Steering head bearings worn at 22.000 miles

[guile]

For about 2 months now I have little ' knock' when I break and come to a complete halt. I can't reproduce it myself, only when breaking. I put the scoot on the centerstand and sitting with the frontwheel between my legs I tried to feel anything by forcing the fork back- and forwards, but I feel nothing.

My tech says it's worn steering head bearings. My scoot is at 22.000 miles.
Could it be the steering head bearing? Does anyone have experience with that?

Please let me know.
Thanks.

[guile]

Any comment is welcome

[sissy mary]

Put it on the center stand and have someone push down on the back of the back seat to lift the front wheel off the ground. Now grab hold of the front wheel and push it in and out/back and forth. If there is any slop/movement, meaning it's not tight, then it is the steering head bearing. If it is? Then it must not have been tightened down at the factory correctly? Almost 60k on my 07, and it still rides like its new.

[guile]

Thanks Sissy. I will do that and report back.

[guile]

Put it on the center stand and have someone push down on the back of the back seat to lift the front wheel off the ground. Now grab hold of the front wheel and push it in and out/back and forth. If there is any slop/movement, meaning it's not tight, then it is the steering head bearing. If it is? Then it must not have been tightened down at the factory correctly? Almost 60k on my 07, and it still rides like its new.

I put my old lady on the back seat and did exactly as you suggested: nothing. I pushed and pulled in multiple directions but nothing.
Could it be the bearings of the front wheel?

[mrjlube]

just a thought. my 2009 was making a clunking sound when I hit the brakes. The clamp on the one side of the front akle was loose. I tightened the two allen head bolts. They need to be pretty tight. I pulled on them with an allen wrench with a bar for leverage. Never heard the clunking again. That was 2 years ago. Check that out.

[guile]

Thanks for the suggestion.
I checked but there seems nothing wrong; very tight.

[BettinANDlosing]

They aren't worn, just need to be tightened / adjusted. I have NEVER seen steering bearings worn on a scooter, as in worn out. When they are slightly loose it will "clunk" like that when putting on the front brakes.
http://www.racing-planet.co.uk/images/products/explosion/sector_125_F05.gif
When #81 on that image gets loose, even slightly, it will start to do what you are saying. It takes a lot of practice to get them right. I remove the handle bars, then remove the bearings race and grease them while your in there. Then tighten down the bottom race until it gets slightly hard to turn the bars, then back it off about 1/4 turn. After that you loctite (Blue non permanent) the race keeper and torque it down. If you haven't done it before it'll take a few tries to get it perfect, usually ends up being too tight and you'll feel that in the steering almost more than loose. If you looking for your shop to do it, they will most likely charge about an hour for the X500.

[guile]

Thanks for replying.
Would this mean that I don't have to strip it down and remove the entire fork etc.?
Could you explain it with the numbers in the image?

Thanks from the Netherlands

[BettinANDlosing]

Thanks for replying.
Would this mean that I don't have to strip it down and remove the entire fork etc.?
Could you explain it with the numbers in the image?

Thanks from the Netherlands

You do not need to strip anything down. This picture is for general reference and not the exact same as the X500 head bearing setup. It's just a matter of tightening both top races up. There are two, on in contact with the ball bearings and one to "lock" them down. You tighten the one in contact with the bearings then lock it with the top one. The only reason you would maybe want to take it apart all the way is to grease all the bearings up, but you don't have to do this.

[guile]

Sounds like a good plan. I will report back

[guile]

You do not need to strip anything down. This picture is for general reference and not the exact same as the X500 head bearing setup. It's just a matter of tightening both top races up. There are two, on in contact with the ball bearings and one to "lock" them down. You tighten the one in contact with the bearings then lock it with the top one. The only reason you would maybe want to take it apart all the way is to grease all the bearings up, but you don't have to do this.

Looking at the service manual you do need to strip down quite a lot to get to the bearings. The fork has to be removed for instance... Please correct me if I'm wrong!

[BettinANDlosing]

To actually get them out you have to drop the triple tree. To tighten them all you have to do is get the front nose panel off.