YZ125 Steering Head Bearing Change

[krad_nz]

Omg, what a nightmare. Sacha's bike's steering head bearings were well passed their used by date. Full of rust, and really made turning difficult.

All was coming apart well until I got to the lower race. Tried a cold chisel, nope. Tried some screw drivers, nope. Tried an angle grinder. Hmmm, a bit dodgy so moved on..

Putting it in the oven for an while then letting it cool and trying the cold chisel again worked wonders. Times like that I wish I had a blow torch of some description.

Thankfully putting in the new bearings was pretty straight forward. Doing a top-end is less of an ordeal :P

[SpikedPunch]

Thanks Krad, think I owe you a banana cake or something! I can turn again!

[SpikedPunch]

I won't be cooking it in the pan you cooked part of my bike in though. That one's looking a little yucky :0

[evoetr]

Omg, what a nightmare. Sacha's bike's steering head bearings were well passed their used by date. Full of rust, and really made turning difficult.

All was coming apart well until I got to the lower race. Tried a cold chisel, nope. Tried some screw drivers, nope. Tried an angle grinder. Hmmm, a bit dodgy so moved on..

Putting it in the oven for an while then letting it cool and trying the cold chisel again worked wonders. Times like that I wish I had a blow torch of some description.

Thankfully putting in the new bearings was pretty straight forward. Doing a top-end is less of an ordeal :P

Yep had the same problem with my YZF450...! Not much of a lip to hit either... was happy to pay $40 to get the shop to remove the race. He did tell me a handy tip though: Run a bead of weld around the inside of the race, this will shrink the race to make it easier to tap out and give you a bigger lip to hit...

[F5 Dave]

Yeah a mig bead of weld will make them drop out in your hands. But of course don't try to catch them, they're hot.

You can grind a couple of grooves so the next guy can punch them out. Getting the steering stem lower one off can be a swine too. Careful application of the grinder can weaken it so you can crack it off.

Freeze the bearing outers when fitting them.