15,000mile/2year service question

[David (N. Alabama)]

greased the steering bearings saturday....took an hour after i had the bike on the lift and all my tools ready to go....pics to come

Looking foreward to seeing the pics.

Did the bearings look dirty or dry? Did you notice a difference at the 30 to 40 MPH mark?

[TheAudiDoc]

very little grease on the bearings...cheap grease too....greased em with mobil 1 synthetic...no change in the bad wobble...still there....it's the tire!

[Voyager]

greased the steering bearings saturday....took an hour after i had the bike on the lift and all my tools ready to go....pics to come

Wow, that is quick. I am interested to see your pictures. It appears the VV is much easier than the XII was for this procedure. I believe I spent the better part of 3 hours doing the XII.

[davemc]

I have lubed my steering bearings and swingarm bearings 3 times, did the work myself.
For the steering, no fairing parts need to be removed. I combined the job with removing, draining, flushing the forks so they were already off but I think you could drop the steering stem with the fork tubes in place. I did need to have the OD of my 36mm socket turned down to loosen and re-torque the top nut but everything else went easy. Remove the handlebars and lay them on a blanket over the tank, remove the top triple clamp, remove the top nut and the lower bearing drops down enough to lube it and top bearing can be removed. After the fork tubes are off, the bearing lube takes maybe an hour.
For the swingarm lube, you don't need to remove the trunk or rear wheel, but the whole exhaust system needs to come off just to get to the swingarm nut. Loosen the rear axle and slide the wheel all the way forward, slide the belt off the pulley, remove the swingarm shaft and the whole swingarm/wheel/brake/pulley will slide back far enough inside the fender to access the bearings. I did need to remove the rear caliper and ABS sensor because the hose and wire is not long enough to reach when the wheel is that far back. I think I could do that job (now that I'm experienced) in about 2 hours.

Garry

Garry -- I am getting ready to lubricate the steering head bearings and the swingarm bearing (and I have read the sections in the service manual as well). A couple of questions if you don't mind:

1. what size socket is needed for the swingarm nut?

2. did you need an impact wrench to get the swingarm nut loose?

3. what size socket is needed for the rear axle nut?

4. did you replace the gaskets where the exhaust pipes meet the heads, or did you re-use them?

5. any special tips or problems to be on the lookout for?

Thanks in advance.

[TheAudiDoc]

here is the instructions for the steering......sorry i haven't done the axle yet....january project http://www.amervoyassoc.org/forum/viewt ... &sk=t&sd=a

[davemc]

Over the weekend I greased the steering stem bearings and the swing arm bearings. Did the front end one day, the back end on another day. Took my time and had fun.

The steering stem bearings proved to be the more difficult job. I could not get the stem nut off without removing the fairing (couldn't get the tool to turn in that tight space), so that was a little more involved than I thought it would be. Not bad, though. Now I know the front end of the bike fairly well. The worst part was getting the stem back up into position after I lowered it to grease the lower bearings. I think next time I will remove the front tire to make it easier (lighter to pick up and hold in place while putting the stem nut back on). For the cap nut, the 36mm socket I bought at Lowes fit perfectly -- it did not need to be turned down as others have had to do.

I did not remove the rear tire to grease the swing arm bearings. I loosened the rear axle bolt and the adjusters, and after I slipped the belt off the pulley (plus removed the rear caliper and ABS sensor) there was enough room to move the whole assembly back and access the swing arm bearings with the wheel still attached to the swing arm.

If you plan on doing this yourself, the bolt head on the rear axle takes a 22mm socket, and the castle nut takes a 27mm. The bolt head on the swing arm shaft takes a 22mm socket, and the nut takes a 24 mm. You'll also need a torque wrench for the steering stem cap nut and the rear axle bolt -- both need to be torqued at 80 ft-lbs. I ordered the special stem nut wrench from Kawasaki for the stem nut.

[TheAudiDoc]

Dave, did you have to remove the exhaust to pull the swingarm loose?

[davemc]

Dave, did you have to remove the exhaust to pull the swingarm loose?

Yes, you cannot loosen the swing arm nut with the exhaust on the bike.

[davemc]

Dave, did you have to remove the exhaust to pull the swingarm loose?

Yes, you cannot loosen the swing arm nut with the exhaust on the bike.

[TheAudiDoc]

thanks Dave, my next project....swing arm maint...spark plugs and all the coolant hoses and t-stat...sprins a comming...get ready