new steering head bearing & front fork rebuild

[HMB Don]

Well just finished replacing the caged ball bearings to caged roller bearing in the steering head. Wow what a difference, my Voyager1700 steering like cutting through hot butter. Next was installing the Race Tech gold valves in the front forks. After drilling a four extra holes in the dampening rods and enlarging the two holes that where already there.
Today I took the Voyager out for a test ride and the front end just ate the bumps and anything that makes the road rough. It was a joy to ride, made want to keep riding. But that'll be next week on the way to the Rally

[hank43]

Don;

You're an animal! How did you bend that ratchet handle in picture #4?

hank43

[HMB Don]

Yes that is a funny animal, bent like that but really works in some areas. In this picture #4 looking at the steering stem, all of the grease is Amsoil grease. These bearings were packed at 54,000 miles and this picture was taken when the motorcycle had 141,000 miles. That grease on the stem and bearings has been in temps between 35 and 114 degrees. The stem nut torque was 22 ft pounds on the 1700 vs 95 inch pounds on the 1200. Ball bearing vs roller bearing. That is why those 1200 Voyagers don't die, they came from the factory with the best components. Getting my 1700 upgraded.

I want to thank Gert for those syringes I was able to add a hose to one and make an fork oil gauge and suction valve out of one. Which I used to help me set the fork oil height in each fork. These worked much better than a Turkey baster.

[hank43]

Do you have to do that much tear down just to grease the bearings? i.e. remove entire front fork assembly, probably the fairing? I don't have near the mileage you do on my bike, when should this be done (Keep in mind, I don't have some of the stock parts, because I had the rake kit installed when the trike kit was put on).

hank43

[HMB Don]

No, not at all, since you have that easy steer, steering head it has tapered roller bearings. At the AVA International Rally I'm doing a seminar about steering heads, I'm bringing tools and grease to maybe do one greasing of a steering head on a bike. Just to show everyone how simple it is to the job.

I've also made up some tools to adjust the fork oil level with the parts Gert gave me a couple of years ago. I'll also be bringing these to the seminar.