All Balls Steering Head Bearing Question

To those of you that have accomplished the conversion of your steering head bearings from factory loose ball bearings to the tapered bearing style I have a question. According to the All Balls Instruction Guides they say to set the bearing pre-load to factory specs which on my KZ-1000A1 would be 19.5 to 24.0 foot pounds of torque. Have you followed this recommendation when setting the pre-load on your tapered steering head bearings from All Balls? For some reason when I apply that much torque to my stem nut it seems like an awful lot of torque and the triple clamps are pretty tight. Thanks for any insight on this matter.
Rick H.

I never torque the head race tapers it's very easy to over tighten them .
I just pre-load by feel but then again I've been doing this nearly 50 years.
If they feel too tight then they are, you just need to take up the slack and barely any more.
Do not torque to the factory ball roller headrace setting,
Have the bike stood on the ground ( not suspended) with the weight on the front wheel as normal and screw the castle nut down just enough to take out the slack.
You can rock the bike on the front brake to feel any movement at the top yoke and turn the nut just enough until you feel no more movement.
Double check after a few miles to allow for settlement and in case the races weren't fully seated initially.

Use a c spanner to tighten it to what feels right to you. I hate a loose feel on the bars. Whilst sitting on the bike with it on the centre stand so front wheel is off the ground I like it just tight enough so that when you move the bars and let go it stays where you left it and it doesnt flop all the way round to full lock.

Years ago I installed tapered roller bearings in my 1977 KZ650-C1. It is of the utmost importance that the length of the tool and of the torque wrench be taken into account when calculating the correct torque; if not the torque will be set way too high. One thing that may not be obvious is the fact that the effective length of the torque wrench changes as the wrench is adjusted to different settings. This is shown in the table below. I don’t remember where I found the formula as it has been many years ago. I will say that it worked perfectly for me. Below are the table I used and some pics of the tools I used. Ed

Thank you for the responses guys. I discovered when I took apart the swingarm to replace the needle bearings and sleeve that it had NEVER been greased. This was evidenced by no grease what-so-ever inside the zerk fitting on the swingarm. It looked brand new shiny clean. So I doubt it even had a shot of grease at the factory when it was built. At least when I took apart the steering head bearings they had a some grease on them, probably from the initial build, but it had long ago dried to brown clumpy dirt. How on earth people can be so negligent in their maintenance on a motorcycle is beyond me.

To 650ed: I don't know how it happened, but your post with the torque wrench length chart disappeared.
Rick H.

Warren3200gt wrote: I like it just tight enough so that when you move the bars and let go it stays where you left it and it doesnt flop all the way round to full lock.

Each to his own and all that and personal preferences aside but sorry ! that's too tight .
If done correctly the forks should sweep freely from lock to lock with no resistance when the wheel is off the floor.
The bearings must be adjusted with the bikes weight on the front wheel as in normal use so all the play is at the top race and you are only adjusting against that and not the full weight of the fork assembly.
DO NOT apply factory torque settings to taper rollers that are specified for ball race bearings.

Rick H. wrote: Thank you for the responses guys. I discovered when I took apart the swingarm to replace the needle bearings and sleeve that it had NEVER been greased. This was evidenced by no grease what-so-ever inside the zerk fitting on the swingarm. It looked brand new shiny clean.
Rick H.

The Japs were always stingy with the grease.
They hardly ever put any in at the factory.
Not uncommon for s/a spindles to be seized in the bearings especially if its been at home in a wet part of the country.

Rick H. wrote: Thank you for the responses guys. I discovered when I took apart the swingarm to replace the needle bearings and sleeve that it had NEVER been greased. This was evidenced by no grease what-so-ever inside the zerk fitting on the swingarm. It looked brand new shiny clean. So I doubt it even had a shot of grease at the factory when it was built. At least when I took apart the steering head bearings they had a some grease on them, probably from the initial build, but it had long ago dried to brown clumpy dirt. How on earth people can be so negligent in their maintenance on a motorcycle is beyond me.

To 650ed: I don't know how it happened, but your post with the torque wrench length chart disappeared.
Rick H.

I screwed up, but it's back now. Ed

zed1015 wrote:

Warren3200gt wrote: I like it just tight enough so that when you move the bars and let go it stays where you left it and it doesnt flop all the way round to full lock.

Each to his own and all that and personal preferences aside but sorry ! that's too tight .
If done correctly the forks should sweep freely from lock to lock with no resistance when the wheel is off the floor.
The bearings must be adjusted with the bikes weight on the front wheel as in normal use so all the play is at the top race and you are only adjusting against that and not the full weight of the fork assembly.

Exactly. If you look closely at the procedure in the fsm, you will see that when torquing the head bearings, the front suspension is not installed. Only the stem and triple clamps are involved.

Personnal preference guys, I like at least half a chance of going straight when hitting a pot hole on our shitty uk roads

Warren3200gt wrote: Personnal preference guys, I like at least half a chance of going straight when hitting a pot hole on our shitty uk roads

I think a damper would be a better choice than over-tightened bearings. My preference.

Yep, gotta damper also. You need to ride our roads to experience just how bad some of them are.
Two shocks and one lower wishbone on the car this year all fooked by pot holes.