Steering head bearing replacement

RCinNC

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Have any of you guys ever ordered replacement OEM steering head bearings and races? I was looking on Rocky Mountain ATV's website today and they list the bearings, but their parts diagram doesn't depict the upper and lower races. I contacted Rocky Mountain, and they said the races were included and didn't have an individual part number. I found that weird, since my service manual shows the races as separate items in the manual's exploded diagram. For any of you guys that might have bought these bearings, did the races come with them?
 

~TABASCO~

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That is correct. Comes all together. I’ve changed out a few. Sounds like your replacing yours, but check the bottoms race for a crack. I’ve seen this twice before. Lube them up real good before installing all back together.
 

cyclemike4

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Yamaha sells unit parts as individual parts. Guess they a ton of money that way. Try to buy a U joint for a four wheeler or side by side from Yamaha. they sell the cross part and the bearings and caps individually! It is crazy. Most aftermarket sells parts like that as a unit the with all the parts that is needed for the install.
 

RCinNC

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I'll remember to check that, Tobasco, just in case I end up not doing a complete replacement. The bike will very shortly have 70,000 miles on it, and that seems like a good time to start doing some replacement of wear items before they start to fail/leak/etc. I figured I'd do the steering head bearings and races, and replace the fork seals and bushings, before spring gets here.
 

RCinNC

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Yamaha sells unit parts as individual parts. Guess they a ton of money that way. Try to buy a U joint for a four wheeler or side by side from Yamaha. they sell the cross part and the bearings and caps individually! It is crazy. Most aftermarket sells parts like that as a unit the with all the parts that is needed for the install.
That hasn't been a new experience for me; I used to own a Harley. You can't even buy something as simple as a backrest as a complete unit from HD. The backrest pad, frame, and the little bracket that held the pad to the frame were all separate parts to be purchased individually.
 

gv550

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The Super Tenere uses tapered roller bearings in the steering head. The generic part number is 320/28x , common bearing used in many makes of bikes and most bikes use the same bearing top and bottom, but Yamaha uses different manufacturers for each bearing. The outside dimensions are identical but the lower bearing has a steeper race angle. We can only speculate their reasoning but should pay attention to installing the bearings in the correct locations.
 

steve68steve

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That is correct. Comes all together. I’ve changed out a few. Sounds like your replacing yours, but check the bottoms race for a crack. I’ve seen this twice before. Lube them up real good before installing all back together.
My lower bearing was crazy tight. Freezer, torch, hammer and drift, an arbor press - nothing would touch it. I had a buddy with a mill take a few passes - when the thickness got down to about .010" - .030" or so, we heard a loud "PING!!".

Viola - cracked thru and the race slid off easily with a drift and light hammering. I wonder how many of those who are able to tap them off are only able because there's a hairline crack that goes undetected.
 

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I'll remember to check that, Tobasco, just in case I end up not doing a complete replacement. The bike will very shortly have 70,000 miles on it, and that seems like a good time to start doing some replacement of wear items before they start to fail/leak/etc. I figured I'd do the steering head bearings and races, and replace the fork seals and bushings, before spring gets here.

Forks are a good idea. Make sure to add bushings and guides. They wear pretty heavy on the Tenere.

Check rear disc thickness as well.
 

RCinNC

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Forks are a good idea. Make sure to add bushings and guides. They wear pretty heavy on the Tenere.

Check rear disc thickness as well.
I have all new seals and bushings on the shopping list. The attached photo shows all the components I'm planning on replacing. If there's another component on the diagram that I've left off my shopping list that should also be replaced, feel free to offer your experience.

I've actually already replaced the rear disc, at 41,000 miles, after an experiment with some EBC HH sintered pads wore a groove in the OEM disc and left a big lip on the outer edge. The new one has about 25,000 miles on it, and is still well within spec.

Scan0001.jpg
 

~TABASCO~

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I have all new seals and bushings on the shopping list. The attached photo shows all the components I'm planning on replacing. If there's another component on the diagram that I've left off my shopping list that should also be replaced, feel free to offer your experience.

I've actually already replaced the rear disc, at 41,000 miles, after an experiment with some EBC HH sintered pads wore a groove in the OEM disc and left a big lip on the outer edge. The new one has about 25,000 miles on it, and is still well within spec.

View attachment 61918

(2) is is a good idea but I don’t often

(14) might be a good idea but I do t replace those. Unless damaged, they are good.

Everything else is ‘yes’
 

RCinNC

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Yeah, I debated on both those myself, to be honest. I really doubt if the spring clips would go bad. Thanks!

Have you ever had any issues at knocking out the lower bearing race on the steering head? My plan was to just use a drift like they show in the service manual, and to install the new one with something like Motion Pro's race driver. Any tricks or problems I should know about in advance (like Steve's issue)?
 
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~TABASCO~

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Yeah, I debated on both those myself, to be honest. I really doubt if the spring clips would go bad. Thanks!

Have you ever had any issues at knocking out the lower bearing race on the steering head? My plan was to just use a drift like they show in the service manual, and to install the new one with something like Motion Pro's race driver. Any tricks or problems I should know about in advance (like Steve's issue)?

Nope. Both of the ones I changed came right out. I had to bead on them a little like a normal race but came right out.
 

RCinNC

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Anyone know the torque settings for the steering stem. I cant seem to find it on the free online manual.
This is from a guide I made up for myself when I do steering head and fork maintenance:

34. Initially tighten the lower ring nut to 38 ft/lbs using the steering nut wrench and torque wrench. Torque wrench should be at a right angle to the steering nut wrench.

35. Now loosen the lower ring nut completely, and re-tighten it to 13 ft/lbs.

36. Check the steering head for looseness or binding. If any is felt, remove the lower bracket and check the position of the upper and lower head bearings.

37. Install the rubber washer.

38. Install the upper ring nut.

39. Finger tighten the upper ring nut, then align the slots of both ring nuts. If necessary, hold the lower ring nut and tighten the upper ring nut until their slots are aligned.

40. Install the lock washer, bend the tabs into the slots on the ring nuts.

41. Install the upper bracket.

42. Install the steering stem nut. Tighten to 94 ft/lbs.
 

RCinNC

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Anyone know the torque settings for the steering stem. I cant seem to find it on the free online manual.
I forgot to mention this in my earlier post...

You may already be aware of this, but just in case the manual you're looking at doesn't make it clear, the torque settings for the lower ring nut are based on using a special attachment for your torque wrench, and the attachment is supposed to be at a right angle to the torque wrench when you apply the force. If you were to use some sort of a specially adapted socket wrench on the lower ring nut, the torque values would be different.

There's a thread here detailing how you have to recalculate the torque values if you don't use the Yamaha tool: https://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?threads/steering-head-disassembly-question.21829/#post-310613

This is the tool you're supposed to attach at a right angle to the head of the torque wrench:

Yamaha lower ring nut tool.JPG
 

Boris

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Have a look here,

 
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