Are their actual torque specs for tightening the steering head bearing?? I think I've over tightened it, it seemed loose before.
Here's the full story.
Ok, I've got a front end wobble that hasn't gone away after alignment, balancing th etire, and then replacing the tire. I was thinking it could be a bent rim. I've read to check the steering head bearing by taking the front end off the ground and checking the full movement of the bars, side to side, for roughness. Well no roughness. Then today I spoke with what seemed to be a very knowledgeable guy at a kawasaki place on the phone, and he said all of the above, and also to check for tightness of the bearing by letting the wheel fall to the stop, and if it fell quickly, it probably needed tightened. Well low and behold, it seemed to fall to the right side fast, and hit the stop. It had some resistance going to the left, as there is a cable that begins to snug slightly around the top part of the tube, above the forks.
So, I took off the cap, and went to tighten the bearing, and it was loose, as in it was easily tightened with minimal effort. So i tightened it down quite snugly.
This however only changed the range of my problem. I used to have a wobble/shake, from 45 to 36 ish, now it shakes all the way down to the mid/low 20's.
So how tight is that thing supposed to be? And how do I know if I should lubricate it, and with what??
I'm planning on heading to DC tomorrow with my dad and grandpa, the ride to the wall. About a 6 or 7 hour trip, so I want to make sure everything is perfect before heading out.
Here's the full story.
Ok, I've got a front end wobble that hasn't gone away after alignment, balancing th etire, and then replacing the tire. I was thinking it could be a bent rim. I've read to check the steering head bearing by taking the front end off the ground and checking the full movement of the bars, side to side, for roughness. Well no roughness. Then today I spoke with what seemed to be a very knowledgeable guy at a kawasaki place on the phone, and he said all of the above, and also to check for tightness of the bearing by letting the wheel fall to the stop, and if it fell quickly, it probably needed tightened. Well low and behold, it seemed to fall to the right side fast, and hit the stop. It had some resistance going to the left, as there is a cable that begins to snug slightly around the top part of the tube, above the forks.
So, I took off the cap, and went to tighten the bearing, and it was loose, as in it was easily tightened with minimal effort. So i tightened it down quite snugly.
This however only changed the range of my problem. I used to have a wobble/shake, from 45 to 36 ish, now it shakes all the way down to the mid/low 20's.
So how tight is that thing supposed to be? And how do I know if I should lubricate it, and with what??
I'm planning on heading to DC tomorrow with my dad and grandpa, the ride to the wall. About a 6 or 7 hour trip, so I want to make sure everything is perfect before heading out.