How often do you re-torque the steering head bearings if they seem OK?

[DGBone]

As the title says, I had mine loose at 600 miles, (new 2017 FJR ES) retorqued them as per factory manual and have been OK since.

At 4-5,000 miles I re-did the procedure even though there were no symptoms or signs of looseness.

I'm at 8,000 miles and the manual calls for a steering head bearing "check" do you guys re-torque every 4,000 miles...?

How often do you guys re-torque if the fork legs are not wiggling...?

Thanks!

Daniel.

 

[FJRay]

I did it once on my 03 in 140k miles. If it isn't broke don't fix it.

 

[Snudge]

What FJRay said, if it isn't broke.........

Mine needed doing at around 500 miles, other than that they get retorqued every 14-15000 miles as part of the reassembly after changing the fork oil and greasing the bearings.

 

[Fred W]

One and done here too.

 

[RossKean]

Never, unless loosened to grease bearings. Not often because grease doesn't go anywhere or wear out. I think I did my '07 once in 185,000 miles.

 

[dcarver]

Once tapered roller bearings were installed... never checked since.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Have not had to touch head bearings on any of my FJRs. If they are not loose, why monkey with them...

~G

 

[Fred W]

My experience, two out of two owned needed to be tightened fairly early on. After that there was no change.

I would posit that many of the steering bearings that become unserviceable are due to people over tightening them and dimpling the races. Which gets back to the previous statement: “ If it isn’t broken, then don’t fix it “

 

[Panman]

Never have, 07 with 114,000 miles! Course I'm an old Opie that wouldn't know the difference between good and bad.

 

[Mortenk]

I am quite surprised to read these responses. My 2016 ES is due for the 16,000 miles service and I was planning to repack the bearings (which would automatically mean re-torquing). I thought that was kind of important for the FJR, but after reading this I'm having second thoughts...

 

[DGBone]

Well there you go...

The owners manual states to "Check" steering head bearings every 4,000 mi. not "re-torque", but since mine were loose at 600 miles and had the "clunk" on sudden braking I got a little paranoid.

Exactly the answer I was looking for, tens of thousands of miles' experience in one thread... THANK YOU GENTLEMEN!

I did check by grabbing forks and also by sudden front braking and fork legs are solid, so leaving well enough alone for now.

Thank you so much for sharing that info.

Cheers,

Daniel

 

[Fred W]

Like several of the check this items on the service list, since Im the guy riding the bike, Ive already checked them.

 

[rbentnail]

I'm in the "one-&-done" camp. Early in ownership at about 1500 miles then not again until I replaced with tapered roller bearings. Even then it was initial then again about 1000 miles later then never again.

 

[Canadian FJR]

I just finished checking my steering head bearings at 60,000 km.  I re-torqued once after the first few thousand when new.

Yamaha spared no expense in the grease department.  Lots of grease in there and I couldn’t see any wear on the races.

I just cleaned everything up, re-lubed and re-torqued.

No need to lube again for a very long time.

note: I have been riding many rough roads on many wet days.  As Ross stated, the factory lube really can’t go anywhere as long as the seal is good and no water gets in there.

Canadian FJR

 

[art miller]

The dealer re-torqued the head bearings during the 600 mile service and checked again at time of first valve clearance. Torque was fine and never bothered again. Now have 44,000 miles on bike and no issues with head bearings.

 

[Bounce]

As with all such things, I will say: What does the PM schedule from Yamaha say?

Seems Mamma Yama says to repack the SH bearing every 16k miles. That would mean a re-tq at the final stages of reassembly.

 

[Brodie]

Yep, I’ve checked them many times, on all 3 of my FJRs…

… they were still there. 
 

I’m with DCarver, once I got the torque set right on the taper roller bearing, no need to touch them again for a looong time. 
 

Brodie 

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I didn’t fool with them for 80,000 plus miles on the ‘14. Haven’t messed with them in almost 40,000 miles on the ‘18. 

 

[Bounce]

I do routine "testing" at least annually. I did a full re-torque when I first got the bike and again 2 years later. Not so much needing more than annual checking since.