Steering stem Bearing and race replacement

Hi,

I am installing new tapered steering stem bearings. I wanted to use the old bearing races but found out that they aren't compatible with the new bearings. I need help with the removal of the old bearing races.Do i have to use a bearing race removal tool ??

Any help greatly appreciated.

Kz900 1976

No. You should be able to use a long drift pin to drive the old races out of the neck. It may help to soak them with Kroil for a couple days first. The race on the lower triple tree may be removed by tapping a fine wedge between it and the tree after soaking, but on mine I had to cut it with a Dremel and chisel. Just be careful not to damage the tree. Ed

They are normally easy to drive out with a drift punch, but I'll put my $0.02 in again. I replaced them in 2 of my KZ650s and the KZ1000MKII and in all three cases I really could detect no difference over the old dry beat ball bearing races. Actually I really thought all three were better previous to install, so I decided it was waste of time and effort for me as I'm deaf, dumb, and blind I guess. Guys on the GL1800 forum replace them to cure wobbles. Well I have no wobbles running the balls, so why bother I figure.

The races in original loose ball bearings in my KZ650 became dimpled over time. This caused the steering to be notchy and at very low speeds there was a tendency for the front end to shake or wander a little. You could very easily feel the notchiness by turning the handlebars slowly with the bike on the centerstand. The fact that I had never lubed the bearings because of the level of effort required may have contributed to their failure. When I disassembled the front end I could see the dimples in the races. After I installed tapered roller bearings there was a noticeable improvement in that the notchiness totally disappeared as did the low speed shake/wandering. I'm sure every case is different to some degree, but for anyone who can feel the notchy dimple effect replacing the original bearings with the tapered roller type should be worth the effort. Ed