Wrenching Wride Wreport
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From: HardWorkingDog on 30 Mar 2010 11:42 (this is also at http://hwdinc.posterous.com/wrenching-wride-wreport if you'd like to see it with photos embedded) I was desperate to go riding. My main bike has been in pieces waiting patiently for me to put it back together, and patience is definitely called for. The 'Pup was going to be here for a few days on spring break, and he was just as desperate to go riding as well. The 125 was rideable, but the youngest of our 2-strokes had been showing signs of a bad steering head bearing for the last few months. The last time it was ridden was in the gloppiest thickest stickiest deepest mud I've ever witnessed at Carnegie and it was almost unrideable between the poor steering action and the wrong front tire. I put it up on the stand to see if it could last one more ride, and it was almost completely locked up. No riding until the steering head was examined. Friday morning I pulled the forks, fender and handlebar. Without the leverage of the bar I couldn't even rotate the steering tree. Got the upper crown off, dropped the lower fully expecting to see the bottom bearing full of rust and no grease, but it looked fine--plenty of nice white lithium grease, shiny metal, although there was some grit and dirt around, it was in good condition. The upper bearing must be the problem. I could see some dirt and signs of corrosion along the top of the bearing but I couldn't get it to come off the race. Weird. Was there some kind of retaining ring or something? I checked all the parts diagrams and the manual but nothing seemed obvious. OK, I threaded a punch up through the bottom of the steering head and gently tried beating on the bearing from below. Nothing. A harder whack and suddenly the bearing flew through the air and bounced a couple times on the garage slab. There was so much corrosion in it the rollers had been fused to the upper race. The inner race of the bearing wouldn't even turn, the rollers were frozen with dirt and grit and rust. The photograph is after I cleaned it up. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2738/4475033943_b4a863f316_b.jpg The bearing and race were garbage. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/4475033949_eacf4dd06f_b.jpg google found me a few instances where owners of 06 and 07 YZ's had premature upper steering head bearing failure. This bike is just over 3 years old and hasn't been ridden much at all; apparently the dust seal doesn't sufficiently work with the new aluminum steering head introduced in 05. I also found the lip on the seal was split in 2 places. Yamaha has since replaced the standard tapered roller bearing with a sealed bearing. Original bearing on right, new redesigned bearing on left. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2725/4475084713_c38245d9d4_b.jpg Good ol' Mach 1 Motorsports had the bearing in stock, and I made the trek over the Benicia Bridge to pick it up. Drove out the old race, cleaned up the head, and drove in the new race using a little heat on the head and a few hours in the freezer for the race. They didn't have a dust seal, but when that shows up I'll replace it as well. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4475033961_76cb775323_b.jpg The lower race and bearing looked good enough. I washed the lower bearing thoroughly, and checked the lower race for pitting and scratches. The trauma of replacing it seemed worse than keeping it in place. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/4475033955_168579cf53_b.jpg The manual calls for greasing the threads and the flat part just below the lower threads. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4475033963_bc42ae9f53_b.jpg I dropped in the upper bearing after packing it and made sure there was plenty of grease around the new seal area. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4475033965_52caab008d_b.jpg Torqued the crown nut per specs. and it now turned like butter. At least on the stand... http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2750/4475812776_5995535df5_b.jpg We drove to Hollister where the 'Pup would have a good head start for the drive back to school down 101 at the end of the day, while I returned home with the bikes. We had a glorious day of riding. The sky was blue, the wind was calm, the temp. was about 70�F.�After�warming up on the vintage track�we had a couple of loops up Ridge trail and along Peat's Path. The first time I led. The 'Pup kept trying to see how close he could keep his front tire to my back tire. If he'd had a Baja air horn I'd be deaf already. I let him go first for the second round. I'd wanted to show him some of the new trails that Baxter had introduced me to, but I wasn't sure I could find them. We rode around for a bit finally came to the Renz property addition. It was opened in May 2008 and has some impressively designed tight 2-wheel only trails. The wild grasses and sage and clover and mustard flower were 3-4 feet tall along the single track. We rode out to the north end on Old Ranch Road to 4 Corners to Go Between, and did a continuous loop of Fence Line-Southwoods-Beehive-Tiger-San Andreas Drop. It was so much fun we did it again. �We never stopped riding--it was just too much fun. I had a camera in the camelbak, but it seemed to much trouble to take it out so I never got any photos. Thought about it once when the flock of tom turkeys gobbled across our path, but no. We were exhausted by then, so we packed up and headed back toward the city of Hollister where 'Pup headed west, and I kept going north. The wrenching was worth it. -- Charles '99 YZ250
From: sturd on 30 Mar 2010 15:26 HardWorkingDog reports: > The wrenching was worth it. No kidding. Sounds like a most excellent time. Go fast. Take chances. Mike S.
From: Wudsracer on 30 Mar 2010 16:55 Charles, Thanks for sharing. The wrenching report was excellent, and the ride report was a joy to read. I'm glad that ya'll had a good time. Jim Wudsracer/Jim Cook Smackover Racing '06 Gas Gas DE300 '82 Husqvarna XC250 Team LAGNAF
From: WoodsChick on 30 Mar 2010 18:14 Nice report, Charles! Was this just a couple of days ago? Say "hi" to the Pup for us, will ya? Tami-
From: HardWorkingDog on 30 Mar 2010 18:49
In article <b885c689-7d20-40af-b0ea-7a7d34a9b484(a)e6g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, WoodsChick <TamiRowell(a)msn.com> wrote: > Nice report, Charles! Was this just a couple of days ago? Yup--Sunday the 28th--were you down there with your Husky??? > > Say "hi" to the Pup for us, will ya? > Sure, will do. I did let him know about your new love. And I'm not referring to Tiago, either :) |