Steering head bearings
 

I've worked out that the dodgy handling and steering when coming to a stop isn't my badly worn tyres... Rather the headstock bearings seem to be worn and very notchy. I've read that this was a problem with some of the early bikes, due lack of grease applied during factory assembly and I know that due to the oil in the frame the grease around the bearings gets a harder than normal time, but should they have failed at 8000 miles of road riding? I've done literally a day of trail riding in that time. Has anyone had them changed / replaced under warranty?

mine were trouble at around 5>6000 miles unless bike is under warrenty they are not interested. if you use a pressure washer to clean the bike that can remove grease etc. i just re greased mine and they have been ok since

I regreased my at 25.000km, replaced them at 50.000 and regreased them again at 70.000km. All because slow riding in a straight line became difficult. The bottom one becomes rusty even after applying a lot of grease. I think it is the combination of heating up every time (due to the oil) and a bad seal from the bottom end.

I actually regreased them yesterday, without taking out the wheel and forks, only the steering bar and upper tripple clamp need to be removed. Its a 3/4h job in that way.

Niek, give me a quick run down on how you did it without removing everything please!

Support bike on stand with front wheel 10cm from the ground. Remove the bar, remove central nut, loosen upper triple clamp bolds. Remove upper trippel clamp and the central black ring (actually 2 rings with holder). The forks with wheel will drop down. Now you can clean and lube the bottom and top bearings.

Do you have any special tool for central bolts?
How did you tighten them?

I had mine replaced after only 4000km and they were replaced under warranty and I know of a few others as well that have had to be replaced.
There is more to it than just pressure washing your bike or using a degreaser. It's either a poor design or the bearings are poor quality. Yamaha should accept this and fix it.

Thanks Niek, I'll try greasing them up and see how they feel and go from there...

I used a hammer and nail punch, it is not very thight. I fastened it by hand.

I always use water proof grease.

Have a look at this post I did a while back, the Z would be similar.

http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?p=114085#post114085

So I thought sod it..... its booked in for new ones, the notch (it just feels like the one) is so severe I can't imagine a good greasing sorting it out.

I've had this problem and it's very disconcerting at low speeds. Just over 10,000 miles so seems a bit early on to be having this issue

My head bearings were shot at about 12k miles. It took ages to get the lower ones off, well rusted.

Well just before I went away I decided to go back to the dealer and I booked the bike in for replacements under warranty...... Now all sorted and grease squeezing out of everywhere!!! Smooth as you like steering and the bike feels like it did when new. I was starting to avoid riding it, now you try keeping me off it!

Getting mine replaced by those nice guys at Charles Hurst Yamaha in Belfast. Seems that Yamaha have pretty much accepted the issue that they're old before their time.

Regreased mine last week.same problem fitted new tyres thought tyre were faulty.felt like front was stuck in mud especally at the 5mph/ 25 mph.did not want to turn in at all.bit scarey on roundabouts.bottom bearing rusted.this on 08 bike with 1700 miles only.now greased up bike sorted back to normal.

I think that Yamaha did not put enough grease in to start with.

I renewed mine with high melting point waterproof grease.
I will now check them ever time I do a service from now on .

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...rrtw/003-3.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...rrtw/004-2.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...rrtw/005-3.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...rrtw/002-1.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...rrtw/008-2.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...rrtw/007-3.jpg

Head bearings and lack of grease.
 

Can I firstly thank all you guys for posting this info on here, because without it I wouldn't have known why my XT was suddenly handling like a barge.
My bike has 4350 miles on the clock and is a 2010 model.
It was becoming bloody scary to ride as it just wouldn't turn a corner and always wanted to straighten up half way round a bend.
Anyway I stripped the bike down and discovered theres no grease on the upper or lower bearings.
The lower bearing had virtually no grease on the highest side (away from the engine) and the lower side just a small amount of congealed water damaged mess on it. The upper bearing probably only has the grease on it that it had in the packet from the Koyo factory- which is only enough to stop it going rusty!
I've seen more grease on a happy meal than there is in these bearings.
I wouldn't mind if the bike was high mileage or 10 years old but this is ridiculous.
I think I've caught the problem early and have cleaned ,greased and reassembled it all but it's work I shouldn't have to do.
Ive posted some photos below.
Pic 1 shows the upper bearing, just after i took the top cover off it - hardly any grease.
Pic 2 shows th front of the lower bearing which is clean of dirt (and grease) Because
Pic 3 shows the back of the bearing where the small amount of grease has collected and held in the moisture you can see on the shaft 9the cause of the stiff,notchy steering.
Pic 4 shows the upper seal plate as it was when removed -no grease of any quantity.

