Changed my steering head bearings.... took some pics

[thirdgenlxi]

Originally Posted by Gas Man

did you use a good syn grease in there?

Why tappered roller bearings? They had problems with those on the 954's in 2002... made the front end too loose. I know I went into tank slap at about 135mph back in the day.

When tightening the steering head, u used torque, but did you check fall away?

Yea I remember the 954's having a recall on the steering head bearings, taking out the tapered roller and putting in ball bearings. The 954's have always had stability issues though, even with the ball bearings. F4i's have never had any such issues, and I know a good number of people that have switched to the tapered rollers without any problems.

I like them better just cuz they're generally more durable than the ball bearings, and don't develop the notches and detents that the ball bearings are known for

As for tightening them.... F4i's (just like the VFR's) use a torque spec only for setting the preload on the bearings. Most bikes you use the pull scale to measure the rotational resistance and just tighten or loosen the nut until the resistance is in spec. F4i's there is no spec for that, you just torque the adjuster nut down to 18 ft. lbs and it's done, hence the reason I needed to make my little spanner wrench tool to fit on my torque wrench

And yes I used good grease... and lots of it