Gen 4 Front Headstock Replacement

[comfysofa]

Well, it went through the MOT. Got an advisory for the above. Thought id do it now. When the MOT guy showed me he said "your ok but theyll need doing soon..." i felt it and thought - nah - cant have that...so it came apart today....a straight forward job but, very time consuming....i guessed at 3 hours but took 5 in the end but i wasl plodding and watching the motogp in the garage at the same time which didnt help, as i re-assembled i gave all the relevant bit a good scrub with SDoc100 also as it wont be coming apart again for a good while....Its all back together but the front wheel isnt spinning as freely as it should so ill be just going over the front end again tomorrow night (assuming im allowed in the garage again..burnt through all my brownie points today)...

While some would moan about this kind of maintenance im happy to do the work as...
1. This kind of maintenance means i can check other stuff as well.
2. Stuff gets cleaned that you wouldnt normally be able to get to.
3. Mines on 17.5k miles now so - totally expected.
4. I know its been done correctly as ive done it.

Its a royal pain in the arse getting the front off the ground. The way i do it is...

1. Paddock stand on the rear.
2. Footpeg stands in
3. Car jack with a piece of wood underneath the sump.
4. Strap round the front section of the frame and then hung from above (in my garage ive got rafters. Id say this is the critial bit...all of the above combined means that the final strap at the front doesnt have to have that much stress on it.

[comfysofa]

Front strip down... Relatively easy.

[comfysofa]

Once the light is off I find it easier to loosen the bars, slide to one side and then slide the throttle tube off and then to the other and then the left side.

[comfysofa]

Remove the front wheel, pop the gromit out in the top centre of the headstock which reveals a large Allen key hole... I bought a set of large Allen key sockets... The zed is covered in them. Undo that then you can lift the top yoke off. Once that's off you can tap off the two castle nuts then the bottom drops out...

[comfysofa]

Moving on. Once you've dropped out the bottom yoke mocking the outer shells out is very easy. Nicely khi have left a couple indentations opposite each other so you can knock the outer out dead easy... Long screwdriver... 2 mins to do each one.. Putting the new ones back in I had a big socket which was half a mm smaller so again 2 mins to drift each one back in...

To get the bottom inner section of the bearing off I used a dremmel with metal cutter to cut into it then an old screwdriver to split it. When you order your bearing kit on the lower there's an oil/dust seal... I'd say order that too... I bent mine slightly but managed to flatten it out...

[comfysofa]

From here on back its a case of reversing the procedure.... Time consuming but easy... As i say I've got a sticky front wheel but thats my hpk calipers...

[maxz1000]

A good write up, very interesting.

[leez1000r]

Ho,my god....  Wouldn't have the balls to do that....  Wow...   Ide be like,that's my baby,I can take stuff appart,like most people can. But putting it back together,that's another thing...  Respect to you,and anyone who can do as much as you can...   I couldn't do it,no way...   And I would just loose it,I know what you're gonna saiy,it's easy,but only if you know what ure doing,and confident in what your doing...   Well done,you and everyone who is capable of this sort of thing...

[comfysofa]

Meh - very easy Leez...

Went out for a shakedown today...not had the chance as its been pissing down pretty well all week.....did some other stuff today also....

Mate came over with his Tuono and a custom modded ecu which we fitted and calibrated along with some other stuff too....new exhaust braket, new rear light to replace a cracked one. 

Replaced the Front brake pads on the car!

Shake down on the zed needed the headstock tightening up (totally expected as the weight of the bike forces the headstock to move and bed down) - didnt plug in one of the lights enough...so plugged that in, didnt get the mirrors quite right so sorted those out also. Fitted new brake pads on the front also - theyre dragging a bit but ill leave those to bed in...so might sort themselves out...

I will say that draping the front brake master cylinder over the front of the bike (no where else really) got quite a bit of air in the line so i had to rebleed the front brake a bit.

[trebor4460]

nice job , last head bearings i replaced was on the Bandit and they were a pain to do so hope my Kawa ones go as easy as yours did when its time, good write up . 

[louisb]

Those wheels look ace!