Clunking Front End (Softails)
 

This is a subject that a great number of people have been experiencing lately. HD has upped the torque specs for the later models from 35 FT/LBS to 100 FT/LBS. It may not be posted correctly in your owners manual. I chose to retorque my softail to 70 FT/LBS to see if it would stop the clunk and it worked just fine. No more clunk. You will hear the clunk when you go over bumps or if you apply the front brakes firmly and release them once or twice quickly. It gets worse as the steering head nut needs retorquing.The following proceedure applies to the softail models FXSTD/FXST/FXSTB and not the dyna family or the FLSTC/FLSTF. The FLSTC/FLSTF use the fall away method for bearing preload that is explained in the manual.


If you look in the center of the tripple tree where the steering head is (where it pivots), there's a chrome smoothe cover there, you grab it with your hand and unscrew it (counter clock wise), there's the nut, you bend down the lock tab so you can turn the nut ( I use a small hammer and a flat tip punch) and then torque the nut to 70 FT/LBS , This requires a 1 1/2" socket to do some bikes and a 3/4 on others. You then bend the tab back up to lock the nut you just torqued ,screw the cover on with a drop of blue locktite on the thread and ride it. Just make sure that the little finger that seats in the hole from this lock tab is still in the hole ( at the 6 oclock position) and not bent, if it is you must remove the nut completely to straighten or replace the lock tab It's only a piece of tin. If you do remove the nut, don't worry as nothing is going to fall off. The locking washer is for the FXSTD/FXST/FXSTB and just the washer for FLSTC/FLSTF

You might want to check the fall away in the front end which is covered in the factory manual to make sure that the stem nut beneath the top tree is not too tight or too loose. The retorquing only tightens up the clamping force on the top tree and is not the preload for the steering head bearing which is the serrated nut below the top tree.

The manual also states...
"Overtightening stem bolt will cause the bearings to wear excessively leading to the need for premature bearing replacement" Warning:"Properly adjust fork stem bearings. Improper adjustments affect stability and handling, which could result in death or serious injury".