ST1300 Steering head bearings

[Sidekick]

Cold is coming soon in NY and I am planning to replace the steering head bearings on my 65K ST.
I am thinking of ordering the "All Balls Racing Steering Stem Bearing Kit 22-1020".
I know that this kind of bearings is more difficult to fine torque but I am willing to give it a try.
Is "All Balls" a good choice for tappet bearings or should I look for something better?
Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Igofar]

IMHO all balls are very poor quality, and they have discontinued many bearing fittings four these bikes.
Tapered bearings are not the best choice for this application either.
Stick with the stock balls and races.

 

[dduelin]

Cold is coming soon in NY and I am planning to replace the steering head bearings on my 65K ST.
I am thinking of ordering the "All Balls Racing Steering Stem Bearing Kit 22-1020".
I know that this kind of bearings is more difficult to fine torque but I am willing to give it a try.
Is "All Balls" a good choice for tappet bearings or should I look for something better?
Any advice would be appreciated!

I think it’s the other way ‘round. Tapered bearings are much more tolerant to a range of preload compared to ball bearings and are easier for DIY installers to get good results from. Honda has their good reasons for OEM ball bearings but many owners replace with tapered roller bearings and get perfectly good results. I’ve used All Balls kits in three motorcycles including my ST1300 with good results. I replaced the original steering bearings in the ST at 96,000 miles and put another 84,000 on the All Balls replacements. This helped calm down the triple digit weave my ‘05 exhibited on occasion.

 

[Rob20111]

Used them on my ST1100 and GL1500.
Fantatstic upgrade.

 

[klaproth]

Used tapered steering head bearings on not only my Honda Helix, but all of my Airhead BMW’s. Never a problem.
I agree with Dave, too, easier to adjust properly.

 

[Sidekick]

I think it’s the other way ‘round. Tapered bearings are much more tolerant to a range of preload compared to ball bearings and are easier for DIY installers to get good results from. Honda has their good reasons for OEM ball bearings but many owners replace with tapered roller bearings and get perfectly good results. I’ve used All Balls kits in three motorcycles including my ST1300 with good results. I replaced the original steering bearings in the ST at 96,000 miles and put another 84,000 on the All Balls replacements. This helped calm down the triple digit weave my ‘05 exhibited on occasion.

Thank you, exactly the info I was looking for!
I also have a 05 ST and the same weave problem that I am trying to diagnose.

 

[mlheck]

Despite what some experts say, I switched to tapered bearings on both my 1100 & 1300. I found the most improvement on the 1100. Getting the preload set right is a bit of a challenge, but do some searching on here and use a fish scale is my best advice.

 

[oude geit]

Tappet roller bearings, where they at......HD guy??

 

[Sidekick]

Today is a great day for me, I feel very satisfied.
I have spent a lot of time on this steering head bearings replacement. I was very afraid of doing this job by myself, I asked questions on the forum (many thanks!), read and watch a lot of videos and I also have the Haynes repair manual.
My ST has 65K, I couldn't feel anything wrong on the handlebars rotation and I had no play when pushing the fork legs .
I did find very challenging to diagnose the origin of the instability on my bike whatever way I tried to test it (Honda weight test included).
The bike was definitively hard to drive.

I have replaced the steering head bearings last week with a tapered "All Balls", but I wasn't totally satisfied with the results.
The bike was wandering at low speed.
Today I have reduced the torque on the adjusting nut from 8 Ft Lb. to 5 Ft Lb. (maybe less)
It's perfect now!!!!
The bike is stable at high speed, going naturally straight and is not sensitive to truck buffeting or road irregularities, smoothly rounding around curves.

My 2 cents...
My old races don't have any sharp marks but a deep wear path in the bottom of the race, hard to diagnose without disassembling.
You don't really need the special tools and the only difficult part is to remove the lover race and to find the right torque for the adjusting nut.
It's all finger tight or close to!
Fully removing the fairing helps a lot, it's just more convenient for working on the bike.
I made the choice to go for the tapered bearings, I know that not everybody agrees on this kind of bearings for the ST.
In my case, I am 100% satisfied with the results and I just regret not having done this sooner, what a change!

 

[Igofar]

Be prepared to re-adjust them a couple more times
As soon as you have a few rides on them, they will loosen up enough to cause you concern, and you'll find yourself re-torqueing them a couple more times.

 

[Sidekick]

Be prepared to re-adjust them a couple more times
As soon as you have a few rides on them, they will loosen up enough to cause you concern, and you'll find yourself re-torqueing them a couple more times.

I have been under a lot of frustration before understanding what was wrong with the bike. Now that I know the culprit and the solution it's not a big deal anymore.
I drove 150 miles on the initial "high" torque before resetting them to a "lower" torque to be sure that they will be properly seated.
I am prepared to re-torque them next spring if needed.
Even with the riser, it's possible to access the adjusting nut without removing everything, maybe a 1 hour task this way.
I learned a lot and the more I work on this bike, the more I like the Honda design!

 

[dduelin]

Today is a great day for me, I feel very satisfied.
I have spent a lot of time on this steering head bearings replacement. I was very afraid of doing this job by myself, I asked questions on the forum (many thanks!), read and watch a lot of videos and I also have the Haynes repair manual.
My ST has 65K, I couldn't feel anything wrong on the handlebars rotation and I had no play when pushing the fork legs .
I did find very challenging to diagnose the origin of the instability on my bike whatever way I tried to test it (Honda weight test included).
The bike was definitively hard to drive.

I have replaced the steering head bearings last week with a tapered "All Balls", but I wasn't totally satisfied with the results.
The bike was wandering at low speed.
Today I have reduced the torque on the adjusting nut from 8 Ft Lb. to 5 Ft Lb. (maybe less)
It's perfect now!!!!
The bike is stable at high speed, going naturally straight and is not sensitive to truck buffeting or road irregularities, smoothly rounding around curves.

My 2 cents...
My old races don't have any sharp marks but a deep wear path in the bottom of the race, hard to diagnose without disassembling.
You don't really need the special tools and the only difficult part is to remove the lover race and to find the right torque for the adjusting nut.
It's all finger tight or close to!
Fully removing the fairing helps a lot, it's just more convenient for working on the bike.
I made the choice to go for the tapered bearings, I know that not everybody agrees on this kind of bearings for the ST.
In my case, I am 100% satisfied with the results and I just regret not having done this sooner, what a change!

After replacing the OEM bearings with tapered rollers my experience mirrors yours. Initially I had too much preload because I was using the amount given in the service manual for OEM ball bearings and had to disassemble the top bridge a couple of times. The sweet spot with tapered bearings was barely finger tight on the adjusting nut. I never had to mess with them again in my ownership.