Headstock bearing question

[Jrod]

I have a 2001 Tiger and the front end has a weird feel to it.  I think the headstock bearings are either shot, or someone overtightened them to avoid the sloppiness that was there.  My question is what can I expect from a dealer to diagnose, replace the bearings?  Is this a real labor intesive job that's going to cost mega $$$?

Thanks!

[Mustang]

how's the wear on the front tire ? a cupped tourance feels pretty funky . If the tires are worn I would wait until I replaced the tires before I decided I had a loose headstock bearing
you shold be able to tell on the bearing by just getting the front wheel off the ground grab th eforks and see if there is any play or if the bearing feels funny .

[Jrod]

The front tire is fine.  I'll check with the front tire off the ground and see what happens.

Thanks!

[AndyM]

What do you mean by a weird feel? Knocking, shaking,????

[Jrod]

What do you mean by a weird feel? Knocking, shaking,????

I mean it feels very twitchy at low speed and when you turn into a curve it feels like it falls in really fast, but then comes stable. Also, the intial force on the handlebar is pretty hard to get it to turn.

[Mustang]

with the front wheel suspended , you should be able to move the handlebars/forks fromm side to side very smoothly with no bind , if you have a bad bearing it will feel like there is an indent in the bearing race when the forks are just about dead center (where the bearing sits when you ride all the time )
Now if the previous owner tightened the bearing up trying to get rid of the bad spot in the bearing , all that was accomplished was making things worse .
A new bearing set is around $100 for parts , now seeing as the whole front end has to come off , you can expect about a $500 dealer bill !

[AndyM]

What do you mean by a weird feel? Knocking, shaking,????

I mean it feels very twitchy at low speed and when you turn into a curve it feels like it falls in really fast, but then comes stable. Also, the intial force on the handlebar is pretty hard to get it to turn.

The reason I asked is that I'm beginning to suspect the bearings on my 03 Tiger. I'm getting a bit of a knocking feel when the forks start to compress under braking or hitting bumps. I've rebuilt the brake calipers and changed the pads and have done a fork oil change and all seems well there. I bought the steering head wrenches from triumph so I'll pull the tank in a week or so and check it out.

[John Stenhouse]

I have heard tell that the forks on some 955s do have a knock in them. This is nothing to do with the head bearings.

Head bearings usually show up as being hard to turn the bars, I should qualify that and say mine did! They get a little stuck in the straight ahead position and the bearing race becomes notched there.

[paulie]

i experience a "knocking" too, most noteably when coming up the curb ramp(or whatever that is called) at the end of my driveway. it makes a knocking noise and i can feel the knock in the bars. was planning to ask the dealer to look at it when the bike goes in for service next. it doesnt happen under braking for me, just when the front end encounters large bumps at low speed.

[AndyM]

I have heard tell that the forks on some 955s do have a knock in them. This is nothing to do with the head bearings.

In my case the knock developed after around 50k miles that's why I'm suspicious. And it seems to be getting worse over time.

I get the knock under braking when the forks reach full compression.

[Jrod]

I have heard tell that the forks on some 955s do have a knock in them. This is nothing to do with the head bearings.

In my case the knock developed after around 50k miles that's why I'm suspicious. And it seems to be getting worse over time.

I get the knock under braking when the forks reach full compression.

My bike has 57k miles on it and I have a hard time turning the bars from the straight position to turning, and also have the knock when the forks reach full compression when hard on the brakes.

[John Stenhouse]

OK all three of you, when was the last time you changed the fork oil?

A clonk under compression is usually the forks bottoming out.

A change of fork oil, and maybe half a grade up stops this. Half a grade is up from 10w, which I think is standard, to 15w. Did this to my 2000 885i and it made a good bit of difference.

Jrod your head bearings are in need of replacement

[AndyM]

OK all three of you, when was the last time you changed the fork oil?

A clonk under compression is usually the forks bottoming out.

A change of fork oil, and maybe half a grade up stops this. Half a grade is up from 10w, which I think is standard, to 15w. Did this to my 2000 885i and it made a good bit of difference.

Jrod your head bearings are in need of replacement

I changed mine about 2-3 months ago to see if it would fix the issue. I'm running 20w, was 30w. I change the fork oil once a year. The knocking comes before they are all the way bottomed out. Was thinking that slop in the head bearings caused the knocking.

[John Stenhouse]

I would have thought if the bearings were that bad, you would get other symptoms?

[Jrod]

Update:

I had the bike on it's centerstand last night and got the front wheel off the ground.  I couldn't feel any notchiness, or slop in the headstock.  It also turns very smoothly with the front wheel off the ground with no resistance.  Do you think a new front tire would cause this feeling?  I just put a new Anakee on and I wonder if the tire profile has something to do with it?