Honda-SOHC
SOHC.co.uk Forums => CB500/550 => Topic started by: Davelu88 on June 27, 2022, 07:25:12 PM
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Hi all , the powder coaters removed my races when he did my frame , I have got them back in but do they sit flush or are they recessed . Thanks Dave
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All the way down to the shoulder
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Thanks Bryanj but disaster has happened, I have been too heavy handed and whilst trying to hit them in with a socket I have broken the top one & damaged the bottom one. I have them out now , are tapered ones easier to fit . Thx
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Sort of but you can get ball race kits with captive balls, i will try and find a link for you when i finish wrk early am
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Get tapers, they are better than ball bearings for load purposes. I find them a little harder to fit due to how thin the races are in comparison but I use Honda special tools so it's pretty easy to fit them for me but without special tools I'd say they'd be harder. So long as you buy the correct tapers they fit just fine and last longer as well.
If your attempting to fit the bottom race onto the steering stem try buying a piece of steel tubing, make sure it's 30mm internal diameter though and longer than the steering stem. You can then just slide the race onto the stem and use the tube to hammer it down without risking damage. 30mm ID x 34mm OD by 300mm length. Something like this
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391883163453?var=660864052444&hash=item5b3e0e873d:g:zOMAAOSwsupb5841
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Oh, tapers. Now there’s a topic for conversation. Despite shimming the bottom race I couldn’t achieve a good compromise between the original headlamp ear fitting and bottom yoke lock stop clearance. I went back to ball races in the end.
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Look at ebay item 284859242264 (sory cant do links!) The balls are held in a captive cage so easier to assemble, says F1, 2, 3 but i think all the fours are the same.
Tapers can be good BUT take a lot of getting spacers right and some sets dont leave a lot of thread at the top, i find they dont last any longer than balls as they dont fully rotate which is what they are designed for so still get notchy but are easier to adjust.
You pays your money and takes your choice
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Don't buy crap makes like All Balls and I find them far superior. I tend to fit NTN or Koyo Tapers.
There was a good thread on the USA forum about them, someone measured the OE bearings and then Tapers and IIRC the tapers need a 3mm spacer underneath the bottom race to get them correct. I've never had a ounce of problem with mine.
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Hi, odd-job.
Do,you have a source for those bearings. I presume you used a 3mm spacer for success? The item I purchased from DS was a waste of time with multiple spacer depths.
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This thread was my experience….a frigging nightmare.
http://www.sohc.co.uk/index.php/topic,24991.msg229217.html#msg229217
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Thx for all the advice , I do like the sound of the captive ball ones on ebay .
Bryan do these ones come complete with the races etc .
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I seem to recall I measured the spacer I had fitted and it was indeed 3mm thick.
I'll see if I can find my old tapers and check the markings on them, I fitted them in the late 70s or early 80s when they knew what they were doing. They fitted perfectly and I was thinking of refitting them again as they are still in perfect nick.
My experience of captive ball races hasn't been good, my CB1300 has them fitted as standard and last weekend I removed them and fitted tapers in their place. One side of all the bearings was worn and the other side has surface rust, I think they don't rotate the same as normal loose bearings. All the races had pits where the bearings sat.
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What am I doing wrong , I have fitted top and bottom races and I'm sure they are seated all the way in , but when I screw down the top dust cover I cannot get it tight enough to stop the yoke from moving up and down . Help please it's driving me nuts
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Are they taper rollers?
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Remove the yokes, take some pics and post them on here so we can see if we can spot something wrong.
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Hi No just captive ones
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This firm are pretty good for steering bearing kits - they supply good quality makes in my experience.
https://pyramid-parts.com/pages/steering-head-bearings-1
Post probably a bit late in the day as you have replacements.
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You sure you've not forgotten to put in the top race after the bearings go in? If it's moving up and down something is clearly missing. Most times it's people complaining about not enough room not too much.
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race in frame then bearings in that then race over stem then dust cover , if I put thick washer on the bottom I did not have enough thread at the top so left washer out so then I had plenty of thread but when tightening dust cover up to its max I still had up and down play . I wonder if I need a thin washer at the bottom ?
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Sounds like it, how thick is the thick washer?
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I would say about 3 mill
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Think i used 1mm on the last set of tapers i fitted, if you go too thin the bottom yoke binds on the frame
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I would tighten the dust cover down, pull the yoke up and sort of guess or measure, if you can, just how much it's coming up. It's clear you need a spacer underneath the bottom race, tapers normally need 3mm but as yours are not taper I couldn't say what you'd need but do the above and see if that helps. The internal diameter of the washer should be 30mm or if a washer came with the kit measure that and just order a thinner one. Maybe get a 1mm and a 2mm just in case.
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Think i used 1mm on the last set of tapers i fitted, if you go too thin the bottom yoke binds on the frame
Yes I found that. But at 3mm I had very few threads on the stem and the original headlamp ears didn’t fit correctly….too much space. A 2mm spacer would not have cured it. Trigger has a solution, it it involves machining work. I reverted to the original ball solution. A bit dear from DS, but they work.
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I think I naively thought that when I bought something that said 550F it would be plug & play & not generic , anyways have had to dig deep and purchase the genuine kit from DS. Lesson learnt and thx for all the advice:)
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I've learnt the hard way on a few occasions the term 'Universal fit actually means it fits nothing at all without serious fettling!
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When I explained to DS that the taper kit they advertise is not a suitable replacement for the OE ball arrangement, they very kindly supplied a ball race kit at no charge.
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Finally got it all sorted with a genuine kit from DS , the top and bottom races tapped in fine although I did freeze them for an hour or so but it all fitted great , expensive but worth it me thinks 🤔