Welding for the win. I stuffed for hours with one of my outer races at the start of this year. In the end I looked it up on the web and found the welding suggestion - it is definitely the way to go.
I agree, that's what, apparently, saved my lower bearing and race. I'm going to put some grease on the stem, so it will be useful in this way and, maybe, it will ooze towards the lower bearing, as the time elaplses, hoping that the dirt stays on the top. But there won't be much dirt, since I'm going to plug the slot.
How much should I tighten the ring nut? If I stop tightening as soon as there is no play it's still hand-tight. Is it good? I have to say that I greased its thread, but it was also greased when I removed it and I didn't manage to remove it by hand: I had to hit it a couple of times to unlock it.
Hand tight is fine, apparently most people over tighten the head bearings and wear them out prematurely because of it (according to my mechanic). He said it needs to be just tight enough to ensure that there is no play with that ring nut (but just check it again after your first decent test ride). If you go tighter than that on the ring nut then when you crank up the crown nut on top of the top triple clamp (which takes up any excess lash in the threads) it tends to result in excessive axial load on the head bearings. That advice had me worried initially, but it seems to be fine and I suppose he's been doing it long enough to know
I put my bike up on the stand and noticed my steering was horribly notchy so took it apart to find dirt and gravel on top of my bottom bearing and it had ruined it, there wasnt much grease on the bearings either so the dirt got all inside it. My bikes in bits now waiting on parts from Husky Sport, luckily they had them in stock. This just freakin SUCKS! The outer races werent hard to knock out, I used a length of 1" steel rod as a drift. Im going to have to do something to block off that slot.
I had some nylon rod left over from making my riser mount bushes so i just made a tight fitting 50mm long nylon sleeve and hammered it down the stem.
Thats my bike just put back together. Hows that for good fast service from Husky Sport. My steering lock almost works. I deliberately made the wall of the sleeve i made thick, so i could drill into it a bit incase my steering lock needed to go further in. Well, it does. Im not going to take it apart again just to do that, so it can wait til the next time the stems out. I put the old outer race in the lathe and took a little off the outside so it didnt get stuck when i used it to hammer the new races home. Smooth steering now and it should be dirt proof aswell.
Got around to replacing the steering stem bearings on the TE630 this past weekend as there was a noticeable "notch" in the steering as I would turn the handle bars past dead center straight ever since I bought the bike last year. Upper and lower bearing races were in there tight, had to rig up a way to use my bearing puller tool (not the type designed for this task) to break the races free and then used a long chisel & screwdriver to pound them all of the way out. The lower bearing was on the stem rod pretty tight as well and it took some effort to get it off. Hardly any grit or dirt inside the steering stem. Put the new races in the freezer for a couple of hours and then drove them in using the old races as sacrificial hammering points. Used white lithium grease for the upper and lower bearings. Everything else went together pretty easily (took the front wheel and both forks off as part of the process). Steering is now nice and smooth and no notchy feeling anymore.
For those of us without the luxury of electricity in our working areas, I can confirm that a 20cm long drift set works, although the ends do wear out quickly. Ideally you would need 30cm long drifts, but I just about managed with the 20cm punch tool set. I had limited success with a screwdriver due to the cushioning effect of the handle. It's a really bad design that they didn't think to include notches like most manufacturers do, so that you can get some decent purchase on the lip of the bearing cup. I also found it better to start off a side and then work from that raised point as due to access it is difficult to get a good placement on the other side of the bearing cup to tap it out exactly 180 degrees on each side.
I have found a long ratchet socket extension to work well - it is strong and a bit weighty and has a good curved shape at the ratchet end that gets good purchase on the lip of the race. Works great on wheel bearings as well.
I had one but found it was bevelled so it kept slipping off! But I did notice your post and had a go, I figure it depends on the quality of the extension you have!
I just ground the head of a chisel so it had good purchase on what little of the races protruded. I had a harder time putting new races in than taking the old ones out. I had to freeze the race and heat up the head a bit to make it finally go in.
