Steering Bearings

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Specialkmn

New member
Per the manual it says to check and grease the stem bearings on the FZ8 every 12,000 miles. I was wondering if anyone has done this and how difficult it was?

From videos of other bikes online it looks like they take the front shocks off and drop the wheel and that seems like a lot of work to check the bearings.

So the questions:

What did you do to grease your bearings?
How difficult was it to slide the front forks off without scratching anything?
Should I take it to the shop for this?

I should note that I'm relatively experienced with some wrenching, more than capable of changing chains, rear shocks, batteries, plugs, etc. I am just unfamiliar with this particular work.
 
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Umyaya

New member
The manual states to do a lot of things... probably Yamaha being over cautious and things. I am doing this with my other bike and that has 40k.... I'd check them by getting the front wheel off the ground and pushing the handlebars to check for kinks or anything. ALso drive it... if it feels like you are driving on a front flat tire then change..or if it shakes or turns like shit.. mine is scary dangerous to drive so I need to do it. Re greasing probably wouldn't be bad but every 12k is a bit much... at least for me. I may re grease the fz8s when I do the valve adjustment or when it stops driving straight and turning lol. Shop will probably charge you a few hundred bucks..
 
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thach1130

New member
Umyaya said:
when it stops driving straight and turning lol. Shop will probably charge you a few hundred bucks..
Click to expand...

That's what's going on with my bike at the moment. Ever since i dropped it and messed up the alignment of the wheel and handle bar. I brought it to a dealer for repair and ever since I cannot do hand-free cruise. Take hands off and the bike start to lean and turn to one side.
 
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Umyaya

New member
Yea that's what happened to my other bike as well. I'm hoping it's just the bearings.... I'd be pissed if it is more than that
 
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Specialkmn

New member
I really think that if its stated in the manual and not that hard to get to its probably worth doing. Preventative maintenence is way cheaper than failure maintenance.

So if anyone has done this, let me know how it went :)
 
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Deleted member 3631

Guest
From working at the Honda/Yamaha dealer in Lawrenceville (now closed) I ran up on the 12k steering check. went to the back to ask the guys in the shop. They said, Yamaha has there ways to keep us (the dealer) in business, there is no need to think of doing it until the steering feels very weak!" so.... at 15k now and my steering hasnt changed and still feels fine! :) cheers!
 
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