Tighten Front Stem

[Jruby38]

I was geting a little wobble when I took my hand off the bars on desell.  I jacked up the bike and was able to tighten the stem with a long screwdriver inserted between the headlight and bars. I now have a little resistence and no more wobble. Easy Fix.

[hubcapsc]

I wonder if you turned 3 or 6?



-Mike

[Jruby38]

six,  Screwdriver on the notch and a little hammer hit.

[Ricky-D]

No 6 is the jam nut and does not change the pinch!

Tightening the bearings in the steering stem, attempting to alter the handling is fraught with danger.

If the setup was/is still original there should be no need for adjustment normally.

There are many, many other possible reasons for wobble with the steering stem bearings coming far down on the list.

Now this all has to be tempered with some reason, if the bearings have been previously messed with.

That is why I always profess caution when discussion revolves around screwing with the steering stem bearings.

They should not be disturbed unless 100% of the problem directly points to the bearings being the problem.

***

[Chrisj CMA]

I was geting a little wobble when I took my hand off the bars on desell.  I jacked up the bike and was able to tighten the stem with a long screwdriver inserted between the headlight and bars. I now have a little resistence and no more wobble. Easy Fix.

You should jack up the front end of the bike and see if the forks (starting from straight ahead) will glide all the way hard over and bounce off the stop then, on its own glide all the way back to the other stop with just one gental push.  If not, the bearing is too tight

It is possible that something else was causing a slight wobble and now you sucessfully masked the original problem.

[Blackduck]

Cut the guy some slack, you don't know the history of his ride!
Possible has hard previous work done on it and not to spec.
If it has cured his problem and not caused any binding in  the operation of lock to lock steering then I cannot see a problem.
Would not be the first set of bearings I have seen that needed a lttle snug up.

[Patrick]

As mentioned,,  jack the front end up.. Work the bars from stop to stop as mentioned and make sure they work freely and smoothly.. If you feel and roughness or 'notchiness' [ another technical term] then the bearings are defective..
Then,, using a good spring scale,, hook it to one fork and see what it takes to get the forks starting to turn.. It should in the 1.75- 2.25# range.. In other words,, the bearings need a slight pre-load.. The bearings would have to be really loose to wobble.. Too tight and the front end will 'hunt' like crazy.. If an adjustment is called for,, the top clamp needs to come off to get at the stem nuts..

[Ricky-D]

It sounds as if roadwarrior is suggesting all that's needed is a sledge and chisel to make things right, saying that if it feels fixed, it is!

Motorcycle manufacturers removed all the steering dampers due to the inherent dangers in employing them.

Tightening down the steering stem bearings in such a way (as a damper does), is very dangerous.

As posted, the cause of the problem may still exist, the unintended consequences could be disastrous.

***

[Patrick]

I guess I'm missing something, again.. Roadwarrior ??

What may have happened is that the inner lock tabs could have been on the 'loose' side of the slot and both nuts were turned a bit.. The inner tabs could be missing/broken off,, or the lock ring missing completely,, stranger things have happened,, allowing both to turn.. You never know what happens when something has been worked on,, I have boxes of 'extra parts'..