Himalayan Steering Head Bearings

UturnTony

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These bearings are known to be poor and have proven to be so on my bike. Steering has been feeling a bit strange for a while so i checked it out the other day.
On centre stand, lean on pillion seat lifting front wheel clear and move the bars side to side and there it was. The steering was "notchy" indicating a knackered bearing. Stripped it out yesterday and this proved to be the case as the lower bearing is buggered, top one is fine though. The dust seal was still in place and in good nick but looks like some water had got in or it was just that being a poor quality Indian SKF it had, as it was the lower bearing which takes the stick just given in causing the grease to turn rusty brown. Anyhow, the bearing is removed and all is prepared for the fitting of the new one when i get it tomorrow.
On the forums i used to frequent on facebook (no longer on so don't see them now) lack of grease seemed to be an issue; mine were reasonably well greased.

It all comes apart easily so not a difficult job; the top yoke just lifts out of the way so no wires need to be disconnected from the ign. switch. Will probably take the opportunity to change the fork oil while the legs are out and that will be a servicing job sorted.

Just for info: Bike is 2y 6m old and has covered approx 5,700 miles of mainly road mileage. I have done some greenlaning/off roading on it but not much. I tend to mainly frequent the small roads up in the hills of N. Wales so it has done quite a lot on poorly surfaced and broken up "roads" so the bearing has had a bit more than the average pounding i reckon but still, it should have done better than just shy of 6k miles tbh. but hey.

The fitted bearings are Indian SKF 30205/Q 25mm. x 52mm. x 16.25mm. The replacements will of course, be of a higher quality and well greased.
 

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Looks like they've been over tightened as I doubt it's caused by coming down heavy after a wheelie :D
 
Looks like they've been over tightened as I doubt it's caused by coming down heavy after a wheelie :D

Aint that the truth :D

Overtightening is a possibility i suppose but didn't seem to be overtightened when i came to undoing it. Anyway, it'll be getting the correct pre-load when i put it back together.
 
Had my Himalayan just over a year, greased bearings at 1,000 miles, they did look ok if a bit rusty. Just had to swap lower one at 7,000 miles. Fitted Timken bearing plus Nilos sealing ring.
Did my usual of nipping them up till the handlebars wouldn't turn on their own with front wheel in the air and backing off slightly.
Tony, I spoke to you about the Himalayan at the last ABW Chilli day, I had another test ride on one and bought it.


Sent from my G8441 using Tapatalk
 
Had my Himalayan just over a year, greased bearings at 1,000 miles, they did look ok if a bit rusty. Just had to swap lower one at 7,000 miles. Fitted Timken bearing plus Nilos sealing ring.
Did my usual of nipping them up till the handlebars wouldn't turn on their own with front wheel in the air and backing off slightly.
Tony, I spoke to you about the Himalayan at the last ABW Chilli day, I had another test ride on one and bought it.


Sent from my G8441 using Tapatalk

Hi Mark, yes i remember speaking with you. I must have done a good job helping to convince you, you needed to get one :D

I get my bearings from a local supplier who are back open tomorrow and the guy there only supplies quality stuff. Likely it'll be Timken :thumb2
 
Be careful not to overgrease the bearings before instalation. May bearings fail because they are over greased.
 
Be careful not to overgrease the bearings before instalation. May bearings fail because they are over greased.

Something RE couldn't be accused of doing tbh. :D

The over greasing thing applies, afaics, to higher speed bearings where the grease can bunch up and cause overheating, not something that's going to happen
in a steering head application that hardly turns and when it does, only slowly and no more than half a turn. Tbh, i had never thought about overgreasing bearings,
i have to admit; your comment caused me to read up on it so, thank's for the heads up :thumb2
 
Be careful not to overgrease the bearings before instalation. May bearings fail because they are over greased.

Never ever , ever , in living history has a manufacturer , ever , over greased head bearings .

whilst you have it apart .....add a grease nipple.
 
Never ever , ever , in living history has a manufacturer , ever , over greased head bearings .

whilst you have it apart .....add a grease nipple.

Exactly even fill the whole void with grease and it'll do no harm.
 
Yeah, abundance is the key in this case, similar issue on Suzuki DRZ, as the frame warms up the grease and it gets lost over time. People literally just fill the void with grease, and keep refilling it with a grease nipple as Timolgra suggests.
 
Yeah, abundance is the key in this case, similar issue on Suzuki DRZ, as the frame warms up the grease and it gets lost over time. People literally just fill the void with grease, and keep refilling it with a grease nipple as Timolgra suggests.

