ZX-14 Front End Mod Question

[RedEye]

Finally got to the point of actually removing the stem so it's time for some pic whoring! A bit of a spoiler: after this experience, I am physically terrified by the thought of looking at the Viffer's bearings. They're twice as old with twice the mileage. After I removed the forks and noticed the whopping great notch on center I took a closer look and I could tell it wasn't going to be pretty:

First, I had to go into town for a tool to get the stem nut off. I don't have a 12mm Allen key (who does?) and when I tried using a double-nutted bolt with a 12mm head it quickly became apparent that the stem nut torque was more than any suitable bolt I had on hand could take. So I went to Princess Auto and found a set of 1/2" drive metric Allen sockets, 5mm to a whopping 19mm. On sale too, half price :

The other half of the team, a half inch torque wrench makes a nice breaker bar:

The stem nut came off nicely, followed by the top triple.

The adjuster nut was another story. It showed signs of previous abuse and, though I admit I have zero experience in estimating torque values while using a drift to loosen nuts, it seemed a hell of a lot tighter than the 18 lb-ft the manual calls for. Even with a brass punch (Princess Auto again) it looked considerably worse for wear when it was finally off. I'll definitely be making a socket for the shiny new ZX nuts.

Finally I got the the stem de-nutted and the bottom triple off. Oh, the horror There was a lot of crud at the top of the stem:

Apparently the dust seal had failed. Craptacular!

After cleaning, you can clearly see the dents in the outer race:

The balls and inner race as they came out:

Cleaned up. Even from this distance they don't look so good.

The inner race is nicely dented:

And the balls are starting to disintegrate:

Things are going so well, I can't wait to look at the bottom bearing

Yuck:

And then some:

Cleaned up:

More adventures to follow.

[blackhawkxx]

Great photos!

[cbrxxquad]

Keep it up, your doing a great job. Nice photographic skills.

[RedEye]

Okay, put the top bearings in. The 2nd bearing doesn't press in, it sits above the 47mm portion of the steering head -- there's about a half millimeter space around it. Looks like it's just about exactly flush with the top of the frame. Now I need the spacer from the top bearing to the adjuster nut, roughly 1/4 inch. Now that we know these bearings can be had for nine bucks, is there any reason a 3rd one couldn't be used there? Just in case I can't find anything else of suitable size. Making a spacer would be trivial if I had a lathe; I was actually going to buy a metal lathe but then I spent my lathe budget on the VFR Of course if I had the lathe we'd be having a different discussion because I'd be making myself an adapter and not using these bearings. The inner race from the stock ZX ball bearing would be perfect as a spacer except that it's too tall -- the top triple can't come down far enough to seat properly. I need to shave 5mm off it somehow without making it uneven. But if I leave the adjuster nut off and just use the locknut to hold the stem in place it'll do for now so I can work on the ignition cylinder mount and steering stops.

Something else that occurred to me: the spacer could be eliminated by cutting more threads into the stem so the adjuster nut could be screwed down far enough to press directly on the top bearing It looks like the stem is necked down very slightly at the threaded portion so the stem would have to be pressed out and machined a bit.

[cbrxxquad]

I think I used the zx inside race for the spacer. Extra is fine. You don't want to run out of threads and gall them. The nut just needs take the slack out, not that tight. I could feel the resistance increasing as I tightened the nut. Tried it tight and tried it looser. For me, just getting the slack out was just right. And I could only do it right with it all together less the top triple so I could hold the front brake and rock it back and forth with the weight on the front tire. Almost no drag turning the forks without weight in the front. But, that is just me.

Something else that occurred to me: the spacer could be eliminated by cutting more threads into the stem so the adjuster nut could be screwed down far enough to press directly on the top bearing It looks like the stem is necked down very slightly at the threaded portion so the stem would have to be pressed out and machined a bit.

I think the stem is also welded to the bottom triple. And a proper die for that would be expensive. Now cutting more threads like that is very hard on a lathe. Not worth it.

Just use the zx race for the spacer, done..

[cbrxxquad]

Well I got the package from the bearing guys today, open and one of the four bearings I ordered still left in the bag. Great.

[cbrxxquad]

Well I got the package from the bearing guys today, open and one of the four bearings I ordered still left in the bag. Great.

Update, the po people had found the bag left beside the rack of po boxes on the street about a mile down the road, along with some UPS packages. It had been stuffed into the opening of somebodys box. Since they knew me, they brought it to my PO box in the Office, and put it in it. As it was. It did have both my addresses. Shipping and PO. They went back and looked on the ground and found two more. And again put them in my box. So just missing one now. Contacted the shipper, bearing guys and they were contacting the people they shipped with. I don't get mail at my house. Could, but my address is no where near my house. I have 10 acres and the address is oposite the house on another street...So far.

