Did 50% sag damage steering bearings

[Oxxa]

Did high sag cause my steering bearings to gain freeplay and require replacement? 

Edited August 24, 2022 by Oxxa
Typo

[Samm]

Probably not...

 

My steering head nuts came loose on a rough offroad ride early into my ownership. After getting home I disassembled and inspected the bearings to ensure they weren't permanently damaged. Luckily they were fine so I regreased and reinstalled, carefully following the torqueing guide in the manual. 30000km later and no issues. I blame the factory. How old is your bike and when did you change your suspension settings?

[AZJW]

I agree with @Samm. It most likely was due to a loose, improperly torqued, steering stem nut.  This has been reported by enough owners that it should be on every new owners list to check. Let us know your mileage and if it was covered under warranty.  

[Oxxa]

8 hours ago, AZJW said:

I agree with @Samm. It most likely was due to a loose, improperly torqued, steering stem nut.  This has been reported by enough owners that it should be on every new owners list to check. Let us know your mileage and if it was covered under warranty.  

I’m not mechanically inclined to fix it. Is it bad if i leave it as it is?

[Oxxa]

9 hours ago, Samm said:

Probably not...

 

My steering head nuts came loose on a rough offroad ride early into my ownership. After getting home I disassembled and inspected the bearings to ensure they weren't permanently damaged. Luckily they were fine so I regreased and reinstalled, carefully following the torqueing guide in the manual. 30000km later and no issues. I blame the factory. How old is your bike and when did you change your suspension settings?

The bike is from late 2020, 16500 km on it now but had it since i bought it at 6500 km. Didnt become looser during the 10k i put on it, still the same.

[Samm]

2 hours ago, Oxxa said:

I’m not mechanically inclined to fix it. Is it bad if i leave it as it is?

Yes. If you can’t fix it have a mechanic take care of it. 

[Hibobb]

Probably you will not need to replace them, just adjust them.

[Hollybrook]

Have you checked to see if the bearings are loose? 

 

You can do this by getting the front wheel off the ground and grabbing the front axle and pushing it to the rear and then pulling it towards the front. If there is play at the steering stem, it needs to be tightened or the bearings replaced. 

[Redbikejohn]

Standard jap bike problem  - not enough grease in bearings. Drop front end out. Clean bearing with thin oil/spray dry the grease well. Bung in loads of extra grease in tube. Tighten properly and check often. Needs to be tight enough to not flop back and forth but just lose enough not to have the notchy binding feeling. 

[Oxxa]

9 hours ago, Hollybrook said:

Have you checked to see if the bearings are loose? 

 

You can do this by getting the front wheel off the ground and grabbing the front axle and pushing it to the rear and then pulling it towards the front. If there is play at the steering stem, it needs to be tightened or the bearings replaced. 

Today i checked as you said, there is no noticable freeplay. But, i can get a little freeplay when im on the bike the by using front brake.

[Redbikejohn]

Put bike on stand. Prop up front. If bars flop side to side very easy/loosely  then it's too lose. Needs to be very slight resistance but NOT notchy. Needs to be cleaned & greased first.

[Buggy Nate]

On 8/24/2022 at 8:13 AM, Oxxa said:

Did high sag cause my steering bearings to gain freeplay and require replacement? 

Tapered roller and tapered ball bearings do ‘run in’ and require re adjusting throughout their life. Occasionally the races aren’t seated all the way due to paint/metal flakes etc and will move enough to be a noticeable clunk.

Pretty standard behaviour.

Edited August 25, 2022 by Buggy Nate

[Buggy Nate]

3 hours ago, Oxxa said:

Today i checked as you said, there is no noticable freeplay. But, i can get a little freeplay when im on the bike the by using front brake.

That will probably be play between the floating discs and the rotor mounts.

[Oxxa]

16 hours ago, Buggy Nate said:

That will probably be play between the floating discs and the rotor mounts.

I checked again today and I couldn‘t get any freeplay if i pressed on the front brakes.

 

It’s really weird because a Yamaha mechanic in Athens told me its steering bearing early start symptoms.

Edited August 25, 2022 by Oxxa

[Buggy Nate]

3 hours ago, Oxxa said:

I checked again today and I couldn‘t get any freeplay if i pressed on the front brakes.

 

It’s really weird because a Yamaha mechanic in Athens told me its steering bearing early start symptoms.

For the head bearings, get the front wheel off the ground and firstly check for side to side flop. The bars should slowly turn and not just swing to the stops. Then grab the lower fork legs and move them back and forth to see if there is play. Also check for a smooth motion with no notches. A notch usually appears when the bars are straight ahead and is very common with ball race steering bearings. That is why I prefer the roller bearings. Much less susceptible to that.

 

To check for play between the rotor buttons on the discs, you will probably need a helper, get the front wheel off the ground again, and with the front brakes on try and rotate the wheel back and forth and you will quickly see if the discs have play. A little is allowed. That’s why you shouldn’t test steering bearings with the front brakes nor with the wheel on the ground.