81 kz650 Upper fork bearing Gap

Hey guys,
Starting to reassemble this project of mine. I've replaced all the bearings throughout the bike and all seem to work fine so far. I've come to the stage of mounting my fork clamps and noticed that the upper bearing has a small gap between the dust seal and the frame. None of the actual needles are visible but probably only sitting under the frame by 1mm. Should this sit lower down?
Thanks guys,
Kyle

It looks to me like you forgot to install an important piece. Ed

What bearing kit did you get & did it come with one oil seal or two? Did you remove the upper bearing race inside the steering head?
Stock, I don't think there's an oil seal at the top, but there is one at the bottom. I don't know if a tapered bearing kit should have a top oil seal.
All-Balls-Racing only lists one oil seal in the 650-CSR kit, but the pic has two. ???

Missing: CAP, STEERING STEM 46098-016



....

Thanks for the reply.
I bought an Tapered Headrace Bearing Set from All Balls. It came with two oil seals, one fit neatly over the bottom bearing and one neatly over the top bearing. It sits pretty snug to the bearing, adding only maybe 1mm to the total height. I didn't remove the upper race as it was still in really good condition, is there a possibility that they are slightly different? I've put the cap on and i'll attach a photo and also one of the same kit as I purchased.

All-Balls-Racing video

If the bike had ball bearings in the steering stem it had ball bearing races. They definitely are different than the races for the tapered roller bearings. So if you installed tapered roller bearings you needed to remove the ball bearing races and install the tapered roller bearing races. If you did not and if you don't install the correct races you will have problems. Ed

UPPER TAPERED ROLLER BEARING RACE


LOWER TAPERED ROLLER BEARING RACE


BALL BEARINGS AND BALL BEARING RACES (BSA)

Install the races that came with the kit. Do NOT mix different brand parts.
Steve

That's funny!

gaybes wrote: Thanks for the reply.
I bought an Tapered Headrace Bearing Set from All Balls. It came with two oil seals, one fit neatly over the bottom bearing and one neatly over the top bearing. It sits pretty snug to the bearing, adding only maybe 1mm to the total height. I didn't remove the upper race as it was still in really good condition, is there a possibility that they are slightly different? I've put the cap on and i'll attach a photo and also one of the same kit as I purchased.

He did say he didn't replace the upper race didn't he? :huh:
BTW the oil seal goes on before the bottom bearing so the grease won't come out not on top of it. :whistle:
PLS correct me if I'm wrong. :blush:
Steve

650ed wrote: If the bike had ball bearings in the steering stem it had ball bearing races. They definitely are different than the races for the tapered roller bearings. So if you installed tapered roller bearings you needed to remove the ball bearing races and install the tapered roller bearing races. If you did not and if you don't install the correct races you will have problems. Ed

UPPER TAPERED ROLLER BEARING RACE

LOWER TAPERED ROLLER BEARING RACE

It had already been converted from the ball bearing setup to the newer tapered style.
So both the upper and lower fork section have 3 parts to my understanding. The bit that is hammered into the frame, pictured above(which is the part that I left in as they seemed in perfect condition) The bearing, and the oil seal. I only replaced the bearings as they were damaged in the period that they were taken out so the frame and fork parts could be powdercoated.

I'll take it apart tomorrow and shoot through some photos. The installation is the same as in the video linked above, and seeing as the part numbers match on the bearings I find it hard to believe that although potentially a different brand, they would differ. I didn't want to belt out the roller bearing races as there wasn't a good edge to get something in to hit them out , but worst case I guess ill have to give that a shot too!

The easiest way to get the tapered races out is to tack weld a washer or pipe to the inside of the race to give you a lip to hammer on.

The really slow a tedious way is to use a dremel with a tiny cutoff wheel to cut it out. This way can damage the frame tube so you have to be extra careful and extra patient. I've only removed one set of tapered bearings, and this is the way I did it. It took hours to do the whole job. I will be welding next time.

Been slowly gathering all the goodies I need for a rebuild from the front tire to the brakes and tapered bearings....... glad I saw this as I could see me making the mistake of leaving the stock races alone if they look good. I take it they come with the bearing kit from all balls ? and has anyone beat them out another way as the dremel scares me and I don't have a welder. Suppose I should look through the manuals but you guys usually have all the answers.