Steering Neck Adjustment Help
 

If this is in the wrong place, please move.

From my understanding, the procedure for adjusting the steering neck changed with the M8 models. I have a 2019 Limited with just under 1000 miles on it.

I'm getting a wobble @ 30-35 mph. I've had this on previous bikes and it has always been the steering neck. My dealer typically covers this under warranty, but they're particularly busy right now and can't get me in for another 10 days. I usually do all my own maintenance, so I figured I'd just take care of this.

According to the service manual, you remove the front fairing, loosen the top pinch bolt (which I can't really access without at least disconnecting the inner fairing and tilting it forward, though this isn't mentioned in the FSM), and use a 1/4" hex shank to loosen or tighten the bolt from the bottom of the neck as required.

I tried this, but here's my issue: I had the bike on the lift, front wheel off the ground. The bike seemed level. When I tried the drop wheel test, the wheel didn't drop in either direction. If I manually pushed the wheel to one side or the other, it would just fall back to center. I figured this might be due to the wires and/or brake and clutch cables basically pulling it back.

Regardless, I attempted to tighten the steering neck anyway. I didn't want to overdo it, so I basically tightened until I felt a decent amount of resistance. There wasn't any noticeable drag when moving the steering back and forth. Slapped it all back together and took it for a test run. Same wobble at the same speeds.

Basically, I'm concerned about over-tightening the steering neck and a little flummoxed that the wheel drop test isn't working as expected.

Can I get some advice here? Any tips?

Edit: Wow! Been a member here since 2007 and this is my first post?? Yeesh...

Please pardon me if this is a redundant question, but how's your front tire pressure? My 09 RG displayed a decel wobble one day and after checking front tire pressure as soon as I got it home found it was 20 PSI.. Aired it up and it was fine.

If the wobble was caused by the steering neck bearings being loose and you tightened them up, the wobble should have improved.

On my '19 RG I thought I was getting a high speed weave so I checked my neck bearings per the service manual. I couldn't get it to pass the swing test in the manual. I suspect the reason is that the bike wasn't perfectly level in the pitch and lateral axis while it was on the lift. The manual specifies it must be perfectly level for the test to pass. So I just adjusted it to the point of no binding or looseness. Feels good on the road - no wobble and no weave, so I'm calling it good.

No, fair question. Tire pressure is fine. It's a new bike, so it has TPMS that would notify me if the pressure was low.

If not neck... it could have a bad TPMS or tire is cupped/bad from production... just being devils advocate.

Curious if this wobble is while your hands are off the bars? If so, I suggest you keep your hands on the bars until they can examine the bike.

I just realized I did my swing-away test wrong. So that would explain that portion.

Both are possibilities for sure. However, the TPMS *was* working and the tires are new. That said, it's certainly possible that I got a bad tire.

The main reason I'm assuming it's the bearing is that I've literally had the exact same thing happen on my 2015 and 2018 (twice on that one). Exact same symptoms and pretty close on the mileage.

Also, as part of the 1000 mile maintenance, you're supposed to adjust the steering neck. I assume it takes a few hundred miles for the bearing to fully seat after leaving the factory, so I'm guessing this is fairly common.

Hands off. I felt a little slop - it's kind of hard to explain. But yeah, hands off while decelerating.

The bolded part above helps a lot. That's the kind of information I'm looking for. Thanks!

You didn't have to mess with the inner fairing just cut the Allen wrench to access the pinch bolt and the adjusting bolt is reverse threaded just go lefty 1/8 turn and go for a test ride without front fairing cap keep adjusting till it's perfect you will feel if it's too tight in a turn and bar slap if it's loose. Doing it by the written directions doesn't mean much compare to testing it on the road.