Steering Head - special tools cheap alternative

Good thing this popped up here today. Thinking of pulling my triples to get them powder coated. Already found that All Balls makes a tapered roller kit instead of the shitty round rollers that come stock.

I just compared the mt10 manual to my fz09 manual (I did the procedure on my fz09) and the setup looks almost identical. Reassembly torques are the same; 38 ft-lb to initially set the bearings, back it off, set final to 10 ft-lb. Install rubber o ring/washer, then the top lock nut finger tight, aligning the two nuts so that the lock washer can slip down and bridge the two together. Then the rest of the stuff gets installed beyond that.

I see the line of text you reference "Hold the lower ring nut..." for disassembly. Now if your steering stem was assembled correctly then the two nuts should not be jammed together, instead the top nut should only be finger tight. I suppose there could be a chance that it is not, and in that case they're advising to hold the lower nut so they can be separated and or don't just spin off together. I didn't need an extra holding tool to get the top nut off. I would have improvised if that were the case. Buying the terribly overpriced yamaha specialty tools not an option.

If I may suggest additional tips that will make the job much safer-
I had the bike almost fall off the floor jack while raising and lowering it trying to get shit to line up. It was *real* close to becoming a disaster, one kind where someone could get hurt.

After that close call I bought a $60 scissor jack from home depot. www.homedepot.com/p/STARK-USA-1100-lbs-W-Deck-Scissor-Lift-Jack-Motorcycle-Center-Hoist-Stand-for-Bike-ATV-in-Blue-65127/320573518?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US

I guess if I'd taken the forks completely off (I was just greasing the bearings at the time) then it would have been better but still, this little jack is 1000 times more stable than a floor jack or suspending the whole bike from the rafters. That shit is sketchy. The little scissor jack works perfect just under the headers, they supported just fine no dents nothing. Might be a good idea to safety tether the bike to a rafter or something too. You know how it goes when we start wrastling around on stuff.

I only did a re-greasing of the bearings, didn't replace the bearings & races.

At the moment, I am completely stuck trying to remove the lower steering head race from the frame. As per the service manual, you should be able to remove with a long rod and a hammer, by banging on the lip of the race. Unfortunately, the lower race doesn't have any lip that I could hit with a rod to remove the race from the backet. It is so much in line with the bracket, that I barely can feel the end of the race with my finger.

Would be happy to hear any wild ideas how to remove it.




P.S. I got myself Motion Pro Steering Head Race Puller, which unfortunately was just a bit too small to do the job by a few mm.

Yes, I get how it works in theory. Seen every video on youtube i could find, at this point

Problem for me is, that there is no lip on the race that i can tap on. It's like one smooth surface. You can see the gap between the race and the bracket but if i put my finger on it, it is like it's not existing.

Well that is what that Motion Pro tool was supposed to do for me but unfortunately, their race puller was not big enough.

I also tried to use one of those cheap Amazon tools:


it helped me to remove the top race, because it could grip on the lip of it.


Unfortunately lack of lip on bottom race means, it just falls out after a few bangs.

Ah yes, I've got a similar tool and tried to use on this job. It's called Park Tool RT-2. Same concept as the one you've suggested.

Long story short, this tool does not work on this bike  

This is because, the race sits at the bottom of the steering shaft.
Diameter of the shaft at the very bottom / top, where the race sits, differs from the rest 95% of the steering shaft.
Place where the diameter of the shaft changes is quite abrupt creating a small corner, quite close to the race, which gets in the way of the tool you've mentioned.
If the shaft diameter was universal this tool would most likely help me.


Anyhow, now i have an idea is to use dremel tool, to carefully carve out two ledges on both side of the race. 
I should be able to then use a classic method of long rod and a hammer, to force the race out of the bracket. Wishe me luck lol!