Best Place for Steering Head Bearings?

peteGSX

peteGSX

GSX1000S Rider
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I need to do the steering head bearings on the wee beastie... am I best going with the genuine Suzuki items or after market? Genuine from Mick Hone is the best part of $140 but I'm not sure on what's a good price for them... given what I've paid for good Japanese wheel bearings it seems a little high to stick with genuine?

Also, any tips on where I can find the bearing races in the parts fiche? I've looked in the steering stem and frame fiches and can't find the races listed anywhere. I won't know how bad they are until I rip the front end off... what are the chances they're fine? Right now I'm kicking myself for short cutting this during the rebuild... thought everything looked/felt fine so just stuck it together...
 
Pete
Haven't bought Suzuki OEM bearings so cannot confirm - but I'd presume that where they list bearings that includes the race.

As for aftermarket sources - don't know. Have just started thinking about bearings myself.

Bill
 
...Pete, I have bought bearings through many different suppliers, recently though as I was after some odd sizes, and at the same time ordered a couple of sets of steering head bearings from " PYRAMID PARTS" in the United Kingdom, they were approximately $58 plus$14 freight. Their could be cheaper around but they were the one's I used last. They supply as a kit OEM quality bearings with American manufactured seals and a small tube of grease. I hope this is of some use, cheers Ian
 
I went to a bearing shop in Brendale, not far from where the darklord works (forgotten name), I said they were for my steering head and it came with a seal for the top bearing, somewhere around the $80 or $90 the set.
 
09265-30005 bearing lower 09265-25008 bearing upper 51643-49001 seal They come under steering stem on the Suzuki fiche these numbers are for model T-X 450 Cheers Murf
 
A bearing shop Pete. cost you 30-40 ish bucks (each)
take old bearing with you so they can read the numbers
I go to Pine Rivers bearings in Brendale cause its near work.
since you work in city, theres a bloke in Alison st Newstead I used to go to when i worked there..

from yellow pages (remember those)
Premier Bearings
41 Allison St, Bowen Hills QLD 4006
Phone (07) 3252 5566
Hours:8:00 am – 4:30 pm

Cheers John


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Ah lots of info, cheers guys!! Knew I could count on you lot :D

I'll pass on the Pyramid Parts bearings Ian, last experience with them was the rear wheel and sprocket bearings that started to disintegrate after about 20,000km's so I won't be using them again any time soon. I hope you have better luck!

I don't have a set of bearings to get the numbers from so the All Balls might be the best bet to avoid having her off the road for any more than over a weekend...
 
..Thanks Pete for the heads up, i'll have a good look at them as I haven't used them yet, maybe I won't! cheers Ian
 
Sorry Pete came in late on this - All Balls are good aftermarkets and they provide the race and seals as well as part of the kit. I've used them about 5 times now. The last time I bought Pyramid for the CX500 the seals were wrong size and the upper race was too high for the seat. Avoid at all costs!!!!! Also the rollers in the bearing cage were very poor. They are cheap for a reason.......
 
5 times?
Given that the steering does not do a lot of high speed rotation, would have thought you would only have to replace if they got rusty or there was excessive knocking in the steering.

I replaced with GSP units only cause I wanted to replace all the seals and ensure they were well greased.

Am I correct in my thinking, or is this something that most replace on regular basis?

Pete, found it easy to put the lower bearing in place by heating it up in the oven ( around 100 ) and using an old oven mit to slide it onto the triple tree shaft. This was a tip I got from an ex US navy friend for bearing which have a very tight tolerance. Only works for the inner bearing, not the outer race.
 
It's not the rotation that kills steering head bearings, most of the time it is caused by not setting the correct torque and checking it from time to time to make sure it is within range. Freeze the tree and warm the bearing and the bearing will fall into place.
 
I replaced my steering head bearings last year.not having the correct puller I had to resort to using a welder and a hammer and chisel to get the inner lower bearing off,I put the triple tree in the freezer over night and warmed the bearing on the slow combustion heater and made it fit using a large jack handle pipe ,dodgy brothers meets bush maniac.:eek:
 
Thanks again guys! I think the reason Paul has used 5 sets of bearings will be related to the 51 bikes he has insured with Shannons :eek:

But thanks for the tips on heating/cooling... I'm used to sticking the wheel bearings in the freezer for a while to make them easier to fit so I shall do the same with the triple tree and the heat for the bearing.

I ended up too busy to do anything yesterday but I shall chase them down today along with ordering a new rear tyre.
 
I'm not sold on all balls.
There stuff is mostly Chinese.
Bearing shops will supply Japanese which is far superior.
I replaced every bearing on my first Kat and from memory was about $400 for genuine or $150(ish) for quality through CBC. Only the needle rollers and spacers had to be genuine and that was most of the cost. 15 years ago now so probably a bit more now but I'd be surprised if you pay more than $25/bearing.
 
Japanese is definitely superior but having said that that's the first time I've heard of someone not happy with All Balls... I've only ever heard good things... have you had a fail with them or is it just that they're Chinese? And I can understand the concerns with that...
 
Just found the same dimensions on the All Balls site as well using their fork conversion page. Selected my bike as the frame and it's also in the list of compatible front ends. I shall see what I can chase down today...
 
No fails Pete. I just haven't given them a chance. They may very well be okay.
Having said that, metal gear use Chinese steel and I like their products.
For bearings available locally and at decent prices though, I'd stick to local.
 
Pete,
I could go to brendale shop for you, they probably have it on the self...

And if you want to pull yer bike apart and make sure you get the right ones, its not like I couldnt loan you a commute vehicle...

Cheers John
 
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