All Balls Steering Head Bearing conversion (XJ650J Girlbike)

1.) This just strengthens the notion that they have cruddy QC. They seem to be very inconsistant. About half and half of the folks are happy/hate-em.

2.) .. glad YOU said that and not me! Kidding aside, I think he's probably done just fine, from what little I know of the person he seems to be a decent wrench .. hell I'd hire him! :wink: Just a bit of conclusion jumping on his part .. that's all. I think once he's aware of our efforts he'll come to the same conclusions we have.

 

So how about the bearing seals that come with the kit? Rubber lip up or down?

 

Re: All Balls Steering Head Bearing conversion (XJ650J Girlb

I have a question about the lower bearings. We just installed the All Balls bearings. Thought everything was fine. took a short ride and when we got back everything was sloppy loose. Looks like the lower bearings may not be seated completely. Has anyone had problems getting the lower bearings to seat all the way?

 

Re: All Balls Steering Head Bearing conversion (XJ650J Girlb

Since this thread got started I put a set of All Balls tapered bearings in an SV650. The bike was back twice to be re-torqued before they finished working themselves in.

 

The tapered set on my Seca 750 protrude from the top about 4 MM, and most likely are fully seated, as I put 10K miles on them, and they were there when I bought it.

I'll be keeping an eye on the 900's new set - see if they need snugging.

 

As a Millwright, I've worked with bearings of all sorts for over twenty years, and I have never had a bearing not seat properly to where it protrudes. Even a little. I agree with Rick. Wrong bearings. Period. Looking for disaster if you use them.

 

I agree, Yamaha designed this to hold ball bearings.

We are fitting Tapered Rollers as an improvement, and to make it "RIGHT" we'd have to somehow machine the land in the neck, so the race would not protrude.

Considering the loads involved, and the success to-date of the mod, I think we're good. (it works as-is) :wink:

 

Well, the bearings do not ride inside the neck. They ride on the matching race. This is the square peg/round hole philosophy. Regardless of what style bearings, there are some constants in the equation.

!) The id of the neck has not changed.
2) The recess in the neck for the race has not changed.
3) The od of the triple tree shaft has not changed.

So, it is a simple matter of matching these dimensions to achieve the proper bearing fit for the application. Now if All Balls said set "x" is for said application, and they protrude from the recess, then All Balls has not provided the proper match for said application.

You can go to a bearing house as Rickomatic mentioned earlier, and they can fit you with a precise replacement for anything from a .5mm shaft to a bearing set the size of a truck.

Happy hunting!

 

Re: All Balls Steering Head Bearing conversion (XJ650J Girlb

People, the race of the tapered bearing sticks out further because of the cylinder shaped bearing. As long as the inner race has the same (ride) height of the (balls) bearing like MICarl's picture on the 1st page, the bearing will work.
Sometimes you have to look at the whole picture before making a judgement. :wink:

 

Look on the Old Race for an IDENTIFICATION Number.
That Identifies the "Technical Characteristics" of the Inner and Outer Races.

There will be a Alphanumeric Identification Code which serves as the reference number for the Bearings Geometry to be used when making a substitution.
::::::::
Tapered roller bearings:
• Able to carry radial and axial load in one direction
simultaneously.
Because an axial component of force is produced when this type of bearing is loaded radially, two bearings are used together facing one another, or two or more bearings are matched and used.
• There are the:
>>Standard, Medium and Steep Type which are different in contact angle size.
>>Medium-tapered METRIC Series bearings are identified by the supplementary code "C" which is added as a suffix to bearing numbers.
>>Bearings whose cup width, cup small inside diameter and contact angle are determined in accordance with ISO 355 specifications are identified by the sup- plementary code "J" as a suffix.

++>> Cone Assemblies and the Cups of such Bearings are INTERCHANGABLE with those of bearings produced abroad if the bearing numbers are the Same.

The CORRECT Replcement for Yamaha XJ Steering Heads will have the following measurements;

Steering Head Bearing Replacement Sizes:
25 x 48 x 15.2mm
30 x 48 x 15.0mm

 

Re: All Balls Steering Head Bearing conversion (XJ650J Girlb

I have had exactly the same issue with my set of tapered bearings. When I installed the top race it looked all wrong so I freaked out and cut it out with dremel. To make things worse I then installed the shorter race which I found out was wrong and also cut it out. I then had to buy a new set and after some research I have installed it again the same way as the first time. The bottom shorter race fits in easily and looks well seated. The top race protrudes a couple of mm. It doesn't look right but I don't see how would this affect functionality. I haven't ridden it yet but it feels OK.