The bearing guys are sending me another to complete the order..Good enough.

[RedEye]

So last night I finally had time to do some more work on the XX, which has been sitting stripped down to nothing much but the engine and frame since July. I took the ZX lower triple out of the freezer (I kind of forgot it there for a few weeks, oops) and all I can say is hallelujah for the thermal contraction of aluminum. The lower bearing race and seal practically fell off by themselves. I imagine the freezer trick doesn't work so slick with a steel stem.

Removing the stock bearing race went so well that I was feeling pretty smug as I began to install the new tapered roller bearing . . . right up until the point where it didn't fit over the stem. I mean, not even remotely close. And then I realized -- I'M RETARDED. After about 3 seconds of actually using my goddamn brain, I figured out that I had accidentally ordered the tapered roller replacement for the XX bottom bearing, not the ZX bottom bearing. The outer diameter is the same, but not the inner. Damn. It. That's what happens when you have 3 dozen tabs open at once looking at bearings and cross references. And naturally, the proper bearing is a lot less common. Everyone makes it, no one stocks it except, of course, in the form of the ubiquitous All Balls kits. I couldn't find a brand name bearing cheaper than thirty bucks so I finally gave up and just ordered the All Balls kit to get a pair of mediocre bearings for the price of one good one. I figure if I screw up the preload and notch it prematurely I'll have a spare. And the nice sealed tapered roller that doesn't fit will be put to good use later when finally get around to putting the 2005 F4i front end that's been gathering dust for over a year onto my '89 Hurricane 600.

Meanwhile, the mail just coughed up the exhaust studs I ordered an eternity ago so I guess I can do the exhaust and carbs while I'm waiting for the bearings.

Oh, just remembered: I weighed the triples, stems, and related junk. The complete assemblies (minus upper bearing and seal, couldn't find the old XX stocker) came to:

XX -- 2786 grams

ZX -- 2384 grams

The steel XX lower triple and that fancy stem nut are much, much heavier than the aluminum ZX equivalents, while the aluminum ZX upper triple is vastly beefier than the aluminum XX counterpart. ZX ftw by nearly a pound overall.

[RedEye]

Finally completed my application form and joined the prestigious ZXXX Club

It's still very much a work in progress, but it's the last week of October. In Saskatchewan. So basic functionality will have to do for the few riding days left, while I try to finish the critical yard work I neglected while I worked on the bike :icon_shifty: For now, here's a few highlights:

The inner beauty of the ZXXX, featuring a $100 Akrapovic stainless header The muffler looked like it was roundhouse kicked by Chuck Norris, but as you can see I found a substitute.

My $125 TRC-D can. It has some serious rash but almost entirely on the trim that rivets on. Eventually I'll replace those parts, fix a few dents and ceramic coat it as well.

Poor old thing. I'd hoped to have time to fix the bodywork and repaint this year. Didn't happen. All it needs is a pair of Frankenbolts in the neck to complete the image.

Some DIY caliper spacers:

The ZX steering stops barely made contact with the fairing stay; they didn't seem strong enough to survive a tipover in the garage much less something serious. So I cobbled up this beefier setup from 1/2" aluminum:

Since the 2nd 47mm O.D. top bearing was actually sitting above the 47mm portion of the steering head and functioning solely as a vertical spacer, I moved it above the additional spacer for a cleaner look:

Ignition cylinder spacer made from 5/8" HDPE:

Danmoto 3d clipons -- there's no way in hell I could've made the stock throttle and switchgear co-exist with a radial master and double banjo without these uber-adjustable bars. Further work is necessary but it's functional for now.

Mods list for this round:

What's new:

ZX-14 forks, triples, front wheel and fender

CBR1000RR calipers and master, new Galfer pads, Pazzo knockoff shorty lever

Apex red SS brake and clutch lines

Factory Pro adjustable advancer and jet kit

Akrapovic Supersport 4-2-1 stainless header, Volksbolts SS exhaust studs and nuts

Yoshimura TRC-D muffler

Red & black "CNC aluminum grips" from ebay. Don't work well in this application and will be replaced.

Replaced existing grip heaters with dual-element Symtecs

Danmoto 3d clipons

Custom fabbed: steering stops, ignition cylinder mount, exhaust hanger, caliper spacers, steering stem spacer. Lack of proper tools made this part take forever.

