That same damn front end clunk question....

[McRuss]

I appreciate the measurement, will check it against mine. As Fred W mentioned, if the roller bearings are 'thicker' than the ball bearings, it would cause my issue. As for getting the correct kit, I have no way of knowing. The AllBalls site shows them fitting the FJR and the number I got was the number I ordered.

While I'm at it, there seems to be two schools of thought on torque settings for the roller bearings. One poster said roller bearings do not need to be pre-loaded and the lock nut just needs to be 'snug.' HOWEVER, Warchild has advocated pre-load of 52# and final of 26. THAT was way too tight when I tried it! I went back to 'factory' specs and it felt good at 15#.

 

[Fred W]

The primary reason most folks want to switch over to roller bearings is to dampen out any steering head-shake they may experience due to tire imperfections. I've not heard of anyone ever wearing out properly adjusted stock bearings, though many have dimpled them by applying too much pre-load in an attempt to dampen head-shake.

The roller bearings will have increased damping effect at the same torque spec (due to the increased contact area of the rollers as compared to balls.) so using the stock bearing torque spec should be fine and accomplish the increased damping you are looking for.

26 ft-lbs sounds like far too much to me too. A bit curious that it is exactly twice the OE spec, maybe that's how he came up with that number?

It's worth repeating that, you NEED to use a torque wrench for which these low pre-load torque settings are somewhere near the middle of their operating ranges in order to to have accurate results. That means leaving the big 1/2" wrench in the drawer and using a 3/8" torque wrench along with whatever adapters you need to your castle nut socket or spanner.

And don't forget that if using a spanner you need to keep it as close to 90 degrees from the wrench as possible to read the torque directly.

 

[McRuss]

Well, the dead horse is beaten. And the clunk is gone. What did I do, you ask? There were several factors at play here:

First, due to the way I went about installing the lower race in the steering head, I failed to get it seated completely. It took a mirror and a light to determine that error. That accounted for a mm or two.

Secondly, the roller bearings are about 1 mm 'thicker' than the ball bearings

.

After all was said and done, I had 7 mm of threads to work with (rather than the 10 that the balls would expose.)

I use a 3/8" Craftsman torque wrench, works well for most jobs. And I use a 'generic' FJR spanner at 90 degrees.

 

[HaulinAshe]

I had 54,000 miles on a set of (2005) stock steering head bearings before I traded the bike for...

A new (2007) which now has 143,000 miles on a stock set of steering head bearings...

And I had 39,000 miles on yet a third set of (2006) stock steering head bearings before I sold that bike.

Each set was disassembled, properly greased and torqued ONCE shortly after the bike was purchased. The 2007 received a second cleaning, greasing and re-torquing at 97,000 miles.

Anyone reading about all this time and money spent replacing stock steering head bearings needs to examine the change from all angles before taking the plunge.

 

[FJRRYDER]

I had that same clunk on my '06 with 40k mi. When I installed a set of SSR risers, I tightened down the big nut on the triple tree and it went well past where it had been. I think someone, mechanic or PO, had left it a tad loose for the nut-top GPS mount to line up. Now that it is tight, the clunk is gone, but the bracket doesn't line up any more. No big loss, I didn't like that bracket anyway.