All ball steering stem bearings & all ball wheel bearings

**buckey1313** · 09-18-2015, 11:26 AM

I am told and reviews I can find on line tell me these are far better then the bearings Kawasaki install at the factory in our 1700 Vulcans. I am wondering if anyone out there on this site has used them and have experienced any positives or negatives using these. I now have about 45 thousand kms on bike and feel it is time to have fork oil changed and might as well have these bearings changed at the same time. Is All Ball Roller Bearings that much better I am told they are and told their head sealing is much better to.

How does any of you feel about doing this at this mileage or is it not necessary to do any of this more just keep riding a bit longer. It is stored in winter in heated space so I think that makes a big difference never gets the big variance in temp change but does get washed often.

We some times do repairs to early when we do not need to have the out lay of the bucks.

Sport Rider · 09-18-2015, 11:35 AM

I have used them on my 1600 nomad and on my concours. I have not had any issues with them. if not all balls, the only others I'd probably consider is oem kawasaki parts. bearings are pretty important and I don't want to have problems down the road and have to change them again. I've never heard any negatives related to all balls products.

tonik · 09-18-2015, 12:51 PM

Lots of us on the Voyager have switched to the all balls in the steering head because of the 'wobble'. We are all thrilled. I did mine at almost the exact same mileage as you are about to.

I don't know anyone that has done wheel bearings yet. But their products are solid, they are a well respected supplier.

gv550 · 09-18-2015, 02:46 PM

I replaced my stock steering head bearings with allballs tapered bearings just to reduce the wobble. The stock bearings had very high mileage and after removing and cleaning them they still look in perfect condition so they are definitely not a poor quality bearing. I think the design of the tapered bearings adds some damping affect which reduces the wobble, but I will need to run them another couple hundred thousand before I can say the quantity is any better than stock.
The allballs kit comes with seals, and I think they look flimsy, the bore is oversize to point where the seal didn't sit concentric to the cone, so I bought new Kawasaki seals to use instead.
479,300 kms on my stock, original wheel bearings...... I can't imagine why anyone would want to replace them! I do replace my wheel seals regularly so my bearings stay clean and dry.

coffey67 · 09-18-2015, 04:33 PM

Replaced the steering stem bearings on my 1600 due to wobble. When I bought my 1700 Vaquero I had the dealer replace the factory bearing with All Balls within a month of having the bike just to avoid problems. Vary happy!

redjay · 09-18-2015, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gv550

I replaced my stock steering head bearings with allballs tapered bearings just to reduce the wobble. The stock bearings had very high mileage and after removing and cleaning them they still look in perfect condition so they are definitely not a poor quality bearing. I think the design of the tapered bearings adds some damping affect which reduces the wobble, but I will need to run them another couple hundred thousand before I can say the quantity is any better than stock.
The allballs kit comes with seals, and I think they look flimsy, the bore is oversize to point where the seal didn't sit concentric to the cone, so I bought new Kawasaki seals to use instead.
479,300 kms on my stock, original wheel bearings...... I can't imagine why anyone would want to replace them! I do replace my wheel seals regularly so my bearings stay clean and dry.

Where do you buy wheel bearing seals ?

gv550 · 09-18-2015, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redjay

Where do you buy wheel bearing seals ?

Kawasaki dealer.

dlars · 09-19-2015, 01:01 PM

I did my fork oil change at about 41,000 km's and was prety shocked at how thick and black the oil was. The service manual called for 10W oil but I mixed 1/2 a liter of 5W and 1 liter of 10W to get about 7W as it was a bit stiff in the front end. My bearings had no movement so I left it for my next tire change. The front end "wobble" that some people attribute to stem bearings can be traced back to the front tire or tire pressure in a lot of cases. I experienced that with a set of Metzler 888's on my bike......put Commander ll's on and no more wobble......go figure. If you have it all apart, it's not much more work to change bearings anyways. If you decide to go with those, please let us know how you like them.

