seems the steering head bearings might be toasted. got some play in it now (not real bad).
noticed that the grease actually melted and ran down onto the rear of the front fender when i was down south in that 5 million degree heat.
gonna tear into it tonite and access the situation. anybody ever run accross this b4 ? any suggestions on a fix ( gonna try to inspect, re-pack and tighten to spec first)?
i'm doubting that bearings and races will be an item that is stocked as it was difficult to find a master link at any of the dealers around here.
Try Applied Industrial Technologies. Just take the old bearing with you for the measurement. If they do not stock it, they can usually have them in a day or 2, and a better quality at most likely at less than half the cost of OEM.
+1 on that. I'm so over paying OEMs for bearings. I rebuilt the entire bottom end on my wife's DR with $160 worth of bearings. OEM wanted nearly $400.
Unless you're converting from ball bearing to tapered roller bearing, the old bearing will have a part number on it, such as "6020ZZ". The numbers indicate size, the letters indicate what kind of shielding or sealing it has, and one- or both-sides. You absolutely must measure the bearings, however, as a safety measure: I discovered the hard/expensive way that DRz crank bearings have a standard number, but the letter suffix indicates that the width is thinner than standard. Measuring and comparing the specs would have avoided this mistake.
Most shielded bearings come with both sides, but can easily be removed with a sharp pick or small screwdriver.
