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Cone steering head bearings .

Doboy

Well travelled
Location
Uk
I was just wondering with all the problems Enfield have had with these cone bearing if anyone has found a company making a better quality set . There are lots of bearing factories out there .
 

modiorne

Well travelled
Location
Charlotte, NC
At my 300mi first service last weekend, tech was happy to have me sit and watch and prompted me to ask questions. I asked about the cone set/head set issues and he hasn't seen any with the recent years' models. He did just sneak a peek (so he wouldn't have to charge me) and saw plenty of grease/packing - and we discussed what to do if and when I ever felt there might be an issue. After the oil and valve check service - he did an all-over review and was pleased not to find anything of concern. He took it out for a check ride and pronounced it roadworthy. [I bought this Himma from another dealer further away, but took it to this closer dealer for the first service - trailered it up and back]. None of the North Carolina dealers seem to be able to keep Himalayans in stock.
 

Roy Gavin

Well travelled
Most every bearing manufacturer has the correct grade of bearing, which is on the bearing as a letter code before or after the number - bearings with just the numbers are unlikely to be the correct grade.
Which includes OEM and most of the proprietary kits like Moose , All balls and Pyramid.
But the suffix is not universal , sometimes X OR J , or both .
Bmw and Guzzi used the same bearings, and Mazda as wheel bearings in the FWD cars , so a search on these might give you a better grade of bearing.
IMHO bearings are best bought over the counter from a bearing specialist who will advise on the correct grade.
He will also stock the correct grease, probably Timken brand but it will be Extreme Pressure, EP for short, and waterproof .
They will last longer if they are preloaded correctly too, the aim is to have around 1 thousand of an inch preload when the bearing is in a unloaded condition, which helps to keep the rollers in the correct alignment.
Not hard to do initially when you are re assembling the forks, but they will bed in and need readjustment after a few hundred KM.
Manual says just remove all play, but you probably want just a little more than that.
It is a bit of a learned skill, the mechanic at my fav dealer/cafe/ servo has that skill and I just give him the $60- and he gets it just the way I like it, first time, every time!
 

BurnieM

Well travelled
The standard bearings are labelled "SKF 30205/Q India".
SKF is a reputable brand and usually manufacturers to a high standard in all of its factories.

Are we talking about a bearing quality issue or a greasing/fitting/preloading issue ?
 

Doboy

Well travelled
Location
Uk
I would guess it's to do with bearing quality, I recently watched itchy boots on u tube & she had two sets of Enfield bearings , both went & then fitted a set she got in Kazakhstan (none Enfield ) & had no trouble after that.
 

Roy Gavin

Well travelled
I read somewhere that some who replaced the bearings early found bearings without the /Q ,
/Q bearings and more grease might have been part of the 4 upgrade as they reported little to no grease too and the four bikes have plenty.
Not certain where the problem lies, but FWIW the bearings which were bought and fitted following the procedural I outlined have done 240,000 hard KM on my 240 kg BMW R80 G/S PD, and Mazda front wheel bearings the same size as the Hima bearings can last the lifetime of the car.
NSK HR30205 J , and Guzzi use them at the steering head too.
Checked that Timken link, pretty much confirms my advice to give the pair of bearings 1 thou preload.
FWIW Vincent advised 2 thou on a pair of similar wheel bearings .
 
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sam2019

Well travelled
be1.jpg

I had to change them 3 times in the first year 2016/17 - then I received replacements from SKF in Germany (although the bearings where produced in their new factory in Mexico which primarily caters to VW) - since then I did have water ingress but never had to replace the bearings. Since RE came out with the new cover even that is not happening anymore.

here is the bill to give you an idea of the costs:

be2.jpg
 
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Ankur

Total noob
Location
Mumbai
I was just wondering with all the problems Enfield have had with these cone bearing if anyone has found a company making a better quality set . There are lots of bearing factories out there .
Go for xike 30205 bearing it comes with water resistant seal and a dust resistance cap or try zkl 30205/A bearing they are tough than the stock one weight 200 gm more than the stock one
 

