Triple Tree Bearings

[wingnut]

Some of you who were at the Southeast rally might have heard me whining about how bad my bike was handling. Believe me that was not a good place to have a bike not handle well. While there we did the side to side push over test with the bike on the center stand and the front wheel in the air. It failed the test miserably. I hadn't over tightened the bearings when I assembled the bike in 2005 as I have a spanner that fits the castellated nuts and remember setting the torque to factory specs. Anyway I disassembled the triple tree today and the bearings were actually stuck. The grease looked like I had used non-hardening permatex instead of lube. So without changing anything else I'll clean the bearings & races, re-lube and assemble it. Let’s see if that cures its bad case of the wanderers. What grease do you guys recommend?

[skids]

Use lithium grease. Not Moly grease.

[bikerphil]

I use the blue marine grease.

[fredintoon]

- - - So without changing anything else I'll clean the bearings & races, re-lube and assemble it. Let’s see if that cures its bad case of the wanderers. What grease do you guys recommend?

Hi Wingnut,
last time those headraces saw new grease was 8 years back and you wonder at them sticking?
First, check the outer races (the ones in the frame) for vertical wear lines.
Anything less than a perfect surface and they are on borrowed time.
Any grease that says "suitable for wheel bearings" on the container will be OK.
And tap the frame headrace tube for grease nipples just like it was still 1947 when every bike had them so you can give the bearings a shot of grease now and then.

[wingnut]

I like Phil's idea of the marine grade wheel bearing grease. Think I'll pick some up today. Yep there are 8 years on what was in there and I guess it's to be expected that it would dry out. Those are not sealed very well from the elements so it now goes on the 5 year PMRC deck. Reassembly today so we will see if it fixes the issue. Swing are bearings are next even if this corrects the problem.

[wingnut]

Cleaned and relubed, torqued everything to specs, even polished some stuff while I had it all apart. Test ride was 90% better than when I started so its beer time. I'll do the swing arm bearings next weekend.

[Nubian]

Some of you who were at the Southeast rally might have heard me whining about how bad my bike was handling. Believe me that was not a good place to have a bike not handle well. While there we did the side to side push over test with the bike on the center stand and the front wheel in the air. It failed the test miserably. I hadn't over tightened the bearings when I assembled the bike in 2005 as I have a spanner that fits the castellated nuts and remember setting the torque to factory specs. Anyway I disassembled the triple tree today and the bearings were actually stuck. The grease looked like I had used non-hardening permatex instead of lube. So without changing anything else I'll clean the bearings & races, re-lube and assemble it. Let’s see if that cures its bad case of the wanderers. What grease do you guys recommend?

Googled neg. results
Please describe to side to side push over test, as I am suspicious of my triple tree handling

[fredintoon]

Googled neg. results
Please describe to side to side push over test, as I am suspicious of my triple tree handling

Hi Nubian,
After you have dismantled and cleaned the headraces, examined the race surfaces for defects (they need to be perfect) re-greased and re-assembled.
THEN
Start adjusting the headraces by tightening the ring nuts.
Block up the front wheel (jack under the frame, something heavy on the rear seat, whatever) so the front tire is off the ground.
Tighten until there's zero shake in the fork legs.
Tighten the bottom ring nut further so that the forks fall to each side from center when you give the bars a gentle push.
If the forks fall on their own it's still too loose.
Once it's just right hold the bottom nut with a peg wrench and tighten the top nut down onto it.
Re-check, sometimes they'll tighten on you.
NOTE FOR SIDECAR RIDERS ONLY
That's too loose for sidecar work and may let the bike shimmy.
Reef her down another turn and you may not need to fit a steering damper.

[crazy steve]

Googled neg. results
Please describe to side to side push over test, as I am suspicious of my triple tree handling

This is also known as the 'fall-away' method of setting neck bearings and is the method I use.

To do this, get the bike level and the front wheel off the ground. With the wheel pointing straight ahead, lightly nudge the wheel one way or the other and see how far it moves before it 'falls' all the way over. You're looking for about 1/2" to 1" of distance measured at the front of the wheel. Less than the measured amount, the bearings are loose. More, too tight. Sometimes you have to disconnect the clutch/throttle cables as they can skew the results; I'd recommend disconnecting them for accuracy. Or you can just undo the handlebars and lay them back on the tank.

I'll respectfully disagree with Fred and say that the bearings don't have to be perfect, but if after cleaning all the old grease out and repacking them, if they turn smoothly by hand in the races without any felt roughness or 'notchiness' from being over tightened, they should be good to go. Discoloration won't hurt anything.

This can be a bit of a PITA as very small adjustments can have large effects, but is the most accurate way I've found to set the neck bearings.

[Nubian]

Thank you, will be a week or two before I investigate.

[fredintoon]

I'll respectfully disagree with Fred and say that the bearings don't have to be perfect, but if after cleaning all the old grease out and repacking them, if they turn smoothly by hand in the races without any felt roughness or 'notchiness' from being over tightened, they should be good to go. Discoloration won't hurt anything.

Hi Steve,
perhaps my idea of perfect ain't as rigorous as yours?
Uniform discoloration with no visible defects is, what? Perfect enough?
But if there is a row of little lines where the rollers were, even if you can't feel them, that outer cone is on borrowed time.