Steering Damper Thread

Solomoriah · Post by **Solomoriah** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 7:24 pm

Hey, I'm going to have someone more mechanically capable than me (he's a professional, I'm not) remove the broken stub of the steering damper knob from my steering stem. Can anyone tell me what the proper thread for the hole should be?

Snakeoil · Post by **Snakeoil** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 9:24 am

I'm not sure I understand the question and since nobody else has replied, they might not either.

Not sure what you mean by the stub of the steering damper knob. The damper should be a knob with a long rod that goes thru the stem and threads into a nut and friction plate arrangement at the bottom of the steering head/lower tree. If you mean that the threaded portion of the rod is broken off in that bottom nut, then I'm wondering what is holding the nut in place. It should have fallen to the ground when the threaded piece broke off.

But you say damper knob stub so I'm thinking that the rod and what's left of the knob are still there and threaded into the nut on the bottom. So that means all you have to do it put a pair of pliers on the stub and unscrew it from the nut on the bottom. Then either have somebody make a new knob for you and install it on the old rod or just buy a used damper knob/rod assembly and put it back together.

Look at the parts manual for your bike and you will see what I'm talking about.

regards,
Rob

rrietman · Post by **rrietman** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 10:37 am

Is this a dream or hawk? totally different assemblies.
Randy

Solomoriah · Post by **Solomoriah** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:16 am

Dream, '66. The steering damper knob broke off right at the hole; the knob has about two turns of the thread left on it. I attempted many things, all documented elsewhere, to remove the broken-off piece from my steering stem, but was unsuccessful.

A talented fellow I go to church with has told me he can remove it, but he'll need to clean up the threads afterward, so I'm hoping someone here can tell me what tap, exactly, he'll need to do it.

Snakeoil, it doesn't thread into a nut, it threads into the steering stem.

Looking at eBay the other day, I saw a number of Dream steering stems for sale, and all but one had the steering damper shaft stuck in them. Must be a common issue.

rrietman · Post by **rrietman** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 10:43 pm

S; the stud in the dream damper knob does not thread in. it has a splined end, cast in place in the resin knob. they are very difficult, if not impossible to repair.
good luck
Randy

Solomoriah · Post by **Solomoriah** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 7:09 am

Gah.

The stud broke in half. I don't plan to repair the knob. It's the hole in the steering stem I'm wanting to fix. As I mentioned, I have someone who can remove the broken part of the stud from the steering stem with a die grinder (and evidently, very steady hands) but he wants to know what tap to use to repair the threads in the hole.

I hope I've finally made this all crystal clear.

rrietman · Post by **rrietman** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:29 am

8x1.25. should be straight forward to drill/tap.
Good Luck
Randy