T500 Tapered Head Bearings

lockpn · Post by **lockpn** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 11:13 am

Can someone please post info on tapered steering bearings for the T500?

There was a good post awhile back on this but is located somewhere in the "archived posts". I can't seem to search within them?

Thanks

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:46 pm

What specific info are you looking for??? FWIW all balls has the tapered steering bearings for the T500 but im sure you could source them locally at a bearing supply house as well.
They show up on ebay often as well if you wish to buy some from there.

debby · Post by **debby** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 3:33 pm

Used to be there was no kit available, so you had to buy two kits: a Kaw H1/H2 kit for one of the bearings, and (I think) a GT550 kit for the other. I did that, then about a month later All Balls came out with the T500 kit.

There is a post buried in the archives about having to grind the steering stem back to allow the tapered roller bearing to seat. Apparently they're thicker than the OEM bearings and sometimes the steering stem isn't machined far enough down. So check for that.

I think my T500 has that problem, because it has a major headshake problem and the adjusting rings look new. I haven't had a chance to pull it apart yet to check, but I'm planning to soon.

Debby

Wayne Meuir · Post by **Wayne Meuir** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 4:42 pm

Most of the tapered bearing races are "taller" than the stock races. If adjusted correctly, it should not cause a head shake. It will cause the headlight ears to fit loosely, so you have to add a big ol' fat o-ring between the top of the headlight ear and the upper triple clamp to take up the extra space created by the head bearing. It is not even noticable once everything is tightened up.

Wayne

diamondj · Post by **diamondj** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:53 pm

Here's the tech sheet from All-Balls for the mod you may need with a Suzuki steering stem:

http://www.goallballs.com/pdf/Suzuki_St ... em_Mod.pdf

I searched through their fitment sheet but I haven't found a T500 specific set of bearings. Suzuki's GT bikes use a 27mm ID lower bearing where the T bikes have a 30mm ID bearing on the lower stem.

Debby, where did you see the T500 specific bearing set?

I will say I miss Pro-Flo's bearing cross reference chart. I seem to remember some other on-line vendor having one but I can't recall who.

Ohio Cafe racers does have a stock steering stem bearing chart in their tech section:

http://www.ohiocaferacers.com/

An RD350 set (22-1007) has the right OD & ID dimensions but the bearings stacks are 3mm shorter on the upper and 1mm shorter on the lower. If you can get some 1mm thick washers in the correct ID/OD you can fix that pretty easily. The H1/H2 Kawasaki set offers the correct height bearing for the lower - in fact both bearings in the Kawi set are the correct size for a GT lower (30mm ID x 48mm OD x 14mm high).

The Yamaha XS650 set (22-1015) is another possibility with the bearings being the correct ID and OD but slightly tall at 15.2mm high on the upper and 15mm on the lower. Not sure how this would work but I'd be afraid of the bearing being exposed to the weather and you'd have to be really careful not to overtighten the stem nuts.

Jim

Wayne Meuir · Post by **Wayne Meuir** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 8:22 pm

A year or two ago, someone here on the forum just got the dimensions they needed and called up All Balls directly and told them what they needed. Although they did not have a specific kit, they did have the correct bearings and sold them directly to the forum member. I can't rmemeber who it was or what the price was.

Wayne

debby · Post by **debby** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 8:25 pm

diamondj wrote: Debby, where did you see the T500 specific bearing set?

Jim

I thought I saw a posting about it here before the big crash. And I know there were some earlier postings about which bearing kits to use.

Thanks for that link. I saved a copy for future use.

I do see a big ol' fat o-ring between the headlight brackets and the lower triple clamp. I suspect a PO installed the tapered roller bearings but didn't relieve the stem and so the bearings didn't seat. Instead of diagnosing and correcting the problem, he slapped some o-rings in there then gave up and sold the bike. That's my theory anyway.

I finished my other two fork jobs so the T500 is up next. The headshake is so bad it's got to be something really obvious.

