Hey guys, I think I might have a loose stearing head. I looked it up in the ole' precious service manual and it doesn't look too hard.

I do have a couple of questions though:

1). Does anyone have the part # for the tool to tighten the two locknuts? I heard you could get it through parts unlimited (I saw it in another thread but it was an '02).

2). Do I need to repack the bearings? If so, can someone give me some instructions?

Cheers! :thumbup

Nobody knows? :confused:

See, now if I had posted a pic of my girl lying naked of over the handlebars :boobies I'd have a hundred replies by now... wtf? Come on people, help a fella out :yesnod

You want a Kowa universal pin spanner wrench (http://www.kowatools.com/cgi-bin/miva?Merchant2/merchant.mv+Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AKS2000&Product_Code=031003L&Category_Code=SPEC+WRENCH).

You probably don't need to repack the bearings....

Scott

speed, put your bike on the sidestand and put a jack under the header to lift uo the front wheel, the wheel should slowly fall over, if it falls quckly the head is loose.:thumbup
where's the pic you were talking about:jump

jess

Originally posted by slow-jess
speed, put your bike on the sidestand and put a jack under the header to lift uo the front wheel, the wheel should slowly fall over, if it falls quckly the head is loose.Define "slowly" and define "quickly". That method only works well when someone that has experience with it uses it. Also, the clutch and throttle cables can affect the speed at which the fork assembly falls to one side. And don't forget to remove the steering damper if one is present.

Scott

Wtf? I replied earlier when I was at work... I guess it didn't go through.

Anyways, Winders thanks a lot for the link. I'll be sure to pick one of those up. It looks like you can use a torque wrench with it. Any special setup needed so it torque's correctly?

Also, why do they tell you to torque the bottom nut twice (the second time less than the first)?

Not sure about that test though. I might just take it apart and check how tight it is anyway. I haven't done it before (now about 12K miles) so it should probably be done anyway.

slow-jess: Nice try... I ain't posting a pic of my girl naked! Her body is for my eyes only :finger

Cheers guys!

Winders thanks a lot for the link. I'll be sure to pick one of those up. It looks like you can use a torque wrench with it. Any special setup needed so it torque's correctly?You're welcome!

Yes, you can use the wrench with a torque wrench. You don't need to do anything special to get it to torque accurately enough. There will be some error (more torque), but not enough to get excited about.

Also, why do they tell you to torque the bottom nut twice (the second time less than the first)?The first torquing is to make sure the everything seats properly. The second is to set the proper torque.

Scott

- slowly, as in let go, one one second, it stops, fast is simply let go, flop. the tire should be just off the ground so a shallow angle. the cables are factored into this method.

Winders: Thanks man! I'll order one right now :)

Slow-jess: Cheers. That's a neat trick, I'll give that a try too.

Thanks for the help!

You torque new bearings twice, first time to seat them properly, second time is the real deal to spec.

Old timers were prone to adjust by feel. Tighten until you get a low speed wander (the steering is too tight to react to minor road imperfections) and then back off a hair. I have actually had to do this on some bikes when torqueing to spec. caused handling issues.

Mike

Hey fellas, just to double check: the front wheel does have to be off the ground right? Does it need to be hanging free ie. lift from the steering stem, or is lifting from the forks okay?

(My last question on this, I promise ;) )

Cheers!

to test, yes should be off the ground, to tighten, no I have the front on the ground for the final tightening, it makes everything more stable.:thumbup

Great, thank you sir! :thumbup

SpdKlzU,

The steering head bearings should be tightened with the front end off the ground. There steering head should be supporting zero weight.

Scott

Oh, I see... I get a lot of conflicting info on here sometimes :confused:

Thanks Winders :)

speed, it doesn't really matter how you do it as long as the product is the same, I do it all the time because the roads are so bad here they beat the hell out of your bike. I think winders and I are agreed that to set the pressure on the bearings you have the wheel up, otherwise you won't be able to tell how tight to go! after that its up to you.:thumbup jess

speed, in a feeble attempt at freeing up some cash to buy tires I have had to start buying the cheaper crack and went to sniffing a lower grade of gas( don't worry, I don't put it in my bike) or maybe when I hear of a clicking in the headset, my headset clicks off! I reread my replies on this post, I can discern more from oatmeal than that! Here's how I do it,( not the bit on oatmeal)
1) loosen off pinch bolts for the triple clamp, and remove center nut, don't loosen the bolts that go through the triple to the clipon
2) slide the top triple up untill you have room to adjust the headset ring, the clipons can give you more space
3) jack the bike up onto the sidestand
4) set pressure on bearings until it passes my test ( I just use a preload adjustment wrench I modified)
5) lower bike down onto the tire and put everything back, the bike is more stable again
6) test again
I'm off to rehab, see ya!:thumbup