Steering stem removal

How do you remove the stem from the lower tripple clamp. Some #rse on fleebay sent me a thrashed lower triple, which i need to fix.

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...lamp%20damage/

Damn dishonest people.

[TSM]

You need a press to push the stem out, but then you will need a new bottom race.

But anyway to get that grease seal out you can just take the bottom race out then it will slide off. Or you could just knock it back into shape again.

Thanks...How does the bottom race come off?

You'll need to press the stem out the bottom of the yoke.

It's a good idea to upgrade to tapered roller bearings while your at it.

[21QUEST]

Originally Posted by haggis

You'll need to press the stem out the bottom of the yoke.

It's a good idea to upgrade to tapered roller bearings while your at it.

How's is that then .

Everyone says that but never seen much about why they are an upgrade apart from they should last longer.


Ben

Hi guys,
I've bought myself a set of roller bearings to replace the old knackered bearings. The steering was being reluctant to turn and sort of had a stop in the middle. The lower bearing was a pain to remove but finally managed to prise off using two small chisels from two opposing directions. It took 3 hours of tapping, hammering and prising but finally obeyed. Now to put in the new 2 piece taper rollers. I thought of putting the lower stem in the freezer to retract but since the roller part is one piece with its ring I'm afraid of putting that in the oven to expand. Also should I put grease before installing it or after? Anyone here with experience in the matter?

Zunkus, it's 18 months since I did this and I can't remember! (it's an age thing, you see).

From memory, the new bearing has a seal, so doesn't need the dust shield, which you destroyed anyway during removal (as I did). No, you can't heat the bearing, so it needs to be presed onto the stem. Or most likely hammered on, using a metal tube which has a good fit over the steering stem, as a drift, against the inner race.

[Spanner Man]

Morning all.
As said the stem has to be pressed out of the yoke. It can be a bit tricky even with a decent press.
Taper roller bearings last longer because of the greater contact area that the rollers have against the race, as opposed to the standard caged ball bearings.
Although they do slow the steering down slightly, due to the aforementioned larger contact area.
I have found that bikes like Yamaha Diversions, & Bandits actually steer better on tapers, I guess due to them having old style steering geometry.
On more modern bikes such as the SV I tend to put the genuine bearings in.
One thing worth mentioning, is that on a lot of modern bikes the bearing seat in the frame is only just deep enough to support the caged balls race which is much more shallow that the equivalent taper roller race. Therefore the frame will only be supporting half the race if you use taper rollers. I have seen frames ruined where the bearing race has been rocking!
I think that on the SV you should be ok, as if I remember rightly the frame doesn't have a shallow seat for the bearings.
Also, don't be tempted by cheap bearings, such as a lot of the mail order ones. I have found that Koyo make an excellent taper roller. These should be available from a good bearing stockist. The part numbers are; 32005 for the top bearing, & 32006JRRS for the bottom one. (I did that from memory so don't hold me to it)

Cheers.

Thanks for your help SpannerMan.
I bought my SV replacement taper bearings from Pyramid...
They look sound, however I'll be going with them to a local Timken importer to see if he's got their equivalents and also to check for dust seals. If the price is not that far off I'll buy a second set and install them as I've always used Timken bearings before and think they're great.

[northwind]

I pressed one out using my 1337 DIY press- one £3.99 bottle jack, one garage door, one bit of wood, 2 bricks. But it could just as easily have resulted in me demolishing my garage