Friend David is a high school teacher and had a two-week Christmas break. I had promised him that I'd assist him in replacing the steering stem bearings in his 1978 R100/7. Right, it's not an R65 but the bearings and the procedure are the same... after you clear all the bits off the front of that Slash 7.
One of the fork leg top nuts was easy enough with a 32mm socket on a cheater bar. Naturally, the other nut required an air impact before it came free. One quick
brrrupppp was all it took.
Having previously replaced the bearings in one of my R65s, the Cycle Works tools were again very helpful in removing the lower bearing and the outer races.
http://www.cycleworks.net/ Both upper and lower bearings were badly brinelled due to over-tightening and lack of grease. The damage created a seriously 'notchy' steering.
One of the old outer races was used to seat the new race parts. Carefully position the new races 'square' to the head stock and then drive them into position; frequently checking for correct alignment.
Here's Dave about to pinch his finger between the new race, old race and mallet.
Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark.
Dave did well learning the oldskool way of greasing new bearings before installation. He had to spend some time enjoying the smooth movement of the stem before replacing all the remaining parts n' pieces.
Flushing out the fork lowers and adding fresh fork oil prior to refitting the legs is Dave's next chore.