Attachments

sqeeezy

Well travelled
Location
Southern Spain
Here's a belated addendum to the thread, I changed mine last month, 23,000 km on the clock, used a cheap Dremel-lookalike to micro-grind the lower bearing inner race. (This was the only daunting part of the job, but it turned out luckily easy in my case). Then I tried to split it with a wallop of a chisel but it turned on the shaft instead, so I guess maybe the heat and vibration from the micro-grinding had loosened it. Then I chased it off on alternate sides up the shaft. Luckily I hadn't damaged the seal and I could re-use it. Assembled the new made-in-Mexico (yes I'd've preferred Swedish, but that's what the UK bearing specialists sent me) SKF bearings carefully using old bearings as drifts and equalising hammer blows around them.
My damage was not caused by water ingress, or the lack of, or wrong type of grease, but rather from poor quality bearings and initial over-tightening from the factory causing heavy "notch" wear.
 

GaleForceEight

Well travelled
Location
Southend on Sea
When installing wheels on aircraft (tapered bearings) the manual requires you to torque it firstly to a higher figure (which sets the bearing) then you back it off, and retorque it to its final lower value in order to set to to where it needs to be in normal operation. the torquing is done while slowly spinning the wheel to ensure that the set is even.

Timken are my go-to brand of choice for bearings.
 

Roy Gavin

Well travelled
I don't think the advice to torque bearings to the higher value then lower is in the current Timken manual.
And it may depend on how the bearing races are restrained, on some wheels the inner race is part of the stack in the axle , on steering heads both bearings have a different arrangement.
It is even hard to find what grade Timken suggest for steering head use.
My old BMW airheads have taper rollers in the wheels. steering head , swinging arm pivot and, sometimes, in the final drive.
Funnily enough they only suggest that you follow the two torque procedure on the swinging arm, which you cannot rotate.
The others are either shimmed once, or in the case of the steering head set with a slight drag so that when you tap the bars sideways they fall gently against the stop.
Generally the aim with rotating taper bearings is to have a small amount if preload on the bearing to keep the rollers in alignment and 1 thou is suggested by some, probably because most will not have the equipment to set it any more precisely.
The torques on the swinging arm bearings were given in inch/ pounds, not feet/ pounds and as torque wrenches in inch pounds are expensive and of little auto use except for automatic transmissions few motorcyclists will have one so we has to guess what 7 in/lbs felt like.
My BMW F650GS had the wrong grade of crap off brand bearings in the steering head too, RE are not the only people who might try to save a couple of bucks by fitting junk!
 

GaleForceEight

Well travelled
Location
Southend on Sea
I don't think the advice to torque bearings to the higher value then lower is in the current Timken manual.
And it may depend on how the bearing races are restrained, on some wheels the inner race is part of the stack in the axle , on steering heads both bearings have a different arrangement.
It is even hard to find what grade Timken suggest for steering head use.
My old BMW airheads have taper rollers in the wheels. steering head , swinging arm pivot and, sometimes, in the final drive.
Funnily enough they only suggest that you follow the two torque procedure on the swinging arm, which you cannot rotate.
The others are either shimmed once, or in the case of the steering head set with a slight drag so that when you tap the bars sideways they fall gently against the stop.
Generally the aim with rotating taper bearings is to have a small amount if preload on the bearing to keep the rollers in alignment and 1 thou is suggested by some, probably because most will not have the equipment to set it any more precisely.
The torques on the swinging arm bearings were given in inch/ pounds, not feet/ pounds and as torque wrenches in inch pounds are expensive and of little auto use except for automatic transmissions few motorcyclists will have one so we has to guess what 7 in/lbs felt like.
My BMW F650GS had the wrong grade of crap off brand bearings in the steering head too, RE are not the only people who might try to save a couple of bucks by fitting junk!
I wasn’t trying to suggest people should over-torque them - just mentioning in passing what the aircraft manuals have to say in regards to installing a specific component which is fitted with taper bearings and why!

Because every nut bolt, and screw on an aircraft has a specific torque value or range, I am lucky enough to have clutched air screwdrivers, torquedrivers and wrenches to cater for anything from 4 inch pounds to 100 foot pounds. Anything bigger than that the company supplies the tooling for! I would never advise anyone to deviate from the manual - though I have fitted dzus fasteners to fairings on my bikes in the past when they need to come off regularly, as they make it quick and easy!
 
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