Installing Tapered Roller Bearings

[blkbrdrydr]

I've owned my CBR1100XX since I bought it new on July 5, 2001. In that time, I've ridden it around 60,000 miles, in almost every conceivable type of weather conditions and... never felt notchiness in the steering, never repacked the bearings with fresh grease and never checked and adjusted the torque on the steering stem nut.

For years, I've had HyperPro springs in the front and HyperPro spring around my original and a used replacement OEM Honda shock. Recently, I decided to have GP Suspension rebuild the forks and send me a Penske rear shock since they did a fantastic job on my FJR1300.

In any case, I decided to take advantage of the forks being off and replace the original steering head ball bearings with tapered roller bearings from CBR Bearing Company. These are Japanese bearings that may even be supplied by the same manufacturer that Honda purchases theirs from. These are NOT the much less-expensive Chinese bearings that are sold by a company like All Balls Racing. The set was around $53 and included new outer races, the tapered roller bearings, and dust seals. Just contact Charlie Rowlett, and tell him what you need. Yeah, I know that's more expensive than the Chinese bearings but I'm okay with spending $20 extra on something like steering head bearings when I might only have to do it every 60,000 miles or so. LOL

I had some free time and removed the original ball bearings. I was amazed to find that the original factory grease was still plentiful and barely discolored. I was further amazed to find every ball bearing in perfect condition. The only problem that I found were a couple of small nicks on the lower race which were probably caused by stones hitting it over the years.

I decided to just install the tapered roller bearings anyway.

Using a 10" drift and a 5 lb sledge, the upper and lower races each popped out with two hits from the hammer. The lower bearing inner race took 5 taps to get it completely free of the steering stem.

Putting the new lower bearing into the freezer before driving it with the old inner race and a 1 1/4" ID piece of pipe also couldn't have been easier.

Probably 15 years ago, I bought the Official Honda Steering Head tool to use on my Goldwing so I had the correct tool to tighten everything down.

GL1500 Goldwings used tapered roller bearings so I used the same procedure as outlined in the Honda GL1500 Service Manual to torque the Steering Stem Adjuster Nut on the Blackbird.

This contains excellent photos and explanation of the procedure for installing new tapered roller bearings. Installing New Bearings. Although Steve made his own tool to remove the races, there are indents in the frame that provide a perfect place to rest the tip of a 10" drift while you smack it with that 5lb Sledge. Additionally, the top bridge nut on the CBR1100XX is torqued to 76ft-lbs.

First I torqued the adjuster nut to 29ft-lb and turned the steering stem fully lock to lock a few times to seat the new bearings. Next I loosened the adjuster nut until it was hand-tight, then torqued it to the final setting of 14ft-lbs. Then, I turned the steering stem fully lock to lock a few more times and rechecked the adjuster nut torque. Finally... I attached a spring scale to a fork tube, as close to the lower triple clamp as possible, and then checked to make sure that it would take 4.0 - 4.85 lbs of pull to make the forks start moving. I just didn't want to tighten everything until it "just felt right" to me since I have no idea what "just right" is supposed to feel like on a CBR1100XX since I don't change steering head bearings very often. :icon_think: The Honda Service Manual for the CBR1100XX calls for 2.5 - 3.4 lbs of pull but remember that's the recommendation for a steering head using caged ball bearings.

In researching the torque values for different Honda models, I noticed that those with caged ball bearings usually required a final setting of 18ft-lbs while those models with tapered roller bearings usually required 14ft-lbs. I only mention this because I've read many postings from those who have installed tapered roller bearings on their CBR1100xx's and tightened them to 22ft-lbs and mentioned that tapered roller bearings required more torque than caged roller bearings. Of course, YMMV.

[RC Randy]

My 99 rolled over 60k awhile back, and I saved your post for future reference.

Member #38-you are one of the pioneers!

[Silverbird2]

Might have been even easier if you put the stem in the freezer instead of the lower bearing.

[blkbrdrydr]

Might have been even easier if you put the stem in the freezer instead of the lower bearing.

Deciding whether to freeze the steering stem or the bearing, is pretty much like discussing which motor oil is best as everyone has their own theory about which way is best.

For the benefit of those who have never attempted to replace their steering head bearings, it's probably better to skip the pros and cons of which choice is the best and just discuss why it's helpful to freeze one of them rather than having anyone think that one of the methods is the wrong way.

If you choose to freeze the bearings for a few hours, you do it because the inner race is a ring that's frozen with the purpose of getting the metal to contract and therefore, make the inside diameter larger. That enables it to slip more easily over the steering stem.

If you choose to freeze the steering stem, there's a lot more metal to shrink and it's necessary to freeze that thing for several hours, and preferably overnight, to slightly shrink the outer diameter of the stem. If you go that route, it will also make the bearing go on more easily.

Honestly, it's six or one, or a half-dozen of the other as either method works for making the bearing go on the stem more easily.

Actually, I suppose the ideal method is probably to freeze both in order to create a smaller diameter on the steering stem and a larger diameter in the bearings inner ring. At the end of the day, freezing both would save one or two hits with the hammer over freezing just one, or the other and that may be important to some folks.

I choose to freeze only the bearing because it had less metal surface than the steering stem and I decided that it wouldn't have to stay in the freezer for as many hours and I could finish the job sooner. Had I thought about doing the job at least one day in advance, rather than as a last-minute decision... I would have frozen the steering stem overnight. Of course, I would have had to make sure that my wife didn't catch me sticking the steering stem in her freezer. :icon_nono: Since the bearings were smaller, they were easier to hide in the automatic ice maker container in the freezer.

[Silverbird2]

I froze the stem when i replaced mine. I left it in the freezer for two days prior to the install. It seemed to make things a little easier. I dont see how freezing the bearing would help. Freezing the bearing would cause the metal to contract and the diameter of the inside of the bearing to decrease in size thus causing it to be more difficult to install on the stem.

[jon haney]

I concur with Silverbird2. I put the stem in the freezer (2 hours) and the bearing in the oven at about 200 degrees. Practically fell on the shaft with no pressing at all. Too bad I was a couple millimeters short of it fully seating. Damn seal made it hard to see. Nothing a hydraulic press and a piece of pipe won't fix.

I put the outer race in the freezer so that it would go into the steering neck a little easier, but you have to be fast as it gains heat quickly.