Head set loose again

[jcmem8]

Hi all,
I am doing some work on the VMAX tomorrow, I noticed the head set is loose again I have done the furbur fix but still comes loose, can I use Loctite? :hmmm:
Anyone tried this?

Look forward to your oppinions.

 

[gamorg02]

what do you mean by 'head set'?

 

[RaWarrior]

The furbur fix is generally regarded as useless. A small few have reported it worked, but many more have found zero noticeable effect.

What do you mean by "loose"? There's detectable play in the head? If that's the case, you need new bearings ASAP. If the steering is kind of wobbly and "nervous" on rough roads, then the bearings could be too loose.

Adjust as follows

Put bike on centerstand, and get a jack to lift the front wheel off the ground.
Loosen top clamps, loosen the main stem bolt (1 1/16")
Put handlebars in center, then gently nudge them to either side
If they fall and "bounce" off the stop, it's too loose. Tighten the lower castle nut a bit (hammer and flat screwdriver work fine if you don't have a tool for it) and repeat. Keep doing that until the handlebars just barely fall and lightly touch the stop (no bounce). Then tighten the top castle nut as the jam nut to the first. I find it hard to imagine this bearing tension nut coming loose...it's got a jam nut on top, then the top tree clamp being smashed down on top by the main stem bolt.

If you notice a "clunking" or "rattle" from the front end on rough roads or when hitting bumps, the main nut is loose. Happened to me a couple times. I don't know what the torque spec is (prob in the manual somewhere), but it's major tight. What "seems good" isn't enough...it'll come loose again. Finally after heaving on it with a 14" long box wrench it's stayed put.

 

[maleko89]

How tight is the head nut that's on top of the triple? If it's not torqued enough the two grooved nuts will back out.

 

[ninjaneer]

That top nut (the one that goes on top of the top yoke) needs to be torqued down to 80 ft-lbs.

Regards from my Tapatalking Android

 

[shicks16]

That explains the knocking I was experiencing going over bumps. The main bolt on my triple came loose. This forum is awesome. Learn something new every day

 

[SpecOps13]

Sean Morley has a video of how to adjust the bearing.... It's well worth watching.. A little over half way down the page :

http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=11514&page=3

There's a fine line between wobble and wander...
Wobble = too loose,
Wander = too tight.

Good Luck....

 

[jcmem8]

Thanks for those tips,
It's just a bit of a wobble I notice when I am riding very slow and hit a bump, I jacked it up and the steering "falls" very easily left or right and bounces heavily. I don't think there is a problem with the bearings, last time I tightened it (1000 km ago) it felt great now it is back to the same.
So nobody responded to my question about Loctite???
I will have a go with out Loctite unless someone says it is ok, I probably did'nt tighten the top nut tight enough cause I don't have a big enough socket.
Thanks for all the replies.

 

[RaWarrior]

Loctite really shouldn't be necessary. I mean I suppose it can't hurt anything, but with the top bolt torqued down the nuts should not be backing out.

If the fork "bounces heavily", they're definitely too loose. Tighten the lower castle nut up a bit as described above/demonstrated in the video. Loose bearings make the whole bike kind of nervous and twitchy. I bet if you ran it up to 100+ it would start to wiggle all over the place as well.

 

[jcmem8]

Great thanks for the advice I will give it a try.
Jared

 

[ninjaneer]

I probably did'nt tighten the top nut tight enough cause I don't have a big enough socket.

80 ft-lbs is a shit-TON of force to put down, even with the correct size socket. so yes if you didn't have the correct size socket, i suspect that the nut's not tight enough (assuming you used a box wrench?, dunno what you used to tighten with). anyways, follow the advice in the previous posts and your wobble problem should be a trivial one.