How to change steering head bearings

Mark:

I don't know what type of bicycle you have, or how modern it is, but the handlebar and steering head are similar on most models. Try to remove the handlebars and steering head from the bike as a unit. There is a large nut at the top of the head tube (where the steering stem goes into). Loosen this nut, and the handlebars and steering stem should pull up and out of the bearing inner races. When you completely remove that nut, the headset will come apart... (including the fork and front tire which will drop out of the headset. If your brake and shifting cables are too short to let you pull the steering stem completely out of the steering head, you'll need to remove the handlebars from the steering stem. If you are careful, the bearing set, spacers and washer will stay on the fork tube when it comes out of the bicycle frame head, so you will know which order to reassemble them in. Either tag them or lay them in the proper order. Now you can clean the bearings or replace them.
It would be a good idea to clean the bearing races at the top and bottom of the steering head too.

Once everything is cleaned and ready to reassemble, grease the bearings and the bearing races and reassemble. When you tighten the stem nut down, make sure that there is no play between the steering head and the steering stem.

check the steering knuckle bearings ( top and bottom ) If you have a front axle as in cruiser or bronco ( not independent suspension) there are tapered roller bearings top and bottom on both sides . These bearings do not rotate as normal and get brinnelling grooves that will tend to lock up the steering as the rollers have to roll in and out of the grooves.

sometimes as simple as wheel bearing, since you replace almost everything try to check the front wheel bearings. Good luck

This problem is caused by a loose fit of the steering head bearings into their pressed in bearing race cones, if the play is not to severe you can tighten the nut at the top of the steering head shaft to eliminate the excess play, do not over tighten the nut, tighten it enough to just remove the excess free play, but leave a slight amount of play or you can damage the bearings. If after doing the above the steering head is hard to move you either have damaged/worn steering head bearings or you have the bolt to tight.

it could be a defect tire meaning its off balance from factory

HI, CARRY OUT THE CHECK BELOW BEFORE YOU START ADDJUSTING YOUR STEERING.
place the machine on a stand, suport the front of the machine so you can turn the steering freely from lock to lock and geting a feel for how tight the bearing is before adjusting or even undoing the top nut, grasp the forks at the bottom as you kneel in front of the machine pulling on the forks at the lowest point to feel for free play, normaly detect by a small amount of movment,or a clicking noise



tightening the steering head bearing on any bike is not difficult, but it does require some level of skill, undo the top nut on the centre of the yoke, below that you will see 2 castleated nuts some models have a locking tab between them so you cant turn 1 without first undoing the other, in this case it is best to remove the top yoke, once you can turn the nuts under the yoke you simply turn clockwise to tighten and anti to slacken,

there is a fine line between tight and slack, a bearing which has been left in a loose state for a prolonged period may require replacing, as so 1 that feels rough or notchy,

in some cases only a small amount of tightening is required, remeber when the top yoke is replaced and tightened this will put more tension on the bearing, so a bearing that feels tight without the top nut tightened will be overtight when yoke centre nut has been tightened, method of satifaction is when the top nut is tight with the steering clear of the ground in a straight ahead position the handlebars must fall from centre left, right with no friction detected, again checking the movment by pulling on the fork lowers.

OVERTIGHT BEARING WILL AFECT THE STABILITY OF THE MACHINE.

If you run low tire pressure you can get cupping on the sides of the tires. Tire pressure needs to be checked regularly and kept at the recommended pressure or above.
Another cause of tire cupping can be bad or loose steering head bearings. Loose bearings will cause the wheel to wobble when decelerating just like low tire pressure. It can sometimes be detected just by turning the handle bar from side to side. If it feels like the steering wants to lock in the driving straight position or you feel ripples or bumps while you turn the bar from side to side you need new steering head bearings and races.

If the problem is that when you turn the handlebars you feel as if it is almost locked into wanting to go straight your steering head bearings are dented and need replacing.
The denting happens when the steering head bearings not adjusted and loose causing hammering effect denting the bearing races.

Yes, need to pull wheel, fork tubes and pull triple clamp for damage - This could be dangerous - do not drive till repaired