Steering Stem Bearing Torque
 

Hey Guys,
I am in the midst of putting the front end of my bike back together after a fork rebuild & I have replaced the steering head bearings while I had it apart. What have you guys come up with as far as an effective way of torqueing the steering stem bearings down with out having the special tool from Honda?

Thanks

The right size socket, grinder and some patience and you can quite easily make one yourself... Or if you have welding equipment it's usually easier to cut up two sockets to get the needed depth too clear the steering stem... There are a few threads around with images by me and others, a quick search will find them if you need to visualize it...

Did you replace the steering head bearings with OEM caged ball bearings or with aftermarket roller bearings? The proper torque is not the same for both.

allballs tapered bearings......I didn't even think of that.

1 and 9/16 works if they don't have the deep socket in mm. angle grinder and dremmel tool and wear jeans you don't mind getting burn holes in :-)

A 12 point 1 11/16" socket works perfectly.

Oddly enough I was in the same boat just the other day and came across this thread. A 12 pt 1 11/16" socket does in fact get the job done. You can't find them at Lowes, Home Depot, auto parts stores or even Harbor Freight. I had to pick mine up from Northern Tool an luckily they had them in stock. The socket itself is about 1mm too shallow but with steady pressure evenly set on top, it came off with no problem.

Little tip though: If you don't by chance already own a 3/4" driver, don't buy the 3/4" to 1/2" adapter for $8 at Northern Tool when you can get the same adapter plus two extras at Harbor Freight for $4.

A 42mm 12-point socket worked also. Bought it at Harbor Freight as part of their jumbo metric socket set. Had a lot of other useful sizes for the superhawk also. And with cheapo harbor freight adaptors, it was compatible with the 3/8" torque wrench I had.

Be prepared to re-adjust that sucker in a few months of riding! Keep tabs on the feel. Jack her up :eek: and try to wiggle up and down @ full lock or try to push/pull on the front wheel when its off the ground. The last thing you want is to wear new bearings.