Early Tonti steering stem assembly questions

[Matt Story]

I'm reassembling my 850-T steering spindle.  Took it apart long ago.  Lost my copious dis-assembly pictures.

My new taper bearings came with some axial seals.  They are essentially steel washers with rubber seal ribs near the OD.  They sandwich on the spindle against the inner race.  The rubber lips drag under slight compression on the axial edge of the outer race.  They look like the ones in this ebay ad.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/All-Balls-Steering-Bearing-Kit-for-Moto-Guzzi-850-T-1973-1974/132906000255?hash=item1ef1d09f7f:g:HwkAAOSwiwZcNOc0

Anyone have experience with using these style seals for a steering stem?  To me these seam like a good idea.  They would only add maybe 1mm to the stack up of the spindle and would improve the sealing to these bearings which are very poorly sealed as standard.  Is there any reason not to use them?  Will they noticeably change the steering feel?

Thanks

[jwinwi]

I would not use the seals since the original application was not designed for them. As long as you properly pack the bearings with grease and then check/repack them in 50K miles or 10 years or so you'll be fine. 

[jacksonracingcomau]

I can see no reason to not but I also repack and spin bearing every couple of front tyres, along with fork service, wheel bearings , brake fluid etc I doubt this would change as steering bearings do not rotate, only turn a few degrees, the wear is always on same place, rotating works for me. YMMV
More seal cannot hurt, esp if in dusty environment.
But
The question is only whether to keep top hat spacer and orig rubber seal under bottom bearing or not
Don’t have them out but measurement would tell if both possible
I usually replace that rubber with new bearings, seems like no need with these bearings

[Tom H]

FWIW: I got a set of bearings for my Loop, it came with a set of seals that may be the same as yours. I did add them to my Loop with no ill affects handling wise. The only issue I did have was that it made the bearing stack just a bit longer. With the way the Loop upper triple clamp goes together, it was a tad long for the outer lock nut to sit where it needed to be. I ground about 2mm off the nut and the upper clamp fit fine.

I forgot to mention, the rubber lip of the seal rubs the inside of the goose neck at least on my Loop

I would use the seals if there is not an issue of the stack being too long.

Tom

[Matt Story]

I will go ahead and use the improved seals along with the balance of stock equipment.  I noticed that steering stem bearings sold for many bikes include these seal washers.  If there were a problem, it would be known - I think.  I don't see any issues with an additional mm in the stack up for the 850-T steering spindle.

Thanks for the input

[Matt Story]

So much for thoughtfulness and planning.  My bearings were a very tight fit on the spindle, so I polished the spindle a thou or less (checking with mics).  Chilled the shaft in my freezer down to -20F and heated the bearing in my 3D printer to 210F.  Bearing slipped on w/o a catch and is locked at common temps.

The problem is that I forgot to put the seal in the stack before assembly.  Oh well, it will stay that way.  Too difficult to remove the last one.