steering head /neck

[traygiddens]

so i w was out doing some adventure stuff today on the hawk.. i can feel a little click or something when going over bumps or whatever. I think the culprit might be the steering head/neck area . it''s hard to pin down.
The top nut is dogged down really good.
Any suggestions on this area? other items to look for?

[Mag00]

Originally Posted by traygiddens

so i w was out doing some adventure stuff today on the hawk.. i can feel a little click or something when going over bumps or whatever. I think the culprit might be the steering head/neck area . it''s hard to pin down.
The top nut is dogged down really good.
Any suggestions on this area? other items to look for?

You just have to inspect it well. Check the fork oil levels, Check the front brake, cables and anything that may move around when the suspension works.

I pulled my Storm Steering apart before I assembled it and re greased the neck and moves the steering stops. Most of my bikes get fresh grease in the steering head bearings, just to be safe.

[SeerAtlas]

The chinese mfg's seem to have an apathy towards grease. good idea to check and/or lube, the steering headset, axels, cables, i.e anything that moves, at the outset.

[traygiddens]

following up on this , i tightened the neck nut and the issue is gone. Initially over tightened and then backed off. it's all good now.

Now to figure out why my front brake works like crap. Last issue i had which was similar was on the goldwing, needed the master cylinder rebuilt.

[BlackBike]

Trayg....Long time no post. Houston Texas is back (and actually in the playoffs)

[Ariel Red Hunter]

Originally Posted by traygiddens

so i w was out doing some adventure stuff today on the hawk.. i can feel a little click or something when going over bumps or whatever. I think the culprit might be the steering head/neck area . it''s hard to pin down.
The top nut is dogged down really good.
Any suggestions on this area? other items to look for?

I don't own a Hawk, so I'm only 90% sure; the top nut is usually the lock nut for the stem head bearing adjustment nut. Clicking MAY be because the stem head bearing nut is allowing too much slack in the cup-and-cone bearings used in almost all motorcycles (and bicycles as well) except the ones with tapered roller bearing head bearings. If you are going to adjust the head bearings, I reccomend you pull the steering head out of the motorcycle, and clean and re-grease with a quality North American grease, because nobody knows what was put in there in the first place. Now, let us reason together. A cup-and-cone head bearing consists of many pieces, and it requires a little care in maintainence. There is nothing wrong with cup-and-cone bearings, in fact they really work very well in stem head bearings, and have for 150 years. So there is a cup (goes on the top on the upper bearing, and on the bottom on the bottom bearing) a bunch of LOOSE ball bearings, and then the cone. Have you ever re-greased the head bearings on a bicycle? Same thing, except that the parts are bigger. You have to capture the ball bearings as you take it apart. What you don't want to do is to have these balls cascading all over the concrete floor of your garage when you take it apart. Hopefully, there is enough grease in those bearings to hold those steel balls in place when you take it apart. But I wouldn't bet on it. I used to wrap a cloth around the steering head in order to catch any and all ball bearings which are intent on dissapearing forever if I screw up. Now, if you do this carefully, the top bearing will stay there as you ever so carefully lower the front forks and steering stem through the head bearing, and the cloth will catch any loose balls that try to fall out of the lower bearing. Have two empty water cups, or whatever, to put the lower balls in, and then the upper balls in. Once you have the balls all accounted for, you can knock out the cups and cones. I used to use a piece of old propeller shafting for this as it is made of bronze. Bronze is softer than steel, so won't chip the hardened steel cup or cone. But that is because I'm a little anal about this job. If you have to use a steel drift to do this, wrap it in cloth and hope you don't get carried away. While I used to use gasoline to clean up these parts, and get the old grease out of the stem head, I am claiming that I wouldn't use gas today, as I wouldn't want to offend the more enviornmentally sensitive of you out there. Next time, a few last words on putting it all back together. Sincerely, ARH

[traygiddens]

wasn't the Top Top nut, it was the one that it seems like there would be a special tool for like a spanner wrench. , down a little bit lower.. that's good tips for removing and greasing up the bearings up there. will definitely use that information.

Any tip for the front brake? it's like at the handle i have the proper resistance , but at the pads it's just lame , they will grab a little bit but not anything like a proper motorcycle brake. ... now saying all that when i did bleed the brakes , i may have got some fluid on the pads themselves.

[Ariel Red Hunter]

Originally Posted by traygiddens

wasn't the Top Top nut, it was the one that it seems like there would be a special tool for like a spanner wrench. , down a little bit lower.. that's good tips for removing and greasing up the bearings up there. will definitely use that information.

Any tip for the front brake? it's like at the handle i have the proper resistance , but at the pads it's just lame , they will grab a little bit but not anything like a proper motorcycle brake. ... now saying all that when i did bleed the brakes , i may have got some fluid on the pads themselves.

Have you cleaned the rotor and front brake pads thoroughly with brake cleaner? The sliding half of the caliper is hot to trot?

I must have mis-understood you. The top nut locks the adjusting nut for the steering bearings.