Steering Head Detented

[KIC]

I just had a thought... when I put my forks back into my 89, when I slid the forks up, a wire or cable got caught in the bottom behind the forks. I only found it by accident. The wire was tight and I actually had a little problem getting the forks up around it.

 

Had I not found it by accident, it would not have let my forks slide totally up and seat correctly.

 

Just a thought to double check down below and make sure nothing is keeping the bottom from seating correctly.

[GaryZ]

OK ladies and germs, I may have figured out the front end problem; Bad head shake when I let go of the bars and unstable feeling when turning, especially if there are bumps.

 

I have tightened the steering bearings 4 times and they seem to keep getting loose. I asked a friend for a second opinion as I showed him how I was tightening the bearings. He suggested that I needed to loosen the top tree pinch bolts (fork) to let the top nut pull the top tree down on top of the bearing nuts. This made perfect sense. The castle nuts were getting loose because there was a very small space between the bearing nuts and the top tree.

 

I now have a little fork leg showing above the top tree and the front end seems to be working correctly. A few more miles and I will know if it's fixed.

 

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions!

[KIC]

Aahh.. that makes perfectly good sense. One of the benefits of actually seeing the situation at hand versus guessing... good luck. But if you move the fork tubes up, you can throw the front end angle off. Mine are even with the top.

[GaryZ]

Aahh.. that makes perfectly good sense. One of the benefits of actually seeing the situation at hand versus guessing... good luck. But if you move the fork tubes up, you can throw the front end angle off. Mine are even with the top.

 

Mine are barely above the tree . . . Maybe 1/16th inch. If anything this may only get me back to stock (with the 40 - 50 lbs of air in the rear shock).

 

However, I will mention that raising the fork tubes in the trees is a common practice for folks needing to lower the ride height (with lowering links on the rear).

 

Lowering only the front will usually quicken 'turn-in' for sportier riders . . .

[camos]

He suggested that I needed to loosen the top tree pinch bolts (fork) to let the top nut pull the top tree down on top of the bearing nuts. This made perfect sense. The castle nuts were getting loose because there was a very small space between the bearing nuts and the top tree.

 

I now have a little fork leg showing above the top tree and the front end seems to be working correctly. A few more miles and I will know if it's fixed.

The only time this would work is if the lower triple clamp was loosened, which you may have done. In such a case the proper way to reassemble the forks would be to set the height of the top triple clamp level with the top of the forks and tighten it. Then tighten the steering head nut. Then tighten the lower triple clamp.

 

There is no good reason for you to be stuck with having the forks higher in the triple tree than the stock setting. You can of course choose to have the forks set higher than stock. The choice should be yours and not left to happenstance.

[Marcarl]

There is a spring ring part, in a groove, way down the the fork that seats into the lower triple tree that is supposed to prevent the fork from coming up any higher than flush with the top of the upper triple tree. The only way you'll get the fork to come up higher would be to remove the spring ring, and that would not be a good thing, for then the fork could slide higher on the one side side vs the other and so cause instability in the front end.