How do you fit a bearing to the steering stem bottom of an earls fork when mounting it onto a 78 R100 ? The top bearing will fit , right?
What bearing "numbers" will meld the bottom of the earls stem to the bottom of the R100 frame? The earls stem is brazed into the fork head which is larger than the R100 bearing. Pressing out the stem is no an option, I guess. So, how do you make it fit? I don't really want to just buy bearings that I have not held in my hand first, even though I have heard that there are bearings that will do the job. Is the lower still a ball bearing and the upper a tapered bearing; that does not seem right.
Do you have to make modifications to frame? or earls?
I installed an Earles fork assembly on my '73 LWB /5 with no problems. i bought a set of new stock /5 bearings and put them on the Earles stem and they slipped right into my /5 head. It is a'56 earles fork setup.
I know some people have problems with the bearings fitting...AFAIK, the upper and lower bearing sets are identical. the ends of of the earles stem has an enlarged area, that requires the bearing race to be heated [sometimes] before tapping up into the head.
make sure the bearings fit the head and the stem before trying.
there is an optional bearing set that will fit to make the conversion.has a larger inner bearing size to fit the smaller earles stem. mine matched up perfect.
Hey there, Bob. My pld PC died and I lost ALL data, like your address. We have discussed the earls before but yours must be different than mine.
The stem is the same size on the earls as the R100. The difference is the bottom of the earks tree has a "collar", a step that is a greater diameter than the rest of the stem originally for ball bearing. To do what you describe, the bottom bearing would be on top of the collar. The brazing can be seen where the two sizes meet. The stem is fitted like a sweated pipe joint. Did your bearings rest atop of the "collar"? The standard R-steering bearing number by micro-fiche is 28x52x16, but I cannot find the old earls ball bearing number, only "komplettsatz" is in micro-fiche for /2 steering bearing.
I forgot to add that the "collar" measures 34mm. This tells me theat the hole in the re-fit bearing has to be 34mm, too, which seems to not leave enough room for the 52mm race put into the bike head. Clear as mud , eh.
the bearing race has to be forced down over the raised part on the bottom of the earles shaft. mine is the same way.
you can see the shoulders just below the top threads and on the bottom of the shaft. the stock bearings go on with a little pesuasion..which is normal so they dont spin.
use a piece of PVC pipe or water pipe the same dia as the race sides to set it firmly down on the bottom.
put the lower bearing assembly down on the shaft first, then insert the shaft up into the steering head. after it is in, install the upper bearing asembly the same way, using a pipe to seat it evenly. then the large nuts.
Thanks for the pics. I will send you a pic of mine. It looks as though someone removed the original stem and replaced it with the solid one that you have now. Yes , I want mine to look like that, but with hole through it for dampner rod.
I'm not up on attaching the pic file so I will send it to your address. Maybe you can send it in to the forum. Others might be interested too.
Hi
I have bmw earles forks on my 1978 r80 I'v a record somwhere of the bearing numbers found...... them wow!! The markings say FAG 3:20.28 X TB top and bottom and the spindal is standard.
hope this helps. I've also got a 15" car wheel stopped by two mini cooper calipers the wheel is by EML the discs are Triumph and last week I popped over to Hagons who made me up some custom dampers and all is now well. Keep scratching your head and asking questions and most things can be done.
George
