Scratching my head on this one.

The front end feels loose to me, as I am always fighting the bike to keep it from wandering when slowing down coming to a stop.
It has no other ill characteristics. No wobbling, no clunks. Can run it up to a buck with no problem.

Anyhoo, I have tried to tighten the head bearings (using factory procedure), and the steering will not firm up.

Do I just have worn out bearings? She only has 20k on the clock...

Feeling pretty dumb on this one...

 

Doubt it. What are you running for rear tire pressure? A soft rear tire on decel will cause rear wheel steer.

 

Yeah, but he should still be able to actually overtighten those bearings (and feel it too,) and then back them off while he's at it. First thing I'd do is to make certain that he has all the flat washers in the factory set up.

 

I would also check that the neck spindle is still attached to the lower triple tree....

 

When you tighten it up does it feel like the threads are stripped or tighten up and stop hard and not tighten the bearings?

 

The bolt itself tightens, but the steering doesn't firm up at all.

Sounds like I just need to tear it down and see what's going on.

 

Under the bolt is a big washer, it gets warped, concave so the bolt bottoms out but the bearing does not get tightened.
Replace it.

 

You DID remember to loosen the pinch bolts on the lower triple trees before you attempted to adjust the stem nut, right? If the fork legs can't move a bit in the lower tree, you can't tighten the bearings.

 

I have both loosened and tightened the stem nut without loosening the pinch bolts.

 

Wha?...well, sumbitch...










J/k...yes sir, I did.

Thanks, I"ll check that first.