Weight reduction: about 80 yards of linked brake lines, proportioning valve, secondary master . .. amazing how much easier working on the bike is without those friggin hardlines in the way. Passenger pegs, left side peg bracket, and center stand are also gone, as are the indestructible but gigantic MX missile bodies Honda used as stock muffers. Assuming the Corbin Smuggler cancels out the weight saving from the lithium battery, I'd say it's 30-35 lbs lighter than stock, depending on how much lighter the whole ZX front end is compared to the original.

[RedEye]

Icepick's project has reminded me that I never did update this log with details of the build. Probably because of the traumatic nature of the memories, due entirely to not having the right tools for the job. I wanted to make my steering stem spacer from a stock ZX bearing race because it was exactly the right diameter and shape, but I was having a hell of a time figuring out how to make a perfectly straight cut in such hard material. Finally, necessity being the motherfucker of invention, I used my World's Crappiest Drill Press as the World's Crappiest Milling Machine.

I locked the drill press at the right height, tried a few different approaches and finally settled on a Dremel diamond wheel as the least of the worst. I held the bearing race down and turned it by hand, scoring a progressively deeper cut. Since drill press bearings don't stand up very well to side loads very light pressure was required; also the drill press' max speed is about 1/8 of a Dremel's. As you can imagine, this took awhile.

Eventually I had this:

And then, as I mentioned in Icepick's thread, I had to do it all over again because I failed to consider the 3mm difference between the stock lower bearing and the tapered roller

I did the caliper spacers the same way, using a spare bit of billet aluminum from work:

Partial cut:

These were a lot easier to cut than the bearing spacer (durrrrr).

Ignition cylinder: Multiple issues here. The hole in the triple is much bigger than the XX cylinder, the mount arms on the bottom of the triple are longer and slanted on the ends, and the bolt spacing is different. Simplest option would be to just use a ZX ignition, wire it into the XX harness, and suffer with separate keys for the ignition and everything else. But why do that when you can hack up brand new parts?

First order of business, cut down the mounts at the proper height so the steering lock still works. Using the cutoff wheel in the drill press was too much of a pain and not necessary here, so I marked the triple and did a rough cut with the angle grinder:

I don't have a pic, but I smoothed and levelled the surface using an HSS rotary file as an endmill in the drill press.

Next was centering the ignition in the triple. I have some blocks of 5/8" HDPE laying around that seemed like a good choice. I cut a plug with a holesaw:

Then made the inner hole for the ignition cylinder using a router bit of all things, all I had in the right size.

Now I could install the XX ignition perfectly centered in the ZX triple and mark the locations for mounting holes, drill, tap, and eureka!

[IcePrick]

Bravo! Great use of limited tools, just goes to show you that some creativity can yield great results without a CNC.

I was wondering how the ignition install went, but I was thinking right along the same lines you are.

Not sure about how I'm going to approach the top spacer yet - I'll get it lined up and take a look.

On the bottom bearing, is the ZX the same size as the XX? I'm reading conflicting things. Any disadvantage to using ball bearings on the bottom, other than the "upgrade" factor to the tapered roller? If you can give me the dimensions of the tapered bearing you used, I might have time to source a better one than the All-Balls unit.

What bearing and supplier did you end up with on top?

What is the world's fastest land animal?

[RedEye]

The ZX bottom bearing isn't the same -- the outer diameter is the same (or it wouldn't fit in the XX stem) but the ZX stem is wider and so the inner diameter is bigger. 35x55x15 is the size of the tapered bearing, I think you'll find the ball bearing if you search 35x55x17. In either case searching the size will turn up a standard bearing number that you can also search for. For some reason most of the suppliers of name brand Japanese made bearings that I found were in the UK . . . their google-fu must be better. I paid about $30 shipped for the single, sealed tapered roller I mistakenly ordered in the standard CBR size. I'm sure I could have found it cheaper elsewhere, even special ordered it locally, but I hate people and a few extra bucks is a small price to pay to avoid calling around, driving into town, and having to physically deal with some shambling proto-human across the counter at a shop

The rationale for using tapered rollers is that they are sturdier and will last longer . . . however of course most of the rave reviews are from people who replaced clapped-out high mileage ball bearings, so anything would have been a big improvement. I bought the tapered rollers because I had to get bearings anyway; my front end was brand new, but the outer races were still pressed into the steering stem of the donor bike, not much help to me

As for the top bearings, I just went with whatever was cheapest shipped here. There isn't a huge variety of choice in that size anyway.