Front end "notch"

[cal_look_zero]

My front end feels like it has a "notch" at straight forward where the bars settle in. Makes it a real PITA to turn in to corners and feels terrible. I already ordered steering stem bearings, I can only imagine that's the culprit.

Is there anything else I need to take into consideration while I'm in that far? I already replaced both wheels' bearings, brand new tires that are balanced, put new oil/seals in the forks, and check the air pressure in the forks/tires before I ride.

[Dogma]

It sounds like you'd done everything else. One thing you might do is put in some Progressive springs with correct preload so you can stop worrying about the air forks, but you don't need to wait for the bearings to do that.

If you've never done steering bearings before, you might want to read about improvised tools and methods. I don't know if Cliff's encyclopedic site has a tutorial.

[cal_look_zero]

Hey, thanks for that link. I was debating about how I would go about removing everything. It was similar to your methods, but you saved me at least 1 or 2 smashed fingers in the process of elimination.

[Big T]

For the lower bearing that goes on the stem, my machinist used a halogen lamp to heat it up so that it slipped on

He measured the stem, then kept measuring the inner bearing race until he was happy. It dropped right on

[cal_look_zero]

I'm probably gonna "cook and freeze" to get it done quick. Set the bearing on a slug of some kind and heat the slug so that the majority of the heat transfers into the inner race and not the rollers or cage. Freeze is easy; upside down can of nerd air and some thick gloves.

[Dogma]

Bah! Just drive it on with a pipe. Only hit the inner race, of course...

[amxsteve]

My front end feels like it has a "notch" at straight forward where the bars settle in. Makes it a real PITA to turn in to corners and feels terrible. I already ordered steering stem bearings, I can only imagine that's the culprit.

Is there anything else I need to take into consideration while I'm in that far? I already replaced both wheels' bearings, brand new tires that are balanced, put new oil/seals in the forks, and check the air pressure in the forks/tires before I ride.

you should be able to see a visible groove in the bearing race when you have it apart but sounds like your on the right track

[Steve]

you should be able to see a visible groove in the bearing race when you have it apart ...

Yep, this is what it will look like:



There are several ways of taking the race out, what I found works best is to use a large cutoff wheel in your Dremel tool to make two cuts.
It's OK if you nick into the frame a bit, it won't affect the new bearings at all.
After doing these two cuts, the old race literally falls out.


.