Steering stem locknut help?

[Guest]

Putting the front end back on my '78 Yamaha DT175E. There are locknuts to be employed here, but until my manual arrives I have no instructions. Pretty self-explanatory, or any tricks I should know?

[chuck hahn]

If its like my Yammy, then there are two rings. You do exactly as any other bike...snug down inner ring and test the feel..not excessively tight but not all floppy either. Just as it starts to get a hint of getting sticky when you move the bars is just about right. Then you be sure inner ring doesnt move and you jam outer ring to the inner ring.

[UncleMike]

If its like my Yammy, then there are two rings. You do exactly as any other bike...snug down inner ring and test the feel..not excessively tight but not all floppy either. Just as it starts to get a hint of getting sticky when you move the bars is just about right. Then you be sure inner ring doesnt move and you jam outer ring to the inner ring.

Sounds pretty simple. Thanks!

[chuck hahn]

Should be smooth, not any wiggle when you yank the forks around..but not "tight" youll know when you feel it a bit as you test the swiveling action. Over tighten it a bit and feel how it has "resistance" as you move the bars...then loosen it up and jiggle the tripple tree and you see that its sloppy and you can hear / feel its loose. Then get somewhere just tight but yet smooth...youll see what I mean.

[chuck hahn]

I am assuming that the front end is up off the ground as youre doing this...yes? Makes it much easier.

[UncleMike]

I am assuming that the front end is up off the ground as youre doing this...yes? Makes it much easier.

The entire bike is in pieces, so this won't be a problem!

[Agemax]

this should give you an idea, it is a quote from suzukiownersclub............

There's an important distinction between ball bearings and tapers. Tapers DON'T require pre-loading like the balls, so ignore the manual and go by feel. I do it the following way:

Lightly install as per the above pic
Tighten the bearing 'quite tight' with a C spanner
Work the yoke left and right. You'll probably feel it get (a bit) lighter to turn. This is good It's getting slacker because the bearing is seating the race in the frame.
Loosen the bearing right off until you can feel play in the yoke assembly
Tighten a little bit until there's no play (the nut will be far less tight than that required for balls). That's it. No pre-loading is required. All you're trying to do is make sure the taper bearings are in light contact with their races with no play.

[chuck hahn]

What type of bearings does it have...he didnt state that fact.

[UncleMike]

What type of bearings does it have...he didnt state that fact.

I bought some rollers at Agemax's suggestion.

[chuck hahn]

Well there ya go...got a viewpoint from both angles!!!!

[UncleMike]

So here's how it went down.

There was only one locknut, which caused a bit of confusion because I have two bikes in pieces here and it's hard to tell what goes with what bike. Turned out a big problem was the seals included with the tapered bearings I bought. When I used the bottom seal the whole assembly wouldn't fit together. Using an OEM seal on the bottom fixed that.

Put everything together and snugged the locknut down. Then I fitted the top triple and snugged that in. Made sure everything was gliding smoothly and then loosened everything to go back and tighten again.

Things seem smooth, but as this is only a test fitting I'll wait until final once-over to really make sure everything is to spec.

Thanks for the help! On to the forks/ears/headlight and fitting the wheels.