Steering stem lower bearings - removal - questions

[Bagger John - #3785]

I have a spare I/S triple tree which I'm planning to powdercoat. Prep involves removal of the lower race from the steering stem.

Honda doesn't specify a remover tool, so I turned to the aftermarket and got hold of a Park CRP-2 - specifically designed for motorcycle applications.

Naturally, when you're armed with all the right tools the project will turn into a huge PITA. Pass 1 with the CRP-2 saw me pull the bearing cage and rollers off the inner race, without said race budging. The cats took great amusement with the rolly things. Pass 2 saw the fingers of the CRP-2 crack as they were wedged between the lower clamp body and the dust seal.

Pass 3 involved a Dremel, a cut-off wheel and a chisel - but the inner race wouldn't fracture. Pass 4 saw the flame wrench heat up said race and an application of PB Blaster followed. The chisel was placed in one of the cuts in the race and used to slightly rotate it around the stem via hammer blows.

Etc. 3 through 5 were repeated several times until (miraculously) the race became loose enough that I was able to pull it off using the Park tool. In all my years of wrenching I have NEVER had a race this stubborn.

There are a couple of vertical indents from the Dremel above the portion of the stem where the race resides. Both are around 1/8" long, one can snag a fingernail while the other, not so much. These are in the area where the stem walls are 6mm (or greater) thick.

Question for the gang at large: I dressed all of the edges with a file and could oilstone the surfaces down even further. Anything to worry about in the long-term? Or should I look for another lower tree and use it instead?

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

I imagine that an engineer may be able to explain how you weakened the stem by .00000000000004%, but I can't imagine that it could be any significant issue under any riding circumstances. If someone piled the bike into a brick wall at 80MPH, maybe it would fracture at that spot first, but that would be the least of your worries at that point.

I've seen people make much larger "oops" while doing stem bearing replacements, and none have had problems. Some were on dirtbikes that take a regular pounding in the woods, with no failures. I'd run it without worries.

[RonW]

The barrel of the bike's neck rotates on the races. Nothing makes contact with the area where the nicks are. I'm reading the nicks are above the inner race? I use a chisel to get the inner race off, but crowbar the unsplit inner race in the up direction from under the race. Wide chisel and the blade gets damage beyond repair.

[Bagger John - #3785]

I'm reading the nicks are above the inner race?

Ron,

Correct. They're roughly in the vertical area where your red markup lines are, but maybe 1/4" apart instead of widely spaced. Neither extends down to the point where the inner race meets the stem.

[RonW]

even if the nicks were within the band where the inner race sits on the steering stem, the inner race doesn't rotate on the stem.

[RonW]

Oh I see what you're concerned about, the walls of the steering stem are hollow and the nicks might weaken the area an start sumpthin. Dunno for sure.

[Bagger John - #3785]

The only thing I'm worried about is crack propagation over time but since these areas aren't in a load-bearing area and  have had the edges dressed, I may be good to go.

[Valker]

https://www.motionpro.com/product/08-0544

You're welcome.

[Bagger John - #3785]

https://www.motionpro.com/product/08-0544

You're welcome.

Definitely an excuse to spend more tool money. 

Has anyone on the board used that setup to remove a Valkyrie lower bearing? If so, how did it work?

[Bagger John - #3785]

Revisited the stem this afternoon.

There was another slight vertical scrape mark under the area where the bearing race rests. Could have been there all along, or could have been the result of my puller's forks dragging along the surface as the bearing race was being removed. Regardless, all three areas were dressed with 400 grit oiled emery paper then finished with 1500 grit. The idea was to chamfer the edges of the areas and stress-relieve them.

Then I looked at the main portion of the stem. Specifically, the numbers that have been stamped into it. These are far deeper than the gouges and in a thinner area of the stem (4mm vs 6mm). Thoughts are...if it hasn't started fatiguing at this point it probably won't.

Think I'll run it and not sweat the matter. There is a spare Standard/Tourer stem in my parts stash whose stem could be pressed out and pressed into the I/S's lower triple clamp. Honda specifies two different part numbers for them - anyone know why off the top of their head?

[RonW]

Definitely an excuse to spend more tool money. 

Has anyone on the board used that setup to remove a Valkyrie lower bearing? If so, how did it work?

Many youtube videos on the Motion Pro removal tool. There's even an outer race removal tool, here.

Motion Pro instructions below .....


Remove the tapered bearing cage leaving the inner race on the steering stem.



Install the collar around the inner race and tighten the set screws. I would think you drill divots
so the set screws have purchase, but that might not be necessary.



Attach the bearing removal thingie and turn the bolt like on any bearing removal tool.



This pulls the inner race off the steering stem.