Adjusting the head bearings- advice sought

Ok job done.
I seated the underside race with a large socket that had a shoulder on it. Don't know the size but it was 3/4" drive. I put the extension through the inside and used the backside of the socket to press against the race. Then bfh to drive er home nice and flush. Feeler gage confirmed no gap.

The top race I used another socket in a similar way.

For the bearing and race combo to get driven onto the fork steerer I used the factory one but took a Dremel to it to create a split. Then a piece of PVC atop that with the bfh.

I tightened the first nut a whole bunch to make sure everything was seated right. Rotated it lock to lock a bunch then backed it off and repeated.

>>>For final tension I brought the nut down hand tight and then turned it 1/4 turn more with a hook spanner (screwdriver and hammer would work too).

I checked the tension by hand and it felt like 8-10 lbs of tension to turn pulling on the fork leg/steerer crown.

Mind you this is with All Balls bearings. Not OEM ball bearings.

Test ride went great. No wandering indicating an over-tight bearing. Turn-in felt smooth, it was starting to feel really jerky the last several hundred miles on the old bearings along with the intermittent knock under heavy braking.

Before the test ride the heavily packed with grease bearings were heavy-ish to turn the steering (bike on ctr stand). Now after 10 miles of S-turns, heavy braking, etc the steering takes about 5lbs or less to turn at the handlebar end.

Thanks so much for all the help guys- especially TN Rabbit who took the time to walk me through it. Saved myself 450 in dealership labor cost and know it was done right!


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Feels good to wrench on your bike & know it's done right, doesn't it?

 

I have used a shop tool and a torque wrench once only to have it too tight. I trust my "feel" and experience to do it. You can screw it up and then you have to remove the top tripple because you can't get to the castle nut thing with a drift. Bear in mind other manufacturers make it easier to get to them. If you get the front wheel off the ground, you should be able to center it up, and basically use your pinky finger to let the front end/wheel, flop to the side. Obviously when you ride the bike, you should'nt hear a clunking noise from the front end. Too tight would show itself doing the above drill too. Anyway, if you want something done right sometimes, you gota just do it yourself. :thumbsup: Go Heat!

 

Hook spanner is titz for this yab btw...

 

I tend to go by the "until it feels right" method when adjusting the bearings. Adjust, ride the bike, brake as hard as humanly possible, and re-adjust until the front suspension clunk goes away. You'll have to adjust them a couple of times over the first 1k or so as they break in, past that shouldn't have to very much at all.

 

I was hoping to have them set the first time... Being roller bearings. But I have no prior experience.

It's not really a big deal anyway. I already had the crown off to reroute the control wires/electrics.



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Well I definitely have to loosen them! When I went back in to move some cables, I tightened up the second or intermediary nut on top of the safety washer.

I had read conflicting things- some say to snug the second nut, some say leave a gap of .020 so the top fork brace when torqued is isolated from the bottom nut.

Factory manual says to turn it no more than 1/4 turn to align the notches. It's not clear because it would only take a few degrees to meet the next notch so the retainer tabs line up.

I decided to snug it and turned the second nut 2-3 notches past finger tight.

Now the bike wanders below 45mph pretty bad. Feels like overinflated tires!

What should I do? Back off the second nut and leave it just beyond finger tight or back off the first nut and then snug up to it with the second?

Can hardly believe that sandwiching the first nut with the second made that much difference unless the first nut walked down as I tightened the second. Oy!




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It shouldn't be that sensitive....?

 

Yeah, mine was that way. When I tightened up the top nut, it tightened up the lower one. I think it's just the clearance in the threads, or it could have moved a bit when snugged down. But I had to back off the lower one when I tightened the upper one.

 

Any idea how much to back off the lower? I figure I'll try a bit less than a quarter of a turn.


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Shoot, I backed mine probably an 1/8th of a turn. It took very little movement.

 

You need to have the front wheel off the ground when your doing this, its a feel thing.

 

I'll emphasize the feel for drag more than I had been thanks. I saw one YouTube video on another model bike. The wrench was saying with just a little push it should basically fall off to one side. I'll take that to heart now that the grease is worked in a bit. Amazing what a little too much tension will do to the feel of the bike.


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Basically take your pinky finger and it shoud flop to the side. You could use your "willy" too, its that low effert where you won't get grease or a dent on it ound:

:loco:

 

Finding it difficult to get the bearing tension in the sweet spot, had it all done but the steering felt tight and heavy, loosened it up a bit now and it feels a bit too bloody loose now!! suppose it's better on the loose side, I torqued the centre stem nut down to 103nm.

 

You really shouldn't just back it off and leave it. Back it off and re-torque it until you get the tension you want (slight drag, pinky finger, whatever), then you should be OK.

 

sometimes, tightening the top nut changes the setting below a small amount.