I have added a grease nipple to the headstock on the XR400R (oil in frame) and never had to do the head bearings again
 
Never ever , ever , in living history has a manufacturer , ever , over greased head bearings .

whilst you have it apart .....add a grease nipple.

That, is a popular mod on the Himmy :thumb2

Got the bearings now. Nice new bearings will get the steering back to it's sweet self, forming part of the prep for the Adventure Bike Weekend; getting it out on the 12 mile off road
track and the TRF rideouts all of which i expect the bike to accomplish easily as well as the 200 mile round trip loaded with all the camping gear, something it last did in 2019. :thumb2
 
You can easily over grease bearings. You can overgrease anything. If that grease isn't in or on the rollers or held in a seal or boot then it's just a fools errand. And when you torque them up with too much grease it gives you a false torque. They will feel stiff because you're fighting excess grease.

Then as you ride that excess grease works it way out into the headtube and now your bearings are looser than they should be but not loose enough for you to notice. And that's where you premature wear comes from.

Then you get into the situation where you're adding grease nipples to constantly pack out incorrectly torqued bearings.

It's the same principle as the old trick of packing out knackered bearings with too much grease before an MOT to take the play out of them.



However, every bearing on a Royal Enfield is cheap shit from new anyway. So it's probably just that in this case.
 
You can easily over grease bearings. You can overgrease anything. If that grease isn't in or on the rollers or held in a seal or boot then it's just a fools errand. And when you torque them up with too much grease it gives you a false torque. They will feel stiff because you're fighting excess grease.

Then as you ride that excess grease works it way out into the headtube and now your bearings are looser than they should be but not loose enough for you to notice. And that's where you premature wear comes from.

Then you get into the situation where you're adding grease nipples to constantly pack out incorrectly torqued bearings.

It's the same principle as the old trick of packing out knackered bearings with too much grease before an MOT to take the play out of them.



However, every bearing on a Royal Enfield is cheap shit from new anyway. So it's probably just that in this case.
Ahhh..... are you an RE owner or just another sniper who "knows" ALL Enfield bearings are cheap shit? Built to a budget and excellent value , Yes. Cheap shit No.
 
You can easily over grease bearings. You can overgrease anything. If that grease isn't in or on the rollers or held in a seal or boot then it's just a fools errand. And when you torque them up with too much grease it gives you a false torque. They will feel stiff because you're fighting excess grease.

Then as you ride that excess grease works it way out into the headtube and now your bearings are looser than they should be but not loose enough for you to notice. And that's where you premature wear comes from.

Then you get into the situation where you're adding grease nipples to constantly pack out incorrectly torqued bearings.

It's the same principle as the old trick of packing out knackered bearings with too much grease before an MOT to take the play out of them.



However, every bearing on a Royal Enfield is cheap shit from new anyway. So it's probably just that in this case.

Not with head bearings.
'Very' slightly over torque them, work side to side then back off and tighten. Btw I never ever use a torque wrench on steering bearings, tighten them by feel.

You can only over grease anything if the grease is under any pressure e.g.. stern gland on a boats prop, sealed bearings by overpacking etc etc certainly not open taper bearings.
 
Well I have never had a post generate this many replies:D
 
Ahhh..... are you an RE owner or just another sniper who "knows" ALL Enfield bearings are cheap shit? Built to a budget and excellent value , Yes. Cheap shit No.

No. I'm a professional motorcycle technician and MOT tester who works on bikes every day of his life and changes cheap bearings for a living. If you think your bargain bucket RE is built out of anything else but low quality "indian equivalent" branded parts then you're living in a dream world. It's cheap for a reason. I didn't say it was a crap bike. But it's a five grand bike for a reason.
 
Not with head bearings.
'Very' slightly over torque them, work side to side then back off and tighten. Btw I never ever use a torque wrench on steering bearings, tighten them by feel.

You can only over grease anything if the grease is under any pressure e.g.. stern gland on a boats prop, sealed bearings by overpacking etc etc certainly not open taper bearings.

We shall have to agree to disagree on that. Taper bearings are generally only pattern parts. Most manufacturers use ball bearings as OEM they offer more feedback and feel. But they wear faster. You can easily take out slack with grease. I see it all the time. I fail a bike on an MOT and then the owner comes back two hours later with grease bulging out of the headstock and they're tight even though they're past adjustment.. It's the oldest trick in the book. It's only temporary.

That's why when people fit new bearings with ridiculous amounts of grease they work loose quickly. I've had numerous service bulletins from the manufacturers I've worked with stating this very fact and warning techs not to add further grease to head bearings when fitting them. Because they were changing them under warranty because of incorrect fitting..

Most modern BMW head bearings are torqued. Usually about 7nm with the wheel on the ground and then set with an angle gauge.
 


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