After about two hours of hard riding, my handlebars can be pulled straight up about 1/4-3/8" and is slamming all over the place when I jump even the smallest of hills.

I know there are two grease points on this post, but haven't looked close enough to see which one causes this to slide up and down. The lower one is loose, so I have play in my steering, but does that cause the other symptom, too (being able to slide up and down)?

Thanks,
SnowDrift

 

Snow Drift,

The problem you have isn't the steering bushing, it's the rubber washer that goes between the steering bushing and the castlated nut holding the steering stem on. More than likely the rubber washer is gone. You can replace it with a steel washer. Remove the cotter pin on the steering shaft, remove the nut and washer and replace it with a steel washer (or two) to get rid of the play. The rubber washer is designed to absorb the shock from pulling up on the handlebars. Frankly, it's a bad design.

 

snowdrift

Mike is right that the rubber washer is causing the up and down effect. I replaced mine with a steel washer. While you are there, I would replace the plastic steering bushing with an aftermarket one from HPD. This will permanently fix the play in the steering as the plastic one will wear and cause some side to side movement. Post if you need instructions on how to do this.

 

Thanks, guys, for the info. I have side to side movement, as well, in the bushing and have been dreading putting in the new HPD bushing (although, I know it will be inevitable). If you don't mind, what is the best method to get to that old one without much hassle? I am guessing that drilling out the rivets will be the worst part of it, since it doesn't appear that there is any easy way to access it.

Thanks,
SnowDrift

 

You will need to drill out the rivets. You will also need to make bigger holes with a drill. My drill would not fit so I went to Sears and bought a $15 90° angle adapter. With the angle adapter I would say it should take 1 hour at the most.

 

Snow

You are right that drilling out the rivets is the hardest part. I took a chisel and chiselled out the rivets. As for the holes, I used a 90 angled drill adaptor to drill the hole out to 1/4 inch. You can get them at any hardware store for around $15. You have to remove the drill chuck head and put it on the adaptor, but that is pretty easy. Some people use a Dremel tool also. Hope this helps. You might try a search on "lower steering bushings" There used to be a ton of post on these.

 

No problem on the 90 degree adapter - I have one and I think it is small enough to get in there.

New question, though, I was just out looking at this thing, and I went to partsland.com to get a breakdown of parts. I see there are bushing, O-rings and spacers at the end with the castle nut. Which one do I substitute the steel washer in for? What about lubrication for this steel on steel application? Has anyone ever tried to put a grease zerk in the washer? By the way, what size washer?

I should have my CV boot for my wife's Scrambler Wednesday or Thursday - got that from gorillaaxle.com in Louisiana. If I like it, I thought I would just order another one to keep for a spare in case any of the other OEM ones go bad. They said my '99 and '00 take the same boot.

SnowDrift

 

Snowdrift

When you take the castle nut off, there should be at least one steel washer and a rubber washer. Remove the rubber washer and throw it as far as you can. Leave the O-Ring in there. As for lubrication, the existing grease zerk should push enough grease down to lube them. I greased it all up before I reassembled it though. It makes installation easier.

 

Would any of you guys be so nice as to let us know what exactly you have to do in order to restore the tight steering like when it was new?

I have a 99 SP500 with over 2400 miles--however I've had at least a half inch of play side to side on the steering column for over a year now.

I HAVE had the bushing replaced into the aluminum one. I can see that my rubber washer is worn, which explains the recent up and down movement.

What I want to eliminate is the side to side stuff.

I swear, if someone had a video or website with STEP BY STEP instructions on how to do this stuff, I'd pay whatever it was!!! Think about this!

I've always thought about making a SPortsman 500 repair/maintenence video.

Anyway, back to the steering column. Does the side to side movement also have to do with worn inner/outer tie rod ends?

Thanks as usual to you guys

 

pflueeb

If you have changed your lower steering stem bushing and still have the side to side play, most likely the outer tie rod ends are shot. Do you have the old style (has a grease zerk on the top) or the newer heim style (has a rubber boot on it and no grease zerk). If you have the old style, you can replace them with the new style and this will fix the majority of the problem you are having with the steering.