Hi everyone, looking for a little help here, Im in a winter project doing up a 1979 spada, ive just taken the top yoke off the stearing head, the top bearings are quite visable and look dry of any grease, no doubt the bottom ones are the same, I would like to remove the bottom yoke now but before belting seven shades out of the visible stem that potrudes the frame at the top is there a special way of getting this apart ? Thanks for any response.
I’m thinking that if you have the top yoke and any of the threaded fasteners off of the steerer tube then the rest should drop out … balls everywhere. Either there is another nut on the tube that you’ve missed or it needs a tap.
Ditto what he said, apart that I thought the SP has taper rollers, so you shouldn’t loose your balls.
A rawhide or rubber mallet is preferable for giving it a good beating.
Well, i was expecting it to all fall apart but it isnt falling apart, and ive given it some hefty wacks with a wooden mallet, nothing happened so i used a hammer resisting, the seven bales of you know what bit. to no avail, didnt budge, and yes there arnt any balls in there but rollers, and ive not left any nuts undone, give it another go tomorrow.
I assume you have the fork legs out and the top yoke off, you then should be able to see the top of the taper bearing. After that it should drive out fairly easily.
Mine needed a sledgehammer to get it out. Just to start it moving only took 2 or 3 blows. A copper mallet might have done just as well, but I didn’t have one to hand at the time. Obviously you need to support the frame very securely and protect the top of the stem.
Ian
I guess there has been some corrosion at work there.
Bearings on my T3 ‘Blue’ (yes they were tapered type) were horrible but still came apart OK. I often have to cut the inner that sits against the bottom yoke after disassembly is all.
Thanks all for your replies, got it apart, espesially after hearing about the use of a sledgehamer, thats just the inspiration i needed to get stuck in and give it some welly, which i did after suporting the frame and using a block of wood and 16oz hammer, there was absolutly no grease on these bearings and surfing around on the web i came across a blog on a forum, aparantly Guzzi had a bit of an issue at one time about there stearing head bearings, Guiseppi hadnt been greasing them, but nobody could get anywhere with Guzzi about this, they just turned round and said they should have been greased by the dealerships on the 10 or 15k service, hopefully Guiseppi has retired long ago and maybe there getting greased these days. Cheers all.
Good to hear you have it sorted.
From what I have read, the newer Guzzi’s are terrible for the lack of grease, head bearings and rear suspension linkages all leave the factory dry. Most older bikes had plenty in and most have been serviced by their owners in the past 40 years.