Front Fork Bearings - HELP...1983 Honda Big Red 200e

[RedArrow10]

Holy Crap! I just removed the front fork from my 1983 Big Red and the bottom bearings fell all over the ground. The top ones stayed in place for the most part and from what I can tell I counted 20 top ball bearings. After about 30 minutes of crawling on my hands and knees around my garage I came up with 20 more ball bearins.

Can anyone tell me if this is the correct amount of ball bearings for the top (20) and for the bottom (20)? I should have read my newly purchased from ebay shop manual more closely. I just figured they would be a sealed bearings.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the bearings back in when I finish painting the fork? It just seems like a very frustrating task. Any tips, tricks, suggestions, or anyone know of aftermarked sealed bearings that will work?

Thanks.

[mtsnieg]

Welcome to the board. There shouls be the same amount of balls on the bottom as the top. For some reason I thought there were 21 on each, but i'm not positive. You could look up the schematic on Bikebandit and find out. As for puttin em back in, I apply a generous amount of heavy grease to the races and stick the balls in:rolleyes:. The grease should hold em in if your nice and careful.

[RedArrow10]

I found in the shop manual that there are 21 bearings on the top and 21 bearings on the bottom. I found the other two. But I also found an aftermarket sealed bearing kit on ebay so I purchased it. I figured the $20 was worth not having the headache of trying to put all 42 loose bearings back in the forks.

[bobotech]

it really is easy to do. You jsut get some standard wheel bearing grease in a tin. Clean off the races that are in there now and glob some grease in the race groove. Then put the balls in place and then glob some more grease over the bearings. I did the lower first. Then insert the fork into the frame and I used a cinder block under the tubes to keep the fork in place so it wouldn't fall out of the steering stem. Then I globbed more grease over the top race, put the bearings in the grease and covered them with a bit more grease. Then put the grease cup over that and tighten down the stem nut.

Easy peasy.

i bet it will be more of a pain in the ass to try to get the races out to use sealed bearings than to get a little messy with some grease. The grease really does hold the lower bearings firm enough so that you can put the fork in place without them falling out. Easier to do then to describe.

Also just go to the local bearing supply shop and buy new bearings. Cost 10 cents a peice for brand new bearings. I bought 25 for the bottom and 35 for the top (mine were different on the top and bottom).

[RedArrow10]

I received the new aftermarket sealed bearings which I purchased on ebay. The original races came out very easily and the new one went in just as easy. I put the fork back togeather and it works fine. So, if anyone looses any of the loose ball bearings, like I did, the sealed bearing kit available on ebay works great.

[Dirtcrasher]

Why am I thinking 18 and 18?? maybe thats the 200 and 350X?? Or I'm just stupid....

Glad you got it done :beer