Some pics of the V in the garage and some more steering stem questions

[d0n]

Tonight I put the steering stem back together. It was much easier than I thought. I didn't freeze anything or use any special tools to install the races or bearings. I just used a brass punch and a small hammer and took my time. It seemed to go together perfectly without damaging anything.

I was a little unsure exactly how tight 14 ft lbs of torque was though. The manual says tighten the castle nut to 14lbs and then back it off 1/4 turn. I was using channel lock pliers to tighten the lower castle nut. I tightened it until the stem swung easy but not to easy. With no forks attached should the stem flop back and forth really easy or should it have a little friction and require a little force to make it move left and right?

[h2olawyer]

There should be some friction without the forks installed.  The steering stem should still move smoothly through the entire range of motion without any sticky or loose spots.  I used a small punch to get mine tight.  It took two times for me to get it tight enough to eliminate the wobble.  I got it tight enough on the second try that the steering head would just barely stay at any point I set it, but with the forks installed, it would turn to the stops if given a small tap.

I know these are kind of "feely" iunstructions, but that's the method I used.  If you leave the stem too loose, you will still have wobbles (right, Motorplow?).  Don't mean to pick on you, Chris - I had to tighten mine twice before the wobble was gone.

After this upgrade, you should feel a much more sensitive steering input - I mean that you will have a better feel of the road surface through the grips & the steering will be more precise.  Best of all, you should have rock solid stability at any speed & when accelerating or decelerating.

If I had a TV like that in my garage, I'd take forever to get anything finished!   ;D

H₂O

[d0n]

Thanks. I think I'm going to have to test ride it and possibly retighten too a few times.

The TV definately helps make the time fly by.  :P

[MotorPlow]

Damn, I was going to mention the TV in the shop and H₂O beat me too it.

MY personal opinion about how tight to make the castle lock nuts is to tighten it until it starts to bind when you move the bars left to right and then back it off slightly. Even with that, I had to re tighten my castle lock nuts three times. It appears that one of my bearing races wasn't seated correctly and as I rode the bike after replacing them, the race would seat it's self slightly over time. Checking and tightening the castle nuts every now and again completely got rid of the wobble. I have been completely wobble free for quite some time now.

Oh and trying to track down the wobble after replacing the head bearings had me completely replacing the entire front end. If you still have the wobble after upgrading to tapered bearings, tighten the hell out of those castle nuts. To tighten the nuts after everything is back together, simply remove the gas tank, loosen the top triple tree nut (under the idiot lights) and lift the top triple tree slightly. Tighten the castle nuts and then tighten the top triple tree bolt. Put the gas tank back on. We did this to Mutts bike in the campground in the Smokey Mountains. You don't have to take everything back off again to do it.

[haunter]

that is a sweet luggage rack!  where did you get it??

[d0n]

that is a sweet luggage rack!  where did you get it??

It was on the bike when I bought it.

Its a KG rack with adjustable backrest. The backrest slides all the way forward for the driver or all the way back for a passenger.

[d0n]

Damn, I was going to mention the TV in the shop and H₂O beat me too it.

MY personal opinion about how tight to make the castle lock nuts is to tighten it until it starts to bind when you move the bars left to right and then back it off slightly. Even with that, I had to re tighten my castle lock nuts three times. It appears that one of my bearing races wasn't seated correctly and as I rode the bike after replacing them, the race would seat it's self slightly over time. Checking and tightening the castle nuts every now and again completely got rid of the wobble. I have been completely wobble free for quite some time now.

Oh and trying to track down the wobble after replacing the head bearings had me completely replacing the entire front end. If you still have the wobble after upgrading to tapered bearings, tighten the hell out of those castle nuts. To tighten the nuts after everything is back together, simply remove the gas tank, loosen the top triple tree nut (under the idiot lights) and lift the top triple tree slightly. Tighten the castle nuts and then tighten the top triple tree bolt. Put the gas tank back on. We did this to Mutts bike in the campground in the Smokey Mountains. You don't have to take everything back off again to do it.

Thanks MP.

I bet I'll have to retighten my castle nuts. I used channel lock pliers to tighten them. I could get them tight enough with pliers that the steering started to bind. If I used a punch and hammer to tighten them I figured I'd ruin the bearings.

I'm getting it back together. Today I did the fork seals and pretty much got the front end together. I need to put the signals on, the lower fairing pieces and the front wheel.

In my manual it says to turn the lower forks legs to make room for the tire to slide between the calipers. This is stupid because you can't turn the fork legs with the front fender on and you can't remove the front fender unless the front tire is taken off. WTF?

I've been taking one caliper on and off to facilitate wheel removal and installation.

[Brian Moffet]

I took my front fender off without taking the front wheel off.  (mine's an 83 as well.)

I just took the wheel and forks off today.

Brian

[d0n]

hmmm... maybe I'm mistaken then.

Wouldn't it be easier to remove 2 bolts and a caliper instead of 4 bolts and a fender to get the front wheel off though? ???

[Lucky]

Little trick:
when you pull the wheel off fold over a piece of corragated cardboard box & stuff it in between the brake pads. this will keep them from falling out (works for car calipers too.)

i've never pulled the fender or caliper to install the ft wheel, just put the bike on the centerstand, have someone push the back wheel to the ground, slide a cinderblock & piece of wood under the motor, pull the axel & roll the wheel out.  you may want to deflate the tire some, it helps things clear. (i have an extreemly slow leak in my ft tire, so i keep a portable electric pump im my bags that plugs in by the battery)

it just takes a little finese to line up the calipers on the rotors & install the speedo drive, but it's still easier than R&R'ing the carbs, lol

--Lucky

[d0n]

anyone use dextron AT instead of 15w fork oil in their vision?

[Lucky]

Yup, i'm kind of a big guy, i like it.

[d0n]

Good! I heard it's very similar. I couldn't find any fork oil so I used atf.