Debby

2STROKECAFE · Post by **2STROKECAFE** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:01 pm

It may have been me. I called All Balls direct after having no luck with a local dealer. Great guy, really knowledgeable, I told him what I was trying to do & he did the rest. I was adapting an 86' GSXR front end to my 73' GT750. He cross referenced, put together a kit for my application & it was at my doorstep in around 3-4 days. I think it cost around $40.
I hope that helps,
Bryan

Suzukidave · Post by **Suzukidave** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:21 pm

2STROKECAFE wrote:It may have been me. I called All Balls direct after having no luck with a local dealer. Great guy, really knowledgeable, I told him what I was trying to do & he did the rest. I was adapting an 86' GSXR front end to my 73' GT750. He cross referenced, put together a kit for my application & it was at my doorstep in around 3-4 days. I think it cost around $40.
I hope that helps,
Bryan

Just a FYI for anyone interested this is the All Balls kit # to put GSXR USD forks in a GT750 .

diamondj · Post by **diamondj** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 12:45 am

Suzukidave wrote:
2STROKECAFE wrote:It may have been me. I called All Balls direct after having no luck with a local dealer. Great guy, really knowledgeable, I told him what I was trying to do & he did the rest. I was adapting an 86' GSXR front end to my 73' GT750. He cross referenced, put together a kit for my application & it was at my doorstep in around 3-4 days. I think it cost around $40.
I hope that helps,
Bryan
Just a FYI for anyone interested this is the All Balls kit # to put GSXR USD forks in a GT750 .

Which is the Kawasaki H1/H2 kit as well - 22-1012

debby · Post by **debby** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:52 pm

At the risk of flogging a dead horse, allow me to continue this thread.

I just went out and retrieved my bearings from the shop. Based on a couple of earlier posts from this forum (which I have been unable to locate in the archived posts) I bought a GT/GS bearing kit from All Balls and an H1/H2 bearing kit from partsnmore. Legend has it the GT bearing will fit the T500 upper race and the H1/H2 bearing will fit the lower race.

The All Balls kit is p/n 22-1005. The bearings measure 48 x 27 x 14 mm. According to the package the kit fits all the GT models, most of the GS models up to the GS750, the PE175/250, the early RM's, and even the TM400 and TS400! I was disappointed to see "made in China" on the package but the kit does include seals.

The H1/H2 kit comes in a green box, says "made in Japan"

and is labeled "Parts Plus SSK100". The bearings measure 48 x 30 x 12 mm, as verified by my cheap plastic Harbor Freight vernier calipers (guaranteed accurate to +- 1/8 inch)

No seals were included with this kit

It remains to be seen whether or not these bearings will "drop right in" to my stock T500 frame and fork, or if I'll be visiting my friendly local machinist to have some shims or whatever fabricated. I think I'll start tearing down the T500 later today (after my nap). I'm getting curiouser and curiouser to see what I will find.

Debby

GT Tim · Post by **GT Tim** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 2:13 pm

May I be allowed to expand this even further? I hope I am not hijacking this, but this was already on my mind to ask and this seemed to be the time.

I am about to attempt to put a entire '72 GT550/750 4LS front end, triple tree and all in my '72 T500 project.

I want to put tapered bearings in it. What problems will I have? I have a set of the 'green box' tapered bearings for 550/750 /GT500 here already.

Who has done this and what do I need to do? What parts will I need?

Will I ever stop asking inane questions...

Me being me and my track record of luck, I'm SURE that this isn't just a straight drop in.

T.I.A.

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 3:20 pm

But of course its a straight 'drop in' Tim, you just need to find the correct bearings to drop in....

GT Tim · Post by **GT Tim** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 3:36 pm

Suzsmokeyallan wrote:But of course its a straight 'drop in' Tim, you just need to find the correct bearings to drop in....

...if they exist. This much I knew already, but thanks for confirming it for me.

tz375 · Post by **tz375** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 4:22 pm

Tim,

At the risk of telling you what you already know, measure the stem of teh forks you want to fit, at top and bottom. Then measure the steering head (or the old races when you get them out) of the frame you want to use, and you will be able to see if the combination of top and bottom races (inner and outer) is available for any combination you can think off.

That's what i had to do a few times in teh past to get a combination I wanted.

Let's say for example that the original GSYX had 48mmod, and 30mm ID top and bottom and you want to fit a set of nice ABCD USD and bar with a stem that's 30mm at teh bottom and say 28 at the top.

You would be looking for a pair of tapered rollers with 48mmOD * 30mm ID bottom and 48OD * 28 ID for the top (by whatever thickness is available)

I used to have a complete list of available sizes that i think I grabbed off the old Pro-Flo site, but that's long since been eaten by mice. All balls probably have a lokkup table on their site at

http://www.goallballs.com/dealer_tools.asp

Just eneter the size you want and it will tell you what's available