Roller Bearing Upgrade

[ritalz]

Recently installed new bearings in the 76 and the front end wobble is gone. Road testing revealed what I believe is a alignment problem. Seems to need steering corrections all the time at low speed and corners are tricky. I plan to work on the alignment tomorrow if the rain stays away. I built a jig to lock the wheels in a straight line while I loosen and re-tighten the pinch bolts and axel caps. Applying pressure to the jig should force the wheels into alignment and correct the problem. Other than this, the bearing swap went very well.

[gregforesi]

It's getting closer.
Get it up on the sidestand and see if there is any slop in the swing arm bearings too. They don't seem to be a problem spot on these but you never know.

[Motowalt]

Give us some details on the wobble...
Was it during hard braking, cornering, etc?
What did it feel like...

[ritalz]

Wobble was caused by the worn out ball bearing that most likely have never been changed. It would happen if I took my hands off the bars and that part is 100% better. Forgot to mention that I will be taking pictures of the jig and document the process.

[fish]

tire pressure?
wheel balance?

[ritalz]

Tested out my jig today and the results are good. Had to use some straps to set the bike upright since I don't have a center stand. Set the jig up and snugged up the side boards with threaded rods. Loosened all the pinch bolts and axel caps and then tightened up the threaded rods to put pressure on the wheels. Made sure the steering was not twisted and tightened the pinch bolts and caps. Steering is a little tight but overall results are great. No more wobble.
parts list;
2 4x4x8 (I used fairly straight landscape timbers)
2 .5 inch threaded rods
sandwiched the timbers together and drilled holes for the rods

[wingless1]

the hunting around and requiring constant steering corrections sounds like overtightened steering head bearings. Tapered bearings are harder to set than ball bearings. They take a bit of tension on them, but not much. I did mine by torquing them to about 20lbs, then backing them off (without moving the steering) and retightening them to just finger/hand tight. They still have more drag than a ball bearing, but work pretty well.

[ritalz]

I may still have too much torque on the stem nut. Didn't have a socket available to put on the torque wrench so I had to guesstimate the pressure. Cranked it down till the steering did not want to turn then backed off a quarter turn. Steering moved lock to lock easily so I started bolting everything back on the bike. Left turns were quite interesting and straight line driving was not happening. Right turns were still ok so that led me to believe the alignment was the problem. I'll leave it be for now since the weather is getting colder.

[gearhead4207]

mine had a wobble and then my front wheel bearing went out it never quealed or locked it just fell aprt whitch made for an interesting 40 miles but when i replaced the bearing the wobble went away it was like that that for about a year before the bearing went out it wouldnt wobble unless i took my hands off the bars