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Old June 10th, 2022, 04:01 PM   #1
jjmaine
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Fork height after tapered roller steering bearings?

I took my front end apart and replaced the steering bearings with the All Balls kit and it never occured to me that I should measure the height of the top triple clamp so that I can put my forks back to the oem height/rake angle.
Can someone with a Ninja 300 and stock steering bearings measure how high your top triple sits above the frame (or some other reference point)? I know my top triple sits a bit higher but not sure exactly how much and I want to get my forks back to the stock fork height.
For those with the All Balls kit, how did you set your fork height after the swap?
Thanks guys!
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Old June 10th, 2022, 04:10 PM   #2
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Top fork-clamp doesn't matter. It's distance from head-tube of frame to ground along pivot axis that determines angle. As long as lower-bearing didn't raise frame; it'll be same as before.

Even if it did, tiny amount of change involved wouldn't make that much difference in handling response on street bike. If you want snappier turn-in, lower front-end by 20-30mm. It really requires that much change to be noticeable. That's because rake-angle changes pivot frame around rear-axle, so you'd have to raise & lower head-tube of frame significantly for just 1-degree change.


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Old June 11th, 2022, 02:51 AM   #3
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The only thing I can think of is when you installed the bearing race, it wasn't fully installed/seated, ie not flush with the top of head.

If you didn't drive it all the way down til it bottomed out on the head tube, it would in fact change the height top of the triple tree. The same thing goes for the bottom as well.
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Old June 11th, 2022, 06:56 AM   #4
jjmaine
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Thanks Danny that makes sense. Ghost I did make sure I seated both races completely so no problem there. I was just going by the write-up that said after the tapered bearing install your bars will sit 1/8-1/4” higher so I assumed that would make the procedure to set fork height in the manual irrelevant.
Before I did remove my forks I marked a line with a fine point permanant marker up against the bottom of the triple but ot was hard to see. I removed the right fork this morning and found the faint line so I set the fork back to where it was originally and when I measured how much protruded from the top of the triple strangely enough it was back at 12mm (the stock height) which should mean that really nothing has changed with my setup.
Not sure why others did the bearing install and end up with their bars higher?
Seems mine is good to go and I can keep using the stock measurement.
Also installed some fresh wheel bearings so it should ride smooth now.
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Old June 11th, 2022, 07:03 AM   #5
jjmaine
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Well nothing has changed with the distance between the bottom and top triples. They both might sit a little higher or low a few mm’s but like Danny says it should not be noticeable either way.
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Old June 11th, 2022, 01:49 PM   #6
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I have read reports of people having higher front-ends after bearing replacement. I suspect that may be due to really worn-out or really loose bearings beforehand. This may cause some front-end drop compared to stock. In which case, new bearings would raise front end. But only back up to stock levels.
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Old June 11th, 2022, 02:15 PM   #7
jjmaine
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Yeah could be. I’m having a hell of a time getting this adjusted so I have 0 wallowing and 0 wobble. I can either tighten it up a little and I get low speed wallowing or loosen it a little and I get high speed wobble when decelerating. I think I may have the answer. The top all balls seal gets squished down onto the outer cage of the bearing when you snug the nut down to tension everythinng. I have it back apart now and with the seal on there is about one full turn of the nit feom the time it touches the seal to the time it gets pushed down onto the bearing. I think it is giving me a sort of “false” tension. This may be why there was no seal from oem, just the cap. I’m going to leave the seal out and give it a try tomorroq. It shouldn’t be this hard lol. I did read about a couple others having the same problem on the Ninja300 forum….
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Old June 11th, 2022, 04:12 PM   #8
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Do you have tool to hold adjustable-cup steady as to lock down ring? That really keeps adjustment in place so it doesn't move when you tighten lock-ring.
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Old June 11th, 2022, 04:40 PM   #9
jjmaine
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Not sure what the adjustable cup is? The cap that goes on over the bearing and under the lock nut?

I mean lock nut as in the nut with four cut-outs in it used for setting tension. Not the steering stem nut that holds the top triple on.
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Old June 11th, 2022, 09:22 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jjmaine View Post
Not sure what the adjustable cup is? The cap that goes on over the bearing and under the lock nut?

I mean lock nut as in the nut with four cut-outs in it used for setting tension. Not the steering stem nut that holds the top triple on.
Hmm, been couple years since I've done this; so I may not be remembering details. I seem to remember some way to lock in adjustment before installing top fork-clamp...

Part that holds top fork clamp on should be big bolt. If you have lock-ring properly torqued, installing top fork-clamp and bolt shouldn't affect bearing preload.

Ari's got good procedure here by testing for play with front-end off ground. Better to gradually tighten from too-loose to just-right rather than too tight initially.

Link to original page on YouTube.

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Old June 12th, 2022, 05:15 AM   #11
jjmaine
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I'll keep adjusting until I get it right. I'm pretty sure that seal was my issue as the runner gets squished down onto the outer cage of the bearing and the top of the race. It's hard to check for "smooth" movement of the handlebars with all the cable rubbing and there is no way I am removing all that stuff lol
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