Dumb question: RGS head bearings, install height?
- Thread starter Ventodue
- Start date
Rob
Hero member
- Location
- Midlands, UK
Yes!
Sir Sidney Ruffdiamond
Hero member
- Location
- Cotwolds
And remember to go back in once bearings are settled and just check they are not too tight or loose - that collar should move easy as you like
Andy
Hero member
- Location
- Auckland, roughly
When I changed the top bearing from tapered roller to straight ball bearing I had to add a spacer.
chrisk
Hero member
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
Because the roller bearing wasn’t deep enough? Sounds like the bearing is too narrow.
I once had to fit 2 x high speed bearings to get the correct depth….. can’t remember what the bike was.
Andy
Hero member
- Location
- Auckland, roughly
Yeah, I guess I could have bought a special one for the top ball bearing but I just used what I had on the shelf.
Really I was trying to avoid the frustration of adjusting two tapered rollers “just right”
chrisk
Hero member
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
Frustrating indeed. There was a chat on here that talked about someone using tapered bearings on a swing arm …. FFS, why put yourself in the position where you need to bite the dunny door.
Andy
Hero member
- Location
- Auckland, roughly
Yer. That sorta mare makes a bloke pack a sad. Beached as. But she’s apples with the ball bearing at the top, piece of piss. And still got time for a cuppla schooners at the razza to celebrate while mum’s got the tea on
chrisk
Hero member
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
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A good few years back I was watching a locally owned Laverda Space Frame recently being shaken down for racing. The rider, very experienced was having handling issues and ended up doing some hard starts in the car park that resulted in a couple of big wheelies and fairly hard landings. So it's back in the pits on stands and someone gives the front end a tug, bugger me there was a massive amount of steering head knock. I couldn't believe my eyes, how this got missed. Maybe it just wasn't seated well and the Wheelys knocked it down, anyway they tried nipping it up but couldn't pull the nuts tighter. Here is the odd bit, it had 2 tapered rollers just like my 3c but it also had a solid spacer between these bearings and it was too long. Mine has no spacer and it does take ages to get the correct preload, you need to sneak down to it gradually, it's a real pain to do. Adding a spacer the exact correct length for preload, and dialling that in would be mind-numbingly hard gradually shortening it to suit. The spacer came out and they raced that weekend without it, no idea if it went back in later. I also don't know if that front end came in the kit from Laverda Corsa or was added locally.
chrisk
Hero member
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
That’s just dumb Vince. Who the fuck would come up with that?
I’m not a mechanic, or engineer, so will stand to be corrected….. should there be logic proven.
I don't do names anymore, not worth the grief. You need a Super Computer to work out the result of saying anything, even compliments get taken the wrong way. BTW old Harleys apparently came with exactly that system for wheel bearings so I have heard. That's the only other time that system came to my attention. Not sure those Harleys had bearing seats cast in their hubs as well.
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chrisk
Hero member
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
I wasn’t really asking who did it.
Let me rephrase: What sort of idiot did that?
Andy
Hero member
- Location
- Auckland, roughly
Possibly a comment referring to how the Poms are feeling after Straya retained the Ashes?
P.S. why do you care, aren’t you in Queensland…?
Norton Commandos had the same, only with ball bearings instead of tapered rollers.
Much later, MZ1000, this time with tapered rollers top and bottom.
The distance tube defeats the adjustability of the system.
piet
Thanks Rob - and everyone else who replied (more or less long-windedly, more or less on topic ...
)Next question:
This here is the washer that was sitting underneath the bottom bearing (if you think it looks ugly now, you should have seen the state of the thing when it came off. Mullered to an inch of its life - and not by me).
Here's the question:
Is this right? It's just a flat(ish) washer. Or is it meant to be a cupped washer like the top one?
Which is what the parts book illustration suggests, and would also make more sense of the part description of 'Rondella protezione' (part no. 33 270 004).
Supplementary question: If it should, indeed, be cupped, anyone got one?
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piranha-bro2
Hero member
- Location
- Melbourne
Had tapered top and bottom for decades - piss easy to adjust, especially with the forks out and just triple clamps. That spacer thing is beyond belief!
The flat washers are just basically seats for the bearings, probably because the step in the steerer tube is very shallow. Probably cupped by the fitment of the bearing. I always reused mine even if they came out a bit pummelled - few quick hits with a hammer on a flat steel surface does wonders!! Nothing too tricky about steering head bearings.
The flat washers are just basically seats for the bearings, probably because the step in the steerer tube is very shallow. Probably cupped by the fitment of the bearing. I always reused mine even if they came out a bit pummelled - few quick hits with a hammer on a flat steel surface does wonders!! Nothing too tricky about steering head bearings.
Craig,
As Quentin states, nothing special about them. Bash/bend them straight-ish, they will straighten themselves out once the bearings are pushed/bashed
fully home.
If yours are too far damaged, you can source them from your local bearing supplier, they are used as packing in bearing seats and are available in various thicknesses. These will be dead flat, Laverda opted for the cheapskate route and simply stamped them from sheet, hence the dishing.
The washers in the pics seem too wide to me, the dimensions are 52x45x1.
piet
As Quentin states, nothing special about them. Bash/bend them straight-ish, they will straighten themselves out once the bearings are pushed/bashed
fully home.If yours are too far damaged, you can source them from your local bearing supplier, they are used as packing in bearing seats and are available in various thicknesses. These will be dead flat, Laverda opted for the cheapskate route and simply stamped them from sheet, hence the dishing.
The washers in the pics seem too wide to me, the dimensions are 52x45x1.
piet
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Ta, Quentin and Piet. However, it's not the seating washers, the ones that go into the headstock - those as you say, I will just hammer flat again.
It's the 'Rondella protezione', specifically the one that fits below the bottom bearing. Number 6 in the illustration ...
It's the 'Rondella protezione', specifically the one that fits below the bottom bearing. Number 6 in the illustration ...
