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I'm pulling the forks at the bottom where the axle goes through. I've been wondering if the play could be coming from the forks themselves.

Ha, I just went to the garage and pulled on the upper fork tubes themselves at the upper tube/lower tube junction...NO PLAY AT ALL. Sounds like the play is coming from the forks themselves.

I can still move the upper clamp a little before I tighten the stem nut so there is a tiny amount of play still present. The two aluminum foil strips take up most of the gap, but not all of it, and I can't get another piece of foil in there. Since I can't fit another piece of aluminum foil in there, doesn't that sound "close enough"??

I'm tired of wrenching. I wanaride!!

Wheel bearings?

Were the sliders (bushings) replaced in the forks? The term 'revalve' doesn't generally include that, although that is as good a time as any to get the job done. The DO wear out........

The word 'foil' sticks out as a bad word for anything intended to be a spacer taker upper.

While you have determined that fit is not the source of your slop, I'd fix it asap. Hitting a sharp edged rut/root/rock at 30mph ain't the same as you pulling on something with your hands.

You can take the top clamp into a shop, give them the stem diameter measurement, tell them to bush the hole to a slip fit.

Might cost you $25.

Hows that box coming along CC.

dammmmit....i knew i couldn't sneak in without being seen...

It's coming along nicely!

No reason it won't be in the mail by the end of the day.


The day of tomorrow, that is.

After couching it in the sand for a couple of days on the beach, eating crummy food like tiger prawns, sparedagrass, and grilled tri-tip..tacos in a bag (you gotta try that!), cherries jubilee (sorta)...then driving all the way home (well, I sat there and snoozed whilst I was chauffered) I was so tuckered last night I just couldn't bring myself to..uh...go git the box contents. I mean...it's way out back by the garden (read: weed patch).


Man...I worked hard this weekend!!!

CC, the front wheel/clamps/forks came off a new 2004 KX125. Those items now have about 200 miles on them... I can't imagine that I'm an aggressive enough rider (or bad enough mechanic) to wear them out that quickly!

So....the bearings are good?

If the downtubes are tight..the bearings are good...that leaves the fork bushings.

I'm only bumping this in lieu of starting another thread on the same topic. My question is what is the harm in reusing the old races when I buy the new bearings? Do they just get play in them and not hold the new bearings like they should? Also when driving the new races is there a stop to let me know when they are recessed enough? Thanks all.

the problem with old races is they get pounded and ruined, then you put the new bearings in and they bump along on the rough race, and you wonder why you bothered tearing everything apart to do a marginal job. Since the bearings come with races, I would wonder that too. The steering stem bearings live a different life than say, a wheel bearing. instead of zillions of revolutions and relatively few impacts, they get zillions of impacts and really few revolutions. So, you tend to get little bumps in the races, especially if you don't have the bearing tight enough. My kid's YZ had perfectly good bearings, then they were left too loose and it took very little time to destroy them. I recommend tightening them to spec, (then just an RCH more) then ride a good day and repeat.

Do they stop? the races? yep.

Yes the new bearings have the races so I guess I should just change them. Since they stop I guess it won't be so bad. The swing arm bearings were a little harder but they evened out once the swing arm was installed.

BTW, I just took a chisel and pounded the bottom bearing off the steering stem. I didn't even have to heat it up or anything and it came off on the second or third wack. Hopefully the races will come out as easily.

on a steel frame bike it's usually not too bad. An aluminum frame Yamie had me getting really pissed . 2 day job screwin around with it, then ended up cutting the race out with a porting tool.

Its been 5 years since I've been into my steering head bearing, hope the cheap All Balls bearings look better than the old ones did!

WOW. Five years between steering stem bearing maintenance? Good luck with that!

Still feels nice and smooth why mess with it?

Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. There's still a few bearings in that thing. Put it back together and ride!

Well if that's the case I'm going to return my bearings and just put the stem in there and tighten it down.

Re: 'feels nice and smooth...'

You can't FEEL them going bad with the weight of the forks and front wheel. They will 'feel' ok when the thing's assembled..and the outer race can still have layers of (needed) metal missing.


A couple of things:

Put the new races in the freezer overnight.

Do put some anti-seize on the outer shells on reassy (keeps them unstuck for the next replacement).

Seat the new races using the OLD race as a driver. START the new races with a block of hardwood and a suitable driver (big hammer). TAP them slowly in until you are SURE they are square. Do NOT 'just' place them flush with the frame. They DO go in farther than that.

They DO come out of the KDX easily..a couple of taps with a suitable drift..or a large common screwdriver if you don't have a drift.

It's the bottom bearing that is most likely to be a problem. Wear will show first on the outside race at the 12 o'clock position....'cuz that's where it gets pounded. In instances where race wear is very slight you can 'get by' by removing the race and repositioning the 'wear' spots to some other place..like 3 or 9 o'clock.

If you don't know how to seat a tapered bearing on re-assy...find out.

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canyncarvr wrote:Re: 'feels nice and smooth...'

You can't FEEL them going bad with the weight of the forks and front wheel. They will 'feel' ok when the thing's assembled..and the outer race can still have layers of (needed) metal missing.

I felt these when they went bad???????

They were all crunchy feelin