Steering head bearing

[Warlock]

After changing a few I believe these need changing between 50 and 70000 miles. Went over today and showed a buddy of mine how to change them. He had a little over 60,000 miles on his Interstate and his was indexed. Couldn't really tell until we removed the forks and the top triple tree. You could move it from side to side and feel the index. When I changed mine at 70,000 it was indexed real bad. I installed the bearings from All Ball. Don't know how well these hold up, but plan on changing them when I get 50,000 on them. To me if you pull them that far down just as soon change them. 
David

[Ricky-D]

If you can feel the indexing, that most certainly is the reason to replace them. Absolutely!

Cant imagine Honda using such poorly manufactured materials.

I've over 100k and cant feel even the slightest bit. I do check that occasionally for sure.

Indexing of the head (steering) bearings is a safety issue for sure.

Can't really check them if the bike is on a lift and one more thing, the mass of wiring on my I/S impedes any real ability to get a good feel.

***

[fudgie]

If you can feel the indexing, that most certainly is the reason to replace them. Absolutely!

Cant imagine Honda using such poorly manufactured materials.

I've over 100k and cant feel even the slightest bit. I do check that occasionally for sure.

Indexing of the head (steering) bearings is a safety issue for sure.

Can't really check them if the bike is on a lift and one more thing, the mass of wiring on my I/S impedes any real ability to get a good feel.

***

Why cant you check them on a lift? When mine was up, thats how I found mine.

[Ricky-D]

fudgie wrote: "Why cant you check them on a lift? When mine was up, thats how I found mine."

You have to understand what happens in the neck when you lift the bike off the floor.

The loading in the neck bearing transfers 180 degrees to the other side of the bearing, in both the top and the bottom bearing.

You don't normally ride with the load on that side of the bearing.

The easiest way I find to check for indexing is the have the front wheel in a puddle of water and the movement doesn't need to be very much. Maybe a couple of degrees either way.

I  think it is a very subjective issue and feel there is a lot of bearing exchange where it is not needed.

I'll not argue against changing the bearings but I feel, with some, there is a good chance it will become a yearly practice,  due to poor replacement procedure.

Just sayin!

***

[Warlock]

fudgie wrote: "Why cant you check them on a lift? When mine was up, thats how I found mine."

You have to understand what happens in the neck when you lift the bike off the floor.

The loading in the neck bearing transfers 180 degrees to the other side of the bearing, in both the top and the bottom bearing.

You don't normally ride with the load on that side of the bearing.

The easiest way I find to check for indexing is the have the front wheel in a puddle of water and the movement doesn't need to be very much. Maybe a couple of degrees either way.

I  think it is a very subjective issue and feel there is a lot of bearing exchange where it is not needed.

I'll not argue against changing the bearings but I feel, with some, there is a good chance it will become a yearly practice,  due to poor replacement procedure.

Just sayin!

***

I agree with you on the Interstate models a pain in the butt. These was OEM bearings. His was a Interstate. You really couldn't tell his was indexed until when had removed the forks and the top triple tree.  Also made sure the wires wasn't inter fearing  with it. Moved it from side to side and you could feel it click when it moved to the center position. Before removing all this it could not be felt. I'm sure some are indexed enough that you can feel this with all the stuff in position. But the way we checked them is a sure way. These bike are so heavy along with the Goldwings that this is a problem that Honda will not address. It's not a hard job to do at all, except Interstates . I have a Tourer and a Standard so I don't worry about breaking them down. I think it should be something to think about. Like Daniel said this could still be some of the high speed wobble and I will have to agree with him. May not be the hole problem.
David

[Grumpy]

I concur, just changed mine on a 99 interstate, 61,000 miles. could not feel any thing on the lift, but did have the start of a high speed wobble a couple times at high speed. Mine were indexed also, went with the All Balls, bike rides like a different machine now, a lot easier steering. As you say a pain on the IS, but worth the trouble.

[Patrick]

Yep, the bearing has to be loaded to check it and when the bike is on a lift that allows the front wheel to 'hang' the bearing is unloaded.. The next set that I replace I'll figure out a way to stick in a couple grease fittings just for the heck of it..

[Warlock]

My buddy bike had no sign of having bad bearing. He was doing some work on it and asked me would it be a good time to check them. So I headed over there and once it was necked with the forks off and the top triple tree off we rotated it side to side and you could feel it click in the middle. When I changed mine on the Tourer around 70,000 miles I could feel the index with my fingernail on the races. Couldn't really feel his, but you could see the index and could feel it when rotating it. Good luck on the grease fitting. We packed his with a good waterproof grease. I did notice his didn't have a lot of grease in the OEM bearings.
David

[fudgie]

Really. Huh. I had my front wheel off and decided to recheck torgue on mine. 40,000 ish miles. After retorquing them it would catch at straight ahead. Replaced with all balls. Then, just by chance, I had forks off a year later and my handle bars moved forward backwards quite a bit. Retorqued again and all was better. I had 20K on these after replacement and never had a problem. Just by chance of having the front gone that I noticed the bars were loose.