Restoring 1976 DT250, first thing I start to reassemble the steering head and the ALL Balls tapered bearings kit appear not to be the right size. The top race tapped in place sits above the steering head, the bottom seal doesn't seam to fit over the boss on the bottom of the triple tree stem. Is this right? I double checked part numbers with All balls the website said it was correct part#...22-1008 Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Bill

Almost every time I have replaced ball bearing type steering stem bearings with tapered ones the top and bottom triple trees are about an extra 1/8 inch apart. I have added an additional o ring or rubber washer around the fork tubes on top of or below the headlight mounting ears to compensate.

I've never tried to install on your specific year/model... but I've had the same issue on other Yamahas.

Last time I used just the lower and kept the upper stock... since then I just use the ball bearings... you can buy high quality replacement 3/16" and 1/4" balls pretty cheap.... and Yamaha still sells the races if the originals are damaged.

Thanks!

I agree with Jay and Mark. I used tapered rollers for my 360A, essentially same/very similar to your DT250. While I could fit the upper race and even get the top triple clamp installed, the castle nut holding the top triple clamp had minimal threads left. That made me uncomfortable, so I replaced the top set with new cup-and-cone bits. Left the bottom taper alone, as I saw no spacing discrepancy at that end.

But there must have been at least some difference, as I needed to add an additional O-ring to the stack of pieces for the headlamp brackets, otherwise they were floppy. In the end I can report that all seems well with the front end with that setup.

As an aside, I was able to install a set of bronze swingarm bushings intended for an RD350 in the swingarm. OD/ID no differences, length discrepancy minimal. You cannot see them in the photo as the covers are in place. The white plastic arm protection piece is from a '77 mono-shock 250.

Given the minimal distance these ball bearings actually travel in real life use, the original style balls, well greased, seem to provided more than enough performance for the application. I have a couple sets of the tapers on the shelf I will probably use on some bike in the future, more because I can than I think I need to.

I will add that this is an area of maintenance that every 40+ year old bike should have checked. Especially if the steering feels “notchy” in use. Every one I have taken apart still had the mostly dried out factory grease in the form of dust in there.

Thanks! The original races are fine, just gonna buy some stainless ball bearings from Amazon!

They are the same size as pushbike wheel bearings I took 1 of each size to the local pushbike shop and they just gave them too me for free

Free! Gotta love that!