[cdsdave]

Manual says to do this every 10,000 miles. Is this job something I can tackle myself.

 

[turborob]

Manual says to do this every 10,000 miles. Is this job something I can tackle myself.

G'day, Steve.



I had to replace my 93's at around 10000ks. I did it myself, but it is a bit of a PITA.



The standard bearings are the 'push-bike' type, which means lots of bearings between an upper and lower race.



If you have the provisions to get the front wheel off the ground, and take the forks out, I would say do it yourself.



Here in Australia, labor at bike shops is often $80 an hour, so it's certainly worth doing yourself!



Ideally, I would replace them with 'all balls' bearings as they are sealed tapered bearings (much better).

 

[cdsdave]

G'day, Steve.



I had to replace my 93's at around 10000ks. I did it myself, but it is a bit of a PITA.



The standard bearings are the 'push-bike' type, which means lots of bearings between an upper and lower race.



If you have the provisions to get the front wheel off the ground, and take the forks out, I would say do it yourself.



Here in Australia, labor at bike shops is often $80 an hour, so it's certainly worth doing yourself!



Ideally, I would replace them with 'all balls' bearings as they are sealed tapered bearings (much better).

Thanks for the reply, if I am going to go through the trouble of removing the forks I may as well change over to all balls, sounds like they are easy to install. Replace the fork oil too since the forks are off anyway.

 

[qwerty]

Actually, ALLBALLS are tapered roller bearings, like trailer wheel bearings. Definately an improvement. It would be nice if the TW would take some standard industrial size, but it won't, so there really is no cheaper alternative than ALLBALLS.

 

[Stromper]

I also only use marine water proof grease



I laughed last time the balls were like $5 each on the parts fiche



Mcmaster sold me a 100 for I think $6

 

[qwerty]

I also only use marine water proof grease



I laughed last time the balls were like $5 each on the parts fiche



Mcmaster sold me a 100 for I think $6

Two good points! Use marine grease as the stock seals don't really seal out water very well. We are finding malternative sources of many parts that save a lot of money over Yamaha prices. It is almost impossible to R&R the steering stem without losing a ball bearing or two so the lower priced source is a good thing.



Many of the TW carb o-rings can be replaced with industrial parts of superior quality for pennies on the dollar compared to Yamaha's prices. Same goes for engine o-rings, such as on the oil drain plug, oil filter cover, and rocker covers.



Tapered roller bearings used in free-wheeling hubs on cages and trailers come packed with the bearing and outer race in the same box. The exact same bearings are usually available from industrial power supply houses for about half the price, but the outer races come packed in a box by themselves. Auto parts store wanted $56 for a set of S10 front wheel bearings, Motion Industries sold the same bearings for $24. Only difference was the bearings from Motion came in 8 boxes instead of 4. The numbers on the bearings and races were the same. Therefore, ridiculous prices are endemic to the OEM transportation market, not just Yamaha.