New here!

Any suggestions guys??? The bolt head for the cross brace snapped off....I have a nice snap on easy out set that has finally failed me, I was applying heat as well, no dice.....can these be run with one mount bolt in the carb?
View attachment 238121

Cant exactly see how it looks --- Is the easy out in there
And it depends how experienced you are with hand held drills and impact wrench

I would apply heat and oil and use a Drill with percussive slip clutch ..depending how the fracture surface looks
Drill / Philips or / Flat bit

Punch and hammer ..
Again carefully not damaging more --- patience.

If it is low down one can ,make a bushing with a center hole drilling through that center hole the drill bit will get ruined if the easy out is in there but never mind.
The purpose is getting the rotation for getting it loose

More heat and oil and alternating going counter clockwise should the screw come out.

A drilll press or taking it so shop that has one helps.
 
The last one I got out, EZ-outs failed me as well, wouldn't budge it. I just kept drilling with slightly larger and larger bits until there was just a thin wall of the snapped off bolt left. Then I pried it into the center, collapsed it in. That got some of it but not all. I was able to start a tap into the hole (original size for the hole, M6 x 1) and that cleaned the rest out.
 
Ok, long story short. The P.O. of the 81' was a bolt stripping mouth breather!! I couldn't even get the idle jets out, just smashed beyond recognition, even broke off a small easy out.....in the brass:thumbsdown:...but as I had just sonic cleaned the carb set off the 80', I thought why not! So I took all the good bits from the 81' carbies and made a franken-set! Upped jets to 135mains, 45pilots, and drilled out the air hole in the slide to 3mm, new floats with correct height, bench synced, cleaned EVERYTHING, gave em a half ass polish job, and threw em on the bike. HOLY MOLY does this thing run well now! Pulls nice and hard, couldn't find any flat spots through the gears on a quick test ride! Happy as hell! I really enjoy working on these BS34s now that I have gotten to know them! Just gonna do some syncing tomorrow and some idle adjustments and take the win!
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I think next weekend I'll attempt the steering head bearings. Been reading up on it here, seems fairly straightforward. One question though, I know I can discard the top bearing seal if so inclined. But as for the bottom seal, does that go in on top of the factory seal which resides at the bottom of the stem? May answer my own question upon disassembly but thought I'd throw that out there? Thanks in advance
 
I think next weekend I'll attempt the steering head bearings. Been reading up on it here, seems fairly straightforward. One question though, I know I can discard the top bearing seal if so inclined. But as for the bottom seal, does that go in on top of the factory seal which resides at the bottom of the stem? May answer my own question upon disassembly but thought I'd throw that out there? Thanks in advance


Just one seal or the other on the bottom... just not both. I managed to damage the factory lower, so went with the new seal.
The top bearing has a metal dust cap on it. Re-use it.... by itself. it's all you need up top.
 
Ok, long story short. The P.O. of the 81' was a bolt stripping mouth breather!! I couldn't even get the idle jets out, just smashed beyond recognition, even broke off a small easy out.....in the brass:thumbsdown:...but as I had just sonic cleaned the carb set off the 80', I thought why not! So I took all the good bits from the 81' carbies and made a franken-set! Upped jets to 135mains, 45pilots, and drilled out the air hole in the slide to 3mm, new floats with correct height, bench synced, cleaned EVERYTHING, gave em a half ass polish job, and threw em on the bike. HOLY MOLY does this thing run well now! Pulls nice and hard, couldn't find any flat spots through the gears on a quick test ride! Happy as hell! I really enjoy working on these BS34s now that I have gotten to know them! Just gonna do some syncing tomorrow and some idle adjustments and take the win! View attachment 238157

I like your style, well done!
0BF1AAD8-296E-45B9-8E7F-158F3BA56037.jpeg
 
I use both seals on the bottom bearing, the original rubber ring and the seal included with the new bearings. There is a step on the bottom of the triple tree shaft for the bearing to sit on. The factory rubber seal sits under the bearing. The new seal provided snaps onto the bottom of the new bearing so doesn't take much space.

I have grease nipples installed on the steering necks of both my 650s so the necks are pumped full of grease. The bearings I got from MikesXS for the '78 didn't come with any seals so only the original rubber one is installed. That bike constantly oozes grease out of the bottom bearing. My '83 has the AllBalls bearings and the extra grease seal on the bottom. Much less grease oozes out from that set-up.
 
Awesome! This is the All Balls kit. I plan on doing exactly that. Especially the grease zerk. Thanks!
 
You should also install what's called a "grease saver". This is nothing more than a length of plastic hose. It fills most of the gap between the neck and the steering tube. Without it, it will take a lot of grease to fill the neck before it starts being forced into the bearings. All that grease is more prone to leaking out the bottom too .....

GreaseSaver.jpg


I don't recall the I.D. of the hose required but it's easy enough to figure out, and readily available at most hardware stores in bulk (by the foot). Cheap too, shouldn't cost you much more than a dollar or so.
 
Well, the old ball bearings were absolutely roached, rusty, dimpled, and dry! It's amazing that I couldn't feel that while riding until the forks were out and moved the lower by hand, then I could feel the definite clicks. Anyhoo, tapered set went in well! Ended up freezing the lower triple and races and everything worked out. Half-ass polished the uppers. Made a couple drivers from the old races that only required minimal taping to install. Installed grease zerk, both lower seals, and saver in the neck. Now for the question 😂, how tight is right for the stem nuts? I seem to remember 5twins saying tighten until assembled front end gently falls over? Is that right? I'm trying to so some more half ass polishing on those fork lowers in the meantime just to get the scabby old clear coat look gone.
 

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You want the steering tight enough that there's no movement - you can't feel a click - if you hold the lower ends of the forks and try to wiggle them. But they should move smoothly from full lock to full lock with minimal effort. As 5T says, with the front end assembled and wheel off the ground, the forks should just about fall to the side if nudged.
 
Well, the old ball bearings were absolutely roached, rusty, dimpled, and dry! It's amazing that I couldn't feel that while riding until the forks were out and moved the lower by hand, then I could feel the definite clicks. Anyhoo, tapered set went in well! Ended up freezing the lower triple and races and everything worked out. Half-ass polished the uppers. Made a couple drivers from the old races that only required minimal taping to install. Installed grease zerk, both lower seals, and saver in the neck. Now for the question 😂, how tight is right for the stem nuts? I seem to remember 5twins saying tighten until assembled front end gently falls over? Is that right? I'm trying to so some more half ass polishing on those fork lowers in the meantime just to get the scabby old clear coat look gone.
I've found that if you overtighten the tapered rollers slightly on initial installation, they'll be about perfect after a few miles of loosening up.... call it a "break-in" period if you will...
 
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Thanks for the help guys, bearings came out great! Don't get to test ride yet though as we're getting pounded with snow.....again!🥶 Took the opportunity to upgrade headlight, bucket, and turn signals. Jazzed up the fork tubes....assembled, (I'll never do that again!) 😂. Came out pretty cool.
 

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I suppose I should mention the notched nuts on the steering neck. They are made to go together a certain way. If you look at them closely, you'll see one side has a bevel around the I.D. and the other doesn't .....

StemNuts.jpg


They should be assembled with the bevel facing up on the bottom nut, bevel facing down on the top nut, or bevel to bevel. They tighten together more progressively like this. Also, this presents the flat side of the bottom nut down to preload the bearings better, and the flat side up on the top nut to better support the top triple tree.
 
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