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Another steering bearing!

30K views 119 replies 29 participants last post by  DeathZeroZX 
#1 · (Edited)
About two weeks ago i noticed my steering had changed. First i noticed the front wheel stepped out on a tight bend, bit concerning! Then started noticing on slow turns like roundabouts the bike was all of a sudden dipping in and i had to react and correct. Next i noticed the steering became very notchy and coming into intercections the steering was catching and steering me towards other traffic, again forcing me to react and steer away (was only lightly catching and didnt need a whole lot of force to steer but it did catch you when you wernt expecting it) and lastly i turned out of my driveway ont a smooth flat street and it felt like the front wheel bounced over two bumps whilst turning to head up the street!
I took my bike to the dealer and asked him to check it out. He had a bit of a play around and turned to me and said nah its fine, check your tyre pressures!
So i ordered some replacements from all balls and replaced them last night. Fairly easy job, just took a bit of time to press the one of the bearings on, no biggie!
This is what i found! :eek: Bike is 4months old with 5000k's.
 

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#2 ·
The bottom bearing was totalled. The top was starting to mark up!
There wasnt a lot of grease in certain areas and where there was it was just gobbed on next to where it should be and not getting to where it was needed! Not sure if its applied by machines that need adjusting or by person!
Also the grease looked crap and was turning foamy from contact with water! Top bearing was well protected from water tho!
I used marine wheel bearing grease.
 
#7 ·
Stick it in his tires, ty for update.
 
#11 ·
Well I guess mine where going out. It started feeling like the bike was falling over when I leaned hard n a curve. But just for a second. Each time.


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I felt something like this the other day, might of been rider error, going to go hit that save curve again later, and see if I feel it again. It was in a left curve.
 
#14 ·
You should send those pics to kawi and ask to be reimbursed.

I had the first sign of this the other day. How hard is it to replace them yourself?
 
#15 ·
Mate not hard! Little time consuming to get the bottom bearing off and then back on again! My advise to get the bearing on is to get the perfect size pipe to drive the bearing on or you could go to a shop and ask them to press it on for you! (bike shop, suspension shop, good mechanic) tho really its not hard to do yourself!
Have a read through old3 and AdamJH posts and off you go!
 
#21 ·
#24 ·
the new bearings will last many thousands of kilometers, somewhere around the 100,000 kilometer mark perhaps more. you will never get that from the stock bearings, never in a million years
 
#31 ·
It's funny. The replacement upgrade is almost exactly what I have on the rear axle shafts of my Jeep. I got 75000 miles out of them and the only reason I have new ones is because I broke the axle shaft.

They are just about the same price too. So it's beyond me why they just didn't go with a product that would last the life of the bike. I'd have to think in bulk they could get these for like $5
 
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