bearings

Anyone know the dimensions and/or supplier for the loose ball bearings in the front end (steering/triple trees)???

 

For the old-style loose ball bearings? No....

For the new tapered-roller bearings? Yes -- you want the SSY500 set from a company called All Balls -- they're available through most motorcycle shops in the catlogues. Should be around $40 US.

 

The 1/4" steerinng head balls?? YES... from the local Yama dealer, you will need 38 of them 19 for each (top and bottom) race.. V inexpensive. You can also use 1/4" balls from a Bicycle shop. When rebuilding the balltype bearings examine the bearing tracks V carefully NO marks or nicks are allowed, IF you want yr Moto to steer .
You can also get Tapered Steering head bearings From (gasp) the Yama dealer as 89 bikes got Tapered races which Incidentally Fit perfectly, unlike the All Balls ones which are perpetually 2mm too tall... Dunno the dealer price of the Yama Tapereds though.

 

Those steering head ball bearings are the ONE UNIVERSAL COMPONENT that the engineers could not put their own design on.

You'll be very happy to know that those ball bearings are:
1/4 Inch Ball Bearings.
Manufactured in multi-BILLIONS

If you stop-in at a Bearing Supply House and ask the guy for the 38 Ball bearings you'll need for the job ... you just might get a repeat of what happened to me ... the last time I needed some for a job.

"I need some quarter-inch ball bearings, please."
"How many?"
"Thirty-eight."
"Thousand???"
"No. Just 38."

The guy grabbed a small brown bag and reached into a large bin of ball bearings ... grabbed a handful and dropped them in the bag."

"Here you go. There's got to be enough in there. I don't feel like counting!"
"OK ... what do I owe you?"
"Gimme four bucks and we'll call it all-even."

 

Isn't it nice when you get people at the counter like that.

Now, what about the inner and outer races? Can you replace them? I would imagine that they get to the point of no return.

 

Replace the lot, with tapered-roller bearings SSY500.

You will know if the bearings are bad as you will feel a "notch" in the steering and the bike won't go round corners! 8O

 

I make the switch to rollers, too ...

You need a troupe of Chinese acrobats to keep the 19 Lower balls in place when you raise-up the steering head, anyway.

If you do go with new ball bearings ... keep in mind that there's still some space left after all the balls are comfortably nested in the new grease.

Don't try to add another ball in there ... it just causes the other guys to get claustrophobic and jump-off!

 

Yeah, ball bearings can be a PITA that way, Rick. Though, sometimes you can get them to stick in the grease.

 

I may need new races and cups as well. Are these sold in a set? Any recommendation on where to get?

Thanks!