And the Cush drives are knackered as well.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...adbearing1.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...adbearing2.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...adbearing3.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...adbearing4.jpg

mine have 39,000k on them.... regreased at about 25,000
but I did notice a couple weeks ago when it was on the work stand
there is a slight roughness to them..
they are comeing out soon for the new fork up grade...

When I regreased them I mixed up lithium grease with about
10%? Honda molly paste..just used the old eye-omitor

Yamaha grease- more expensive than gold!
 

Am I right in saying that the rear suspension also suffers from a lack of grease?
Is it worthwhile stripping it down now?

Yes it is!
 

I stripped the rear linkage down today and found as expected.
There definitely isn't enough grease in there to properly lubricate the bearings and there isn't enough grease to prevent serious corrosion if the lip seals fail.
Disappointed in the poor way this bike is screwed together.
Tomorrow I will repack the knackered Cush drive and see what else I can find that's corroded, loose, squashed, dry, worn etc etc.

Ive just been onto TK Cope who sold me the bike and its look like Yamaha are sending me new cush drive rubbers and new head bearing under warranty.

I regreased my head bearings today. Ive felt something was not right for the last two weeks, but I thought it was the tires, as they were worn out. But after putting on new TKC yesterday, it still wasnt 100% .
Did it easy, on the centrestand, just dropping the forks a bit.
Upper bearing was ok, just not very greasy..
Bottom one was black and full of water!!! No sign of grease.
And this is a 2012, 11500 km on it
Dont apper to be damaged, so I used paper and air to dry it, and it seemed to never fill up with grease.. I worked in a big lump of it, and what a difference... Its a new bike! :thumbsup:

But I think its sad that Yamaha doesnt have decent quality control...
So check your bikes if you havent already done it.

Osmund

Wondering if mines is in the same boat, 2011 bike, steering fine at speed, and very slow, but anything where you're not counter steering to turn and its meandering allover the show, dropping into corners and generally an unnerving filtering experience.

Have ordered a new front tyre, so will see if thats contributory, but need to act promptly as I want to get it scrubbed in before the winter sets in.

Took off front end, removed top bearing and no Grease, burnt looking marks on the bearings.
Bottom bearing seized and water inside, dribbling out upon dropping the forks. - Great!

Any ideas on what the Correct bearings are? Rather than going through dealer, I will go direct to the bearings company. I have the top bearing but not the bottom bearing which is quite tightly fitted.

greased it up, and took it for quick spin - problem solved.

My advice, anyone buying a new bike grease the steering bearings immediately.

G

Upper: I/D 25mm x O/D 47mm x W 15mm (SKF 32005XQ)

Lower: I/D 30mm x O/D 55mm x W 17mm (SKF 32006XQ)

I just bought a 2011. Was handling terribly and the lower bearing was recompile telly rusted. All replaced now and rides lovely.

These are the steering head bearings on a three year old Yamaha Tenere with 15K on it (September 2011 registration, I got it in November last year with 5K miles on it) - the bottom one was full of water as well..

I've not wiped them, that's it, no grease to speak of.

http://www.sweller.dynalias.org/imag...adbearings.jpg

I wiped the bearings and the races, they were clean and shiny, and greased with standard general purpose grease.

To adjust them I used two C spanners (one was an old MZ exhaust spanner, the other my Hagon adjuster).

I loaded the bearings up by tightening the lower notched nut fairly hard, slackened it off, then tightened it until the play was gone, slackened it until play reappeared, tightened it a touch and checked for no play. Holding the lower nut with one C spanner I locked it down with the upper nut.

The bike now handles a lot better!