I replaced the old marginal front wheel brake rotors on my 2005 Anniversary Edition Vmax and installed EBC HH sintered pads. Bike then stopped like it meant it.
But then, once the front end was actually loaded when stopping, the wobble started. Bike had developed a mind of its own and kept trying to wobble back and forth in the lane, no matter whether at 70 mph or a little over walking speed. Quite a challenge to keep the Vmax on the course I chose.
A quick look at the steering stem ring nuts under the top triple clamp showed someone in the past had cut off the fingers on the ring nut retainer and went after the lower ring nut with what looked to be a hammer and chisel. Not really the way to try and fix a wobble!
So, complete front end disassembly was in order. Once stuff like front wheel, forks, headlight and handlebars were out of the way, moving the triple tree back and forth resembled what a ratcheting end wrench feels like. Dropping the triple tree showed the most abused set of tapered roller bearings I have ever seen. Outer and inner races displayed a very nice pattern of being basically crushed where the rollers reside in the cage. Also, someone in the past had fit the wrong lower seal below the inner race step, which of course interfered with trying to get the inner race off the stem.
I just turned the steering stem over to my machinist friend who got the old inner race and roller cage off the stem. He then pressed on the new inner race and roller cage along with the correct grease seal. See pics.
The upper bearing outer race came out easily with an $18 Amazon "bearing basher" tool. See pic. But the lower bearing outer race was the traditional Vmax nightmare. The lip internal to the frame steering head sticks out past the inner side of the bearing race. So, there is nothing to grab on. And Yamaha saw fit not to provide a pair of reliefs in the steering head so a drift could be used to bash out the race.
The only option for me without a welder was to cut the race out of the steering head. Started with a dremel tool. But I would have died of old age before the race got cut through. Ended up using a carbide burr and my major league die grinder. See pic. Since I was in there, I cut two reliefs in the steering head so if ever this needs to be done again, the usual knock it out with a drift approach can be used. Smacked both new races in with cheap Amazon bearing drivers and fit everything back together.
Reassembled the bike from the pile of parts on my garage floor, torquing as I went along.
Fired it up for first ride Friday morning. Voila! Wobble gone and I have front brakes that can be used like they are meant to be to seriously stop the bike.
Not an expensive repair, but very labor intensive. I am now intimately familiar with how my Vmax front end goes together from the wheel to fork removal to the wiring inside the headlight nacelle, to how the bars mate up to the triple tree, etc., etc.
If you are going to try this, I suggest lots of pictures of where lines (brake, throttle, clutch, electrical, etc.) are routed before you start disassembling. I ended up referring to mine a number of times. Also, all of the safety niceties like safety glasses, etc. are highly recommended. My biggest whoopsie was while torquing up the steering stem top nut having the front of the bike come off of the jack stands I had under the case guards. What could have been a very expensive crunch was no biggie because I had also positioned a floor jack under the engine just in case. Redundancy is a really good idea when you have hundreds of pounds of motorcycle apart and up off of the ground.
Anyway that's my tale. I am not a mechanic and this writeup is just for entertainment, not a how to do it.
But then, once the front end was actually loaded when stopping, the wobble started. Bike had developed a mind of its own and kept trying to wobble back and forth in the lane, no matter whether at 70 mph or a little over walking speed. Quite a challenge to keep the Vmax on the course I chose.
A quick look at the steering stem ring nuts under the top triple clamp showed someone in the past had cut off the fingers on the ring nut retainer and went after the lower ring nut with what looked to be a hammer and chisel. Not really the way to try and fix a wobble!
So, complete front end disassembly was in order. Once stuff like front wheel, forks, headlight and handlebars were out of the way, moving the triple tree back and forth resembled what a ratcheting end wrench feels like. Dropping the triple tree showed the most abused set of tapered roller bearings I have ever seen. Outer and inner races displayed a very nice pattern of being basically crushed where the rollers reside in the cage. Also, someone in the past had fit the wrong lower seal below the inner race step, which of course interfered with trying to get the inner race off the stem.
I just turned the steering stem over to my machinist friend who got the old inner race and roller cage off the stem. He then pressed on the new inner race and roller cage along with the correct grease seal. See pics.
The upper bearing outer race came out easily with an $18 Amazon "bearing basher" tool. See pic. But the lower bearing outer race was the traditional Vmax nightmare. The lip internal to the frame steering head sticks out past the inner side of the bearing race. So, there is nothing to grab on. And Yamaha saw fit not to provide a pair of reliefs in the steering head so a drift could be used to bash out the race.
The only option for me without a welder was to cut the race out of the steering head. Started with a dremel tool. But I would have died of old age before the race got cut through. Ended up using a carbide burr and my major league die grinder. See pic. Since I was in there, I cut two reliefs in the steering head so if ever this needs to be done again, the usual knock it out with a drift approach can be used. Smacked both new races in with cheap Amazon bearing drivers and fit everything back together.
Reassembled the bike from the pile of parts on my garage floor, torquing as I went along.
Fired it up for first ride Friday morning. Voila! Wobble gone and I have front brakes that can be used like they are meant to be to seriously stop the bike.
Not an expensive repair, but very labor intensive. I am now intimately familiar with how my Vmax front end goes together from the wheel to fork removal to the wiring inside the headlight nacelle, to how the bars mate up to the triple tree, etc., etc.
If you are going to try this, I suggest lots of pictures of where lines (brake, throttle, clutch, electrical, etc.) are routed before you start disassembling. I ended up referring to mine a number of times. Also, all of the safety niceties like safety glasses, etc. are highly recommended. My biggest whoopsie was while torquing up the steering stem top nut having the front of the bike come off of the jack stands I had under the case guards. What could have been a very expensive crunch was no biggie because I had also positioned a floor jack under the engine just in case. Redundancy is a really good idea when you have hundreds of pounds of motorcycle apart and up off of the ground.
Anyway that's my tale. I am not a mechanic and this writeup is just for entertainment, not a how to do it.
