will probably need both as the washer usually gets ruined taking it off.... both are available from honda and fairly cheap

Thanks rcmatt007. Just to clarify, when the bearings come with the seal, will they not come with the washer part as well?

twisty wrote:

John, as mentioned above just a lower seal, the upper isonly a tincover.. You didn't say what year bike you are working with but some of the 1200's came from the factory with a tapered roller bearings already in them.. On those you might be OK with the original bearings yet.. If you install new bearings be very careful not to drive on the bearing race separator as that ruins the bearing..

On my personal 1200 I also drilled the side of the frame neck tube that the bearings ride in then threaded the hole & added a grease fitting.. That way I can grease the bearings occasionally without taking it apart (Harley hasthat grease fitting set-up on their dressers)..

Twisty

Thanks Twisty, good to know. My bike is the '86 Aspencade in my signature. I'll probably just get the bearings anyway. If I'm going to have it torn apart that far anyway, I might as well change them. Adding the grease fitting is a great idea! I assume you drilled it when you had the bearings out, so you could make sure no filings made it inside?

John

 

[twisty]

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Jluvs2dive wrote:

twisty wrote:

On my personal 1200 I also drilled the side of the frame neck tube that the bearings ride in then threaded the hole & added a grease fitting.. That way I can grease the bearings occasionally without taking it apart (Harley hasthat grease fitting set-up on their dressers)..

Twisty

Thanks Twisty, good to know. My bike is the '86 Aspencade in my signature. I'll probably just get the bearings anyway. If I'm going to have it torn apart that far anyway, I might as well change them. Adding the grease fitting is a great idea! I assume you drilled it when you had the bearings out, so you could make sure no filings made it inside?

John

John, yes, I drilled that particular 1200 with the bearings removed.. I have drilled other bikes with the bearings in place though by placing a strong magnet around the hole to be drilled then drilling through the hole in the center of the magnet.. That way the metal shavings are held by the magnet & don't drop in the hole.. I DON'T pre drill a small hole but just drill the desired size to begin with, that way all but the last break through is against a sealed hole..

Twisty

 

[exavid]

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Jluvs2dive wrote:

Thanks rcmatt007. Just to clarify, when the bearings come with the seal, will they not come with the washer part as well?

John, the rubber is molded to the washer thingy, it's more of a dust cover than an actual seal. The bearings I got didn't come with the lockwasher for the locknut on top. If you're careful you can bend down the two tabs just enough to remove the nut without cracking the locking tabs. If the nut hasn't been adjusted much before the lockwasher should be reuseable. It would be best to spend the couple bucks and get a new one though. I don't know when Honda went to roller bearings for the steering head but the 82 I have didn't look like it had ever been serviced and it had rollers.