09-18-2015, 11:26 AM	#1
buckey1313 Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Westlock, Alberta Posts: 442	All ball steering stem bearings & all ball wheel bearings I am told and reviews I can find on line tell me these are far better then the bearings Kawasaki install at the factory in our 1700 Vulcans. I am wondering if anyone out there on this site has used them and have experienced any positives or negatives using these. I now have about 45 thousand kms on bike and feel it is time to have fork oil changed and might as well have these bearings changed at the same time. Is All Ball Roller Bearings that much better I am told they are and told their head sealing is much better to. How does any of you feel about doing this at this mileage or is it not necessary to do any of this more just keep riding a bit longer. It is stored in winter in heated space so I think that makes a big difference never gets the big variance in temp change but does get washed often. We some times do repairs to early when we do not need to have the out lay of the bucks. __________________ Dave Leyh Edmonton, Alberta 2009 Kawasaki 1700 Vulcan Nomad Login or Register to Remove Ads Last edited by buckey1313; 09-18-2015 at 11:28 AM.
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09-18-2015, 11:35 AM	#2
Sport Rider Jr. Member Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Mooresville NC Posts: 33	I have used them on my 1600 nomad and on my concours. I have not had any issues with them. if not all balls, the only others I'd probably consider is oem kawasaki parts. bearings are pretty important and I don't want to have problems down the road and have to change them again. I've never heard any negatives related to all balls products. __________________ VROC #7159 COG #8603 VBA #3204 https://www.bikepics.com/members/ncdave/
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09-18-2015, 02:46 PM	#4
gv550 Advanced Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Listowel, Ontario Posts: 642	I replaced my stock steering head bearings with allballs tapered bearings just to reduce the wobble. The stock bearings had very high mileage and after removing and cleaning them they still look in perfect condition so they are definitely not a poor quality bearing. I think the design of the tapered bearings adds some damping affect which reduces the wobble, but I will need to run them another couple hundred thousand before I can say the quantity is any better than stock. The allballs kit comes with seals, and I think they look flimsy, the bore is oversize to point where the seal didn't sit concentric to the cone, so I bought new Kawasaki seals to use instead. 479,300 kms on my stock, original wheel bearings...... I can't imagine why anyone would want to replace them! I do replace my wheel seals regularly so my bearings stay clean and dry. __________________ Garry 2009 1700 Voyager KACT, sold at 679,465 kms 2011 1700 Nomad Improve handling, suspension and tire life with Garry's Fork Brace. PM for details.
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09-18-2015, 04:33 PM	#5
coffey67 Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Goreville, Illinois Posts: 202	Replaced the steering stem bearings on my 1600 due to wobble. When I bought my 1700 Vaquero I had the dealer replace the factory bearing with All Balls within a month of having the bike just to avoid problems. Vary happy! Login or Register to Remove Ads
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09-18-2015, 12:51 PM	#3
tonik Advanced Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Cleveland Ohio Posts: 714	Lots of us on the Voyager have switched to the all balls in the steering head because of the 'wobble'. We are all thrilled. I did mine at almost the exact same mileage as you are about to. I don't know anyone that has done wheel bearings yet. But their products are solid, they are a well respected supplier.
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09-19-2015, 01:01 PM	#8
dlars Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 89	I did my fork oil change at about 41,000 km's and was prety shocked at how thick and black the oil was. The service manual called for 10W oil but I mixed 1/2 a liter of 5W and 1 liter of 10W to get about 7W as it was a bit stiff in the front end. My bearings had no movement so I left it for my next tire change. The front end "wobble" that some people attribute to stem bearings can be traced back to the front tire or tire pressure in a lot of cases. I experienced that with a set of Metzler 888's on my bike......put Commander ll's on and no more wobble......go figure. If you have it all apart, it's not much more work to change bearings anyways. If you decide to go with those, please let us know how you like them.
	0