Taper roller headraces question

I'm in the middle of replacing the headraces on my bike. When I got it apart, it already had tapers in it but there is a spacer washer between the lower bearing seal and the bottom yoke. Should this be refitted? I can't see it on the parts fiche and the new bearing kit didn't come with one either :dunno

any ideas?

not sure on the seal but i need to do mine soon how long and what have you removed to do them

Hi, not a lot to be honest. I have made the job difficult though as I haven't got a proper stand or much room in the garage. Still took me less than an hour to get the forks out and that included about 15 mins staring at it wondering how I was going to get the bike supported :dunno I ended up with the back end on a paddock stand and I jacked it up with a trolley jack and a piece of wood under the front of the motor to the side of the downpipe. I then put an axle stand and bit of wood under the rear master cylinder on the right side, and the alternator cover on the other side. The trolley jack is still under the motor too just in case.

I didn't remove the fairing or tank, only the belly pan. Loosen as much as you can while it's still on the deck - brakes, top yoke nut (14mm hex), wheel spindle etc. I loosened the clip on and top yoke pinch nuts and fork caps at the same time. Then get it in the air and remove calipers (leave them hanging), front mudguard and wheel. Then bottom yoke cover plate and rad centre panel. Undo steering damper from the yoke and also brake line guide. Lift off the top yoke and bars together. Then get up inside the fairing and loosen the bottom yoke pinch bolts. Forks should slide out pretty easily. Then all you need to do is undo the upper bearing ring nuts (might have to lift the front of the tank a tad to clear the seal) and the yoke should drop out the bottom. Luckily Aprilia have notchers inside the headstock so it was a piece of wee wee drifting the old races out. The lower bearing came off the stem quite easily too with a bit of leverage from 2 large screwdrivers. Lets hope it goes back together as easily tomorrow :eatcorn

sounds good i am in the same position as i dont have a abba stand or what ever they are called but hopefully i am going to use the crash bobbins that go near the swingarm put it on the rear paddock stand and then lower it on to the bobbins and axle stands and a little help from a jack up under the engine , which bearings did you get i was looking at the ones from marksman bearings

camngetit said:

which bearings did you get i was looking at the ones from marksman bearings

Click to expand...

Yep, same ones I got. They are Koyo jobbies and came with the seals too.

All done now. While the forks were out, I ran them round to a local bike shop for the oil to be changed as they have always felt a bit stiff. First, he tried the recommended 10w but said they didn't feel right. So, he drained them and refilled with Silkolene Pro RSF 2.5w, 500ml in each leg which felt a lot better (just bouncing them on the ground).

Only real issue I had was that I couldn't use the upper thin seal supplied with the new bearings, it didn't want to sit inside the headstock bore and made things feel tight when I did the nut up, so I left it out. The upper bearing is well protected by the large dust seal in front of the tank so should be ok. I also fitted the discs I got from Andy (supeninj) off here while the wheel was out. A quick ride up and down my garages and it feels much nicer already and the slow speed grabbiness has gone from the brakes. The plan is to set the suspension to Badger's settings and go from there.

should be ordering mine tonight had the fork seals done a while back and they told me then mine were knackered it somtimes feels like its locking up the steering ie like the steering damper is too tight and low speed steering can sometimes be weird it tips in very quickly once you get some speed on it feels ok again but need to do them for piece of mind