Steering Stem Torque and retorque

[mello dude]

I just installed new bearings in the head, and now doing the torque and retorque per manual. The spec says do the 30 ft-lbs to seat and then the retorque at 9 ft-lbs or 12 ft-lbs on a std.

Did the search here, but still have concerens. I did the very same job recently on my VFR and with the linear bearings, it doesnt take much final torque at all to finish the job and have the stem move freely. (VFR, I used about 4 ft-lbs, works great)

On the Valk, I did the seating no sweat, and then going for final torque ---  even at the 9 ft-lbs, my belly button says that is still too much.
- Since the Valk is a fat arse bike, does it get looser feel as you add forks/wheel and other gear? Head scratching a bit, beween the too loose and too tight.

Thanks  

[Valker]

I thought the same when I did mine. I followed the manual, and all has been well.

[Paladin528]

Honda Engineers are pretty smart fellas.  believe them.

[mello dude]

Honda Engineers are pretty smart fellas.  believe them.

Sometimes I do and sometimes I dont.

[da prez]

  You have a ball and taper bearing. The torque seats the taper. Swivel the triple tree when torqueing. This allows the taper bearing to seat. Letting off the torque and re torqueing to the final set point will give you the proper pressure for the ball bearings. When doing the torque (re peat) , swivel the triple tree. The bearing will then crawl into position. The over torque method has been around for quite a while. If you do not swivel the tree during torqueing , the bearings will be loose.  This method applies to most all tapered bearings.

                                                     da prez

[Daniel Meyer]

I've never met a bike that is more picky about steering stem bearing quality and torque. The manual is dead on for this.

[mello dude]

I've never met a bike that is more picky about steering stem bearing quality and torque. The manual is dead on for this.

That's an interesting point -- I did buy OEM bearings for this job.... - Still screwing with this...

(My VFR I did the All Balls thing)