After painting and during re-assembly, I found that I cant get the front forks back on the frame because the lower front fork supporting bolts wont line up with the lower steering shaft fork mounts because its hitting the fork top plate, I figure I need to loosen the steering stem so I have room to move the forks up a little and after getting the lower bolts in, I cant tight the steering back up.
I cant figure out how to get it loose at all. Is there a trick? Thanks, Craig
How do I loosen the steering stem?
ForksI'm having a hard time tracking just what your question is. I did this a while back and everything went together fine. IIRC I put the triple tree on first and set the steering bearings adjustment, then the forks with the bolts that I think you are having trouble with and then the top plate. Does that sound right?
I originally took the forks off by taking the lower bolts out and unbolting the top from the plate (leaving the plate in place). When trying to put it back on I cant get the lower bolts back in because the front forks wont go high enough get the bolts in. So I thought if I could get the upper plate off or loose then I could get the lower bolts in and then put the plate back on.
I cant get the steering stem loose at all. There is a spanner nut below the plate that wont budge and the top square nut is stuck too. I am not even sure which way the spanner nut turns. ForksIf you are working on a CA78 the forks go under the top plate and the weird looking double-ended bolts go in the front holes of the plate into the front holes of the forks. Side bolts should go right in. If they don't you have something assembled incorrectly.
The square nut on top of the steering stem locks the bearing adjustment. If you loosen it you risk knocking your bearing adjustment out of whack. Do you have all the balls in top and bottom? There should be 18 on top and 19 on bottom. The "steering head top thread" is the adjustment for getting the bearings adjusted. Then the top plate goes on followed by the "steering damper friction ring" and then the square nut which locks it all in place. I hope that helps.
I used a propane torch to heat it up and I finally knocked square nut loose. This allowed me to get the top plate up enough to get the lower bolts in. I tightened everything back up and hopefully nothing is out of whack.
Is there a bearing adjustment I should be aware of? It is turning more easily and without the previous bearing bind. Bearing bindIf the steering stem bearings were binding before and not now you should seriously consider taking everything apart again to make sure all the balls are still in the top race. That is not the news you want to hear but, it will be a lot easier now than when you have everything back together.
Did you have all 18 balls in the top? Did you use grease to hold all the top balls in? Even if you used grease, often some will drop down in the steering head if the race becomes too loose. It doesn't take much. It took me 3 tries. Does the steering stem move at all if you put pressure on it back and forth? You don't want that happening at 50 mph. If you had bearing bind before and you don't now, something changed. You need to figure out what it was. To do that you will need to take it apart again. 1. Make sure all the balls are in - top and bottom - and stay put. I used grease. 2. Use the "steering head top thread" to adjust the pressure on the ball bearings. Keep tightening it until you feel it binding a good bit and then back it off carefully until it just turns freely with no binding. 3. After you put the plate and "steering damper friction ring" back in place, use the square nut on top as a lock against the "steering head top thread" to lock everything in place. It will require you to hold the "steering head top thread" in its "adjusted" position on the stem. IIRC I used a pair of channel locks. Honda could have made the parts a little easier to get to but, the Dream set up will work petty well when it is adjusted correctly. A roller bearing set up would be a lot easier and perform better. but, until someone figures out a replacement, we are stuck with all those temperamental little balls and a difficult adjustment procedure. Best wishes for success. Steering bearingsConbs.... I assume then that no one has found a replacement set of new style bearings that will replace these loose original bearings for a CA77 ? I hate this original set up
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