Help!! Tapered Steering Bearing Install

OK, I guess my memory is much worse than I thought! I am reinstalling new tapered steering bearings into my frame and I can't remember how far to seat the lower bearing cup. The top cup seats on the inner shoulder and matches up with the very top of the steering neck, but the lower cup is smaller than the lower part of the neck. Do I need to seat the cup fully onto the lower shoulder or just install it until is is flush with the bottom of the neck?? :S I have attached a picture and you can see the space.

I don't remember how the old one was installed...maybe the lower cup should be wider?? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm stopped dead in my tracks...
Thanks!

Post edited by: 79MKII, at: 2006/10/02 20:14

Here's a shot of the top cup. It seats on the inner shoulder and sits flush with the neck.

Look at it this way: if you don't seat it up in as far as it goes (to the stop), it will slowly seat itself anyway *while you ride*....

Biquetoast wrote:

Look at it this way: if you don't seat it up in as far as it goes (to the stop), it will slowly seat itself anyway *while you ride*....

And make for a "Real" interesting ride

You'll have to pull out wrenches everytime you hit a bump.

steell wrote:

Biquetoast wrote:

Look at it this way: if you don't seat it up in as far as it goes (to the stop), it will slowly seat itself anyway *while you ride*....

And make for a "Real" interesting ride

dont feel bad,skipper76 put 75 miles on his bike and forgot to put lower race in and thought it handled great!:S after i installed lower race and rebuilt his forks he says it handles a lot better!

I guess my main concern is if the lower race is correct for my bike or not. It seems that it will seat when the steering stem is tightened (or when ridden as has been pointed out ) but I don't know that it won't go in too far and allow the lower fork clamp to hit the bottom of the steering neck. I double checked the bearing kit part number and it lists all KZ1000 77-80, so it seems to be correct.

I'd rather drive it all the way in with a bearing driver if that's where it goes so I don't stress the bearings so much when I seat them by tightening the stem. Any thoughts???

79MKII wrote:

....I'd rather drive it all the way in with a bearing driver if that's where it goes so I don't stress the bearings so much when I seat them by tightening the stem. Any thoughts???

Agreed! By the way, I was kidding in the post above....

Are you sure you don't have the top bearing and bottom bearing swapped? I suppose they are probably different diameters so there's no way to accidently swap them.

I think the lower outer race should be seated to the shoulder, or what could be called, rammed home. Then after assembly with water resistant greese only tighten the lock nut buy hand with a rag and soft hammer. Use the rag for grip round the lock nut and tap the bottom tree just a little

With the front of the bike jacked up, feel the play by grabing the fork bottoms at the bottom then push back and in, if it don't move then its home

tapper roller bearings will disfigure with too much tightening

DONT FORGET THE BOTTOM SEAL below the inner bottom race:ohmy:

jimmybon wrote:

DONT FORGET THE BOTTOM SEAL below the inner bottom race:ohmy:

Can you put the rubber seal back on? Maybe on the 1000, but on the 650's I didn't, and someone else couldn't find a way to make it fit either.
Here;s a link when I tried it

Good luck whichever way it works out for you.

Thanks for the advice Jimmybon. The diameters are different, so they can't be swapped. It's mainly just the width that I'm worried about, but everything I've seen says it's correct. I think I'll seat the lower outer race and see what happens :S

Now, about the lower seal - I thought that was settled in several other posts (not to use it with tapered bearings). Now you've gone and opened up another can of worms... :ohmy:

BTW, Am I correct in assuming that I should pack these bearings before installing? Tapered bearing aren't any different from roller bearings in this respect, right?

Post edited by: 79MKII, at: 2006/10/04 12:21