Triple clamp nut too tight?

[Hotblack]

I just put some tapered steering head bearings on the 750, and noticed that after I set the preload nut where I wanted it and put the top nut on, as I tighten it it actually makes the steering tighter. I'm not sure how it's doing this, and I don't have to tighten it that much for it to add tension. Certainly not up to torque specs. The Clymer manual, as usual, has proven to be next to useless for this as well as any other job I've tried to use it on.

Anyway the old bearings were shot



And I think the grease could use a vaction, no?

[tfb]

Hotblack,

I assume that by the "preload nut" you mean the one that sits below the upper yoke, with the large notches cut into it (so that you can turn it with a 'C'-spanner)? Yes, you get that set to where you want it, which can take a little trial-and-error, ie. tight enough so that there is no freeplay in the steering-head bearings when under heavy braking.

And then, having done that, you tighten the top nut, ie. the one that goes through the top of the yoke. If this is tightening the steering as you say, then I agree, it's hard to see why it would be doing that.

All I can think of is that your bike might have the steering head assembled incorrectly -- I would double-check a good manual (I have never had much joy with Clymer manuals, either -- try a Haynes or and OE Suzuki workshop manual).

Mike.

[Hotblack]

Thanks. I took it apart again, it had looked somehow not right when I originally reassembled it, but it was the only way I could see that it went together. The manual, of course doesn't have a front end diagram. Probably the newer ones do, this one was printed when the bike was new. And of course by the time I had taken the stem out I was so jacked off about all the things the manual failed to mention that I wasn't thinking too clearly. Not very zen-like, I know. :? Anyway I put it together this time in a different order, as I was sure the other way was wrong. This time it looked SO wrong that I was sure I was off my rocker, but I got the bright idea of checking the parts diagrams at BikeBandit. This 'crazy' way I'd just put it together, of course, turned out to be right. Now everything torques and behaves properly. I'm going to get a Haynes if they're better, I never see factory manuals on e-bay.

[tfb]

Glad you got it sorted out. Factory manuals do sometimes turn up on eBay, but they do tend to go for ridiculous prices. And while you may find the rare posting here on the GSResources that bags Haynes manuals, I have always found them to be very good, and in some respects far better than the factory manual.

For example, the factory manual will often say, "use Suzuki special tool no. 50148-95783-1" which is never really that helpful because the tool will usually cost you an arm and a leg, and you'll only use it once. Whereas the Haynes manual is more likely to say, "You could use Suzuki special tool no. 50148-95783-1... but here's a way to fabricate a tool which will do the trick." In other words, it's 'real world' manual.

Besides which, it's affordable and available. Can't ask for much more than that!

Mike.

[Hotblack]

Dawg, I'm sold on it! Do you work for Haynes by any chance??

[tfb]

No, I don't work for them -- I'm just a satisfied customer. I have had a Haynes manual for my GS1000S, then my GPz900, and now my Katana 1100, and have had no problems. Unlike the terrible Clymer manual I had for my XJ550 -- that's a manual which fails to tell you about a hidden cylinder head bolt, so that you're straining and fiddling for hours, and then you start doing the unthinkable (ie. levering with large screwdrivers :x ), wondering why the darn thing won't come off...

I feel much better now that I've got that off my chest!

[Hotblack]

That red part, I've been there. I roasted a Q-jet that way, only I can't blame the manual, just the 'operator'. Funny how I think of the unthinkable.