Adjusting Steering Head Bearing - A novice's take

[circa1968]

So, now that other issues have been sorted out on my girl, decided it was time to address the loose front end, which flopped around like a fresh-caught fish!

I followed the process in the technical section, but thought I'd add a few observations that I did not see addressed anywhere else:

1)  The crown nut is 27mm.  I purchased a Husk brand open/box wrench from HD for the job.  Its quite beefy and there's not a lot of space between the crown nut and the handlebar risers.  I ended up taking the wrench to the bench grinder to shave ~1/6" off the widest part of each side to be able to have enough room to work the crown nut loose.  It took 2-3 back & forth between the grinder and bike to just grind off enough to fit and no more.

2)  Since I wasn't sure how much torque would be required to loosen the crown nut, and I'm still nervous about lifting my bike in the air, I broke the nut loose with the bike on the ground and on the side stand for stability.  If I have to do it again, will probably follow the same procedure for safety sake.

3) Removing the ignition switch cover gives a little more wiggle room with the wrench.

4) Note where on the wrench it could possibly strike the gas tank while either loosening or tightening and grab it at that exact location with your hand.  Sacrifice the hand, not the paint! (No, not learned from a mistake in this particular case, but past mistakes in life)

5) Ok, this is were I open myself up to well-deserved ridicule.  It is now clearly obvious, but perhaps my nervousness at the beginning clouded my thinking (yeah, that's it!), but when tightening the locking nuts....it is tightened down, towards the ground.   NOT towards the top fork brace, that is loosening it!  Right tighty, lefty loosey.... Oh well, I deserve to be skewered by the seasoned mechanics here for that silly mistake.

6) I found that when I got the bearing adjusted to my liking & retightened the crown nut that tightening the crown nut caused things to loosen back up again (not sure why, but it was definitely the case).  So, I did 3-4 iterations of tighten the bearing lock nuts, tighten the crown nut and test until satisfied.

7) Probably should have put this as #2, but good lighting helps tremendously.  A lovely (and patient) flashlight holding assistant is highly recommended!

8 It does not take much adjustment as pointed out below.  As I tapped the locking nuts, I could see the bearing shroud rotate (see flashlight note #7).  I was only going ~1mm, or less, of rotation of the shroud at a time & retesting after each.  Just pick a spot on the shroud and watch it rotate.

The rest of the procedure below (copied from the technical section) was spot on and extremely useful!  In the end, it was a fairly simple procedure and any novices, like me, out there should not be afraid to tackle this, just go slow and make very small adjustments.

Can't say enough how much I appreciate this site and the folks who paved the path for the rest of us with these resources!

 

Adjusting Steering Head Bearings

Today we are going to look at a very simple method of adjusting your steering head bearings. Loose steering head bearings are a fairly common problem on both the first and second generation Venture and probably the Royal Star also. At some point, you will most likely want to do a true service on these bearings. That is a much more complicated and time consuming job which requires completely removing the handlebars, top tree, and on at least the second generation Venture, the front faring..inner and outer. I've done that job and it takes several hours. It should be done at some point though because you will probably, at some point, want to repack the bearings and that requires the more complicated method.

If your front end seems loose though and you simply want to tighten it up a bit, it's a very simple job that can be done in about 30 minutes. You will need a lift to do this job as the front must be completely off the ground. As you can see from the following picture, it does not need to be high in the air...just make sure the front tire is not touching the ground. Once you have the bike lifted, gently push the handlebar one way or the other and see how loose the front is. In my case, the front would fall to one side or the other without me even touching it unless I had it perfectly centered. That is too loose. The front should stay where you have it and if you gently push it one way or the other...it should gently come to a stop but not be binding or hard to push. If you gently push the bars so that it bounces off the stops, it should rebound gently and stop...maybe even ever so slightly oscillate back just a tiny bit but if it oscillates back and forth 2 or 3 times, it is definitely too loose.

http://www.venturerider.org/steering/lifted.jpg

The next thing you will need to do is slightly loosen the top nut just below your handlebars. An open end wrench works great for this but if you don't have the right size, you can protect the finish with a rag and use a pair of Channel Locks.

http://www.venturerider.org/steering/topnut.jpg

If you look just underneath the top fork brace, you will see two locking nuts. These nuts are slotted and locked together with a locking washer with a tab. You do not need to pry out the tab as we are going to simply tap and tighten both nuts together.

http://www.venturerider.org/steering/lockingnuts.jpg

Believe it or not, we are almost done. Simply take a long screwdriver and place the blade in the slots in the nuts. Tap lightly with a hammer to tighten the nuts. Be careful here. You will be amazed at how little you have to tighten these nuts to make a big difference.

http://www.venturerider.org/steering/screwdriver.jpg

 

 

 

 

After tapping, gently swing the front end. If you gently swing the front end to where it gently hits the stops, it should rebound slightly and come to a gently stop. It should not bind or be stiff but should not oscillate back and forth. If it bounces off the stop, and then rebound and hits the stop again...it is too loose. If it rebounds and gently stops....you are about right.

Once you get it right....simply retighten the top nut and you are done. Very simple job that takes about 30 minutes.

[XV1100SE]

I don't do the "bounce" test.  I don't think that is an accurate way to do it.  What I do is turn the handlebars to the left (like a left turn) to about 45 degrees.  Hold it....then just let go.  If it moves....tighten some more.  If it holds steady then you are good.

Turning to the right doesn't work because of cables.  

[RDawson]

One good thing about it, no matter which method you use you’ll be the first to know if it isn’t set right. In my case it was at 90 on the interstate. 

[circa1968]

18 hours ago, XV1100SE said:

I don't do the "bounce" test.  I don't think that is an accurate way to do it.  What I do is turn the handlebars to the left (like a left turn) to about 45 degrees.  Hold it....then just let go.  If it moves....tighten some more.  If it holds steady then you are good.

Turning to the right doesn't work because of cables.  

Yep, I sorta did both, but in the end, just got it where it would hold @ the 45 degree mark and it still had a small amount of "bounce", which seemed too objective of a measure to me.  Definitely a worthwhile maintenance step!  Also, good point on the right side, that was my observation as well and worthwhile pointing out for anyone who is going to do this for the 1st time. 

Love the knowledge that flows here!

[saddlebum]

20 hours ago, XV1100SE said:

I don't do the "bounce" test.  I don't think that is an accurate way to do it.  What I do is turn the handlebars to the left (like a left turn) to about 45 degrees.  Hold it....then just let go.  If it moves....tighten some more.  If it holds steady then you are good.

Turning to the right doesn't work because of cables.  

I agree I have tried it out of curiosity since it seems to be a popular method and did not like the results. I find cable interference. and variants of the live weight of the front end can impact the final result.

If specs can't be found I set them up the same way as I would tapered wheel bearings on a car or trailer. Free but with zero lash and have never gone wrong.

Edited January 31, 2021 by saddlebum