Forza 300 head bearings notchy.

[Deleted User 407]

I had my first yearly service done on my Forza 300 ( 5000 miles) done today and the garage noted that i had slightly notchy head bearings. I know this is probably due to the amount of pot holes and speed humps in the Surrey area but does anyone think it is worth trying to get Honda to foot the bill under warranty?
If not i could ride around , find a nice pothole to go down take a picture and try and claim it off a local council.

[Data]

If the bike is still under warranty and about a year old, I'd definitely try to get Honda to warranty the job. They should as they are built to take a pounding. The head bearing should last a lot longer than that even if the roads are very bumpy. My near 5yr old Vespa gts300 gets a right old pounding over the bumps in my area and the bike's steering is fine, as has been the case for all my bikes. It's probably that your bearings didn't get enough grease at the factory. I've seen that many times on all makes of bike.

[steve_h80]

If you've been riding through potholes and over speed bumps at speed that'll explain it, but you might get lucky with a claim under the Honda warranty at 5k miles, don't admit you ride it like a motocrosser.
I doubt the council will pay up without a high court injunction, if they did they would be opening the door to endless claims for damaged steering and suspension components. And then our taxes would go up to pay for it (cos life's a bugger like that).
They won't heal on there own and the steering will get worse until you hate the bike and/or fall off. If it's any consolation new steering head bearing are up there with new tyres for making life wonderful again.

[roadster]

The usual problem with head bearings is that the factory tends to pre-load them a bit tight and then the rollers are trapped in a fixed position rather than spreading the wear by floating to random positions. This isn't helped if poor quality grease is used but the days when Honda used sticky red jelly so that the balls stayed in place during assembly have long since gone. There is a myth that caged taper roller bearings can be assembled with pre-load in this application but that is incorrect because, unlike a wheel bearing, there is no continuous rotation. The notorious Piaggio MP3 notch problem was caused by just that.
Regarding damage caused by potholes etc. I had no luck in claiming for a damaged tyre because the council said that unless the hole had previously been reported they ( read "their insurers" ) did not consider themselves negligent. However they did make a fairly major repair all along the road in question shortly afterwards.

[marval]

When I took my previous PCX for its on year service, went to collect it and the dealer said the steering head bearings need replacing, we'll order the part and rebook it, it is a warranty job. So all done with no fuss.
Obviously don't know if there was a faulty batch of course but in any event I would press the dealer to ask Honda to cover it.

[MrGrumpy]

I'm NOT a mechanic! But would pot holes / bumps etc be responsible for 'notchy' head bearings? To (ignorant) me, this sounds like premature wear, rather than 'impact' damage from a bad road. As others have said, this does sound like a warranty job, unless you've done something weird to them!

[Deleted User 407]

So i contacted Honda who told me to contact my dealer in regards to a warranty claim. Today i phoned my dealer who nOtified me from the service about the problem who then said they will look at it at the next service.I have done 5300 miles and i am guessing next service is at 8000 miles which will only be in about 4 months time.Another bloody service due when i have only had one the other day( PCP DEALS FOR YOU).
I then said to the dealer that the problem might be exaggerated by then which he said they will look at the next service.I am sure they are doing this so i get another service then they can try and get the money out of Honda again which will mean another bloody day off work again if Honda agree to the warranty work.
I might contact Honda again who might contact the dealer to tell them to put in a claim now.

[roadster]

I'm NOT a mechanic! But would pot holes / bumps etc be responsible for 'notchy' head bearings? To (ignorant) me, this sounds like premature wear, rather than 'impact' damage from a bad road. As others have said, this does sound like a warranty job, unless you've done something weird to them!

Quite right. Dents are only formed at one particular spot on the race if there is insufficient play (adjustment too tight on assembly) or in very rare cases if the bearing race is improperly hardened during manufacture. Even lack of lubrication would not cause this at such a low mileage.

[Deleted User 407]

After getting back to my dealer he is still still saying that they will look at the next service.Shoud I contact Honda and ask them to demand my dealer calls it back in to claim or warranty or today having been emailed a Honda survey about my dealer give them a bad review.

[MrGrumpy]

Hmmm...tricky question. I guess that the dealer might legitimately feel that whilst there's a problem, its not currently serious enough to affect safety or rider feel, and won't develop to be significant before the next service - and of course, you might well not come back for your the next service, so problem solved! Do you feel anything amiss with the head bearings? On the other hand, if there is a problem, I'd want it fixed ASAP. It might be worth talking to Honda to get their view, though in my experience (of Yamaha), the people on the end of the customer service phones aren't that clued up.