Another mystery solved - T500 steering head bearings

debby · Post by **debby** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 7:59 pm

I installed the tapered roller bearing kit today in my T500III. The Kaw H1/H2 bearings were a perfect fit. Both bearings were 48 x 30 x 12 mm, exactly the same size as the OEM bearings. The old bearing races came off with no trouble and I used one of the old races as a drift to put the new races into the steering head. I fitted the lower bearing on the stem, got it started, then assembled the triples and tightened the adjusting nut to press the bearing home.

Perfect fit! They're just dry assembled now, so I need to take the triples back off, grease the bearings up, and finish things up.

The stem on my T500 is about 25 mm diameter with a 30 mm shoulder that is 6 mm high for the lower bearing race. The upper bearing fits onto a shoulder on the adjusting ring, also 30 mm in diameter. I'll post a couple of pics later.

The bearing kit I used was from partsnmore.com. The box is green and is labeled "Parts Plus SSK100". The sidepanel says the bearings fit Kaw S1 250, S2 350, S3 400, H1 500, H2 750, KZ250A/400/440, KH250/400/500.

You can add 1970 Suz T500III to that list

No seals were included, so I'll use plenty of waterproof grease and try to avoid riding in the rain.

Debby

debby · Post by **debby** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 10:12 pm

Here's a photo of what the parts look like:

I've threaded the adjusting collar onto the stem, showing the shoulder where the upper bearing fits. You can also see the bottom shoulder where the lower bearing fits. OEM bearing (left) and roller bearing shown side by side for reference.

The top of the stem has a smaller diameter and that's where the top triple clamp fits. There is no pinch bolt however, it's just held in place by the top nut. It has no pinch bolts for the fork legs either, just the top bolts. Maybe it should be called a "no clamp" instead of a "triple clamp"!

Debby

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:37 pm

Debby from your statement youre missing a lock nut, it goes on top of the large bearing cap/top nut to lock it in place. THEN the 'no clamp' top tree goes on, then the top nut by the steering damper knob.
This lock nut was different tha nthe normal ones in that it only has three slots for tightening.

debby · Post by **debby** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 9:30 am

Yes, I have the locknut. It's just not in the photo. I also have the three flat washers.

Debby