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Steering Head Bearings Questions

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Venture Steering Head Bearings

Chuck, I dont have the settings handy but rule of thumb would be with wheel off the ground let the wheel flop to either side. If its fast tighten the bearing (after you service/grease) a little. Try again. It should be about right when it does not flop freely and has no apparent binding. You dont want it tight as it will cause other problems.
Dont know about metzlers but I run 40 and 40 in my dunlops. I keep the front forks at 17 psi, the rear about 45 I am just a little over 200lbs. I run these with and without passenger.

Hank Yerger

Steering Head Bearings

Jim is right where he is telling you to increase the tension on the steering head bearings, but this solution is only short-term. Our Ventures came new from Japan with these tapered bearings coated with a light film of grease. It doesn't take much time and heat and this grease will leave the top bearing. Also the tension on these bearings is kept by 2 gland nuts with a rubber washer between them. This washer allows the castles on the nuts to align where there is a keeper that hold the 2 nuts together. Over time I contend this rubber washer allows the 2 nuts to back off also?
Anyway the best solution to this wobble is to re-pack both of these bearings with a good moly grease. There is a good chance that your bearings are bone dry and maybe the top race is scored, where you might have to replace it. Regardless, all of this is under the top triple tree and you will also have to remove the top cover of the fairing after you take the radio out, the piece that contains the speaker. The triple tree cannot come out without removing one side or the other. The torgue that Jim describes is what you want with a slight drag. Most Yamaha mechanics that I know will not get it tight enough, but there is a fine line between to tight and to loose. Too tight and the bike will wonder and too loose will give the wobble when you lock the cruise at over 40 and take your hands off the bars. Now most all bikes will wobble under severe deceleration, like taking your hand off the throttle. To get it right will just take some time and effort, but once you get it packed and tensioned properly, it will last for a long time. Just find a shop manual and get started.
Now I haven't taken the time to do it yet, but I have heard of a few guys that have drilled and tapped a grease zerk into the neck and filled it up with grease where all the have to do is hit it periodically with a grease gun and that keeps the proper tension on the bearings?
Oh, on tires, I have run them all and in the end you can't go wrong with a Dunlop Elite II, but I have found that the Yamaha specs of 33 in the front and 41 in the rear, work the best for overall handling with these tires. The new Metzlers and Avons have soft side walls and have to be run at maximum pressure stated on the side wall. They can get a bit wormy if under inflated........Good Luck, Rick Butler Dallas Tx

Fixing Steering Head Noise

I have read the articles in you site regarding different ways of adjusting and modifying the head bearings and ring nuts on ventures. There is a Yamaha technical bulletin m83-016 that addresses steering head noise. It says to remove the top clamp, discard the lock washer and the rubber washer between the ring nuts. Then reinstall the bottom ring nut and torque to 1.0m-kg or 7.2ft-lbs. Install the top ring nut directly onto the bottom nut and torque to .5m-kg or 3.6ftlbs. Then install a new washer, part number 90201-252a5-00 on top of the top ring nut. This washer measures [by the bulletin] 25.5x38.3x3.2mm.
I was able to find a substitute washer at my Honda dealer that I think was a sprocket washer. I didn't think to save the part number but I don't think it would be hard to find something that would work. All it needs to do is take up the space left by the absence of the rubber washer.
I hope this info is helpful. ..........Rob Tidd

Last update: 12:48 PM Sunday, September 26, 2004

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