Steering stem locking nuts... driving me nuts!

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:03 pm

Well, the fekkers have come loose again giving me nasty clunky forks. Before I tighten the absolute sh!t out of them, is there anything I'm likely to be doing wrong with the re-assembly? I've posted before about the poxy rubber ring between the two nuts, I've not managed to get mine back in without it squeezing out between the nuts (steady now Jak...

) so to date I've junked the rubber washer, and relied on torque to keep the lock on... Before I go and fill it up with Loctite 243 is there anything else I should be doing?

Cheers

G

Quan-Time · Post by **Quan-Time** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:33 am

umm.. not really sure. id have to see your setup to know how you mean.

i THINK i know.. but you shouldnt have to worry about that comming loose. If it does, something is the matter.

is there too much thread sticking thru for the nut to get on ?

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:36 am

Quant - it's not the chromed dome nut on top of the yokes but castellated nuts underneath... IIRC as the stem goes up through the headstock the original assembly comprises the top steering head bearing, large flat washer, first castellated nut, rubber washer, second castellated nut, flanged steel lock-washer, top yoke, steel washer, dome-nut...

As I've said, I've junked the rubber washer and am locking the two castellated nuts together in the 'old fashioned' way.

There has to be a function for the rubber washer, but I'm b#ggered if I can see how it works cos for the life of me I can't get it to stay in place, and I equally can't see how the two nuts can be locked together without using torque... grrragh!

G

Post by **Kevtrx849** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:36 pm

Standard fitment for the TRX is as Greg has described. Rubber washer between the slotted/castellated nuts. the lower nut is the one that does all the adjusting, rubber washer is for gripping between the two. Wind the top one down by hand, tap it around until the slots align and fit lock washer. The rubber washer has never squeezed out on mine.
I would check for thread Greg as i had to make up washers for my R1 conversion. Thats the only reason i can think of for the clunking on your setup. Good luck.

earywig · Post by **earywig** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:44 pm

The sequence on mine is........

top steering head bearing
thin rubber washer
large flat dust seal
first castellated nut
rubber washer, smaller diameter than above but thicker section
second castellated nut
flanged steel lock-washer
top yoke
steel washer
dome-nut.

I know this because I've got mine apart at the moment as I'm fitting tapered roller bearings.

steve speed · Post by **steve speed** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:47 pm

as all the above thats how mine is ,,,,somone talking nuts

earywig · Post by **earywig** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:51 pm

That's why I went to the garage to have a look, follwed by my edited post.

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 11:26 pm

Hola gents - looking at the recent postings yup, I omitted to mention the dust seal, but mine is present and correct. No sign on mine though of the rubber washer on top of the bearing though - to my 'old school' mind that would introduce tolerance into the assembly which would let the bearing float a little.. who knows..!

Anyway a look at things on mine revealed that the chromed dome nut wasn't as tight as it could have been, so a little more squeeze and the clunk seems to have disappeared. However.... I am going to look at the whole thing again just to be sure there's nothing silly going on ...

Thanks for all input

G