1987 K75S Steering Head Inspection

[kentuvman]

Hi everyone - I'm waiting on my new "C" handlebars from Bob's and the bike is somewhat disassembled due to all the maintenance I've been doing.

Now I stumble upn chapter 10 in my Clymers book - Front Suspension and Steering. . .

I plan to change the front fork oil and am now wondering if I should take the steering head system apart and inspect the upper and lower steering bearings.
I probably should so I have the peace of mind when hitting the road on my 21 year old bike BUT the lazy part of me says do I really want to remove the fairings, instrument cluster, front wheel ad nauseum.

I'd appreciate your suggestions

Thank You,

KT:bikes

[PGlaves]

Hi everyone - I'm waiting on my new "C" handlebars from Bob's and the bike is somewhat disassembled due to all the maintenance I've been doing.

Now I stumble upn chapter 10 in my Clymers book - Front Suspension and Steering. . .

I plan to change the front fork oil and am now wondering if I should take the steering head system apart and inspect the upper and lower steering bearings.
I probably should so I have the peace of mind when hitting the road on my 21 year old bike BUT the lazy part of me says do I really want to remove the fairings, instrument cluster, front wheel ad nauseum.

I'd appreciate your suggestions

Thank You,

KT:bikes

I'll offer a few bits of wisdom here:

1. When I was run over on my K75 with 370,000 miles on the bike it still had the original steering head bearings in good condition.

2. The key to long life is keeping them adjusted so they don't get loose and hammer.

3. New grease every 100,000 miles or so is helpful.

4. If you go to the trouble to remove everything to get them all the way out then replace them proactively because getting to them is 90% of the work on a fully faired model. On my K75T I just dropped the steering stem down about 1 inch when I added new grease to the rollers. Tough to do on a faired bike.

[kentuvman]

Thank You, Paul - the movement from left to right is smooth so I'm gonna just leave it alone.