Furber Fix for FJR?

Installing a set of Genmar risers on my bike, I discovered the the top ring nut on the steering stem was loose (actually spun it with my pinky). I retorqued the lower ring nut to make sure the bearings were seated snugly (both 1st & 2nd stages), but when I went to tighten the top ring nut, I noticed that the rubber washer/spacer is extremely soft/squishy. Last year I repacked the steering head bearings on my V-Max which has the same steering stem set up & performed the "Furber Fix" for headshake: take the rubber washer & put it on top so that both ring nuts are snug against each other & can't work loose. Can anyone make an argument for the purpose of the squishy rubber washer/spacer being between the two ring nuts? Any reason I shouldn't do the Furber switch on an FJR?

I know the 1st gen Venture, and VMax people swear by it.

the oem factory service manual says that the rubber spacer goes between and that, after torquing the lower castle nut, the top is to be just finger tight.

i've no problems with it being exactly according to spec. never had head shake on this bike.

When torqueing my steering stem nut (under the triple clamp) to the factory setting using the factory tool, the rubber washer totally deformed. I had to go way less than the recommended torque.

So I don't now what the hell this rubber washer is doing there when it completely squishes out when the nut above is torqued property.

Never read anything in the forum regarding this.

What gives?

Read the factory service manual instructions more closely. The lower castle nut gets torqued. The upper one DOES NOT (finger tight only).

Bounce said:

Read the factory service manual instructions more closely. The lower castle nut gets torqued. The upper one DOES NOT (finger tight only).

Click to expand...

I'm curious about these instructions. While I had it apart, I retorqued the bottom ring nut to first then second stage because I had been getting a horrible "clunk" over bumps that was NOT the front brake rotor/abs. After retorquing, the clunking went away (although I'm pretty sure that the bearing races had already taken a beating at that point). Wouldn't the squishy layer between ring nuts allow the bottom one to work itself free or for that matter with the top one that loose with a squish factor between them wouldn't they both be liable to work loose even with the locking finger washer thingy? Just seems a little strange.

the rubber spacer creates a friction surface between the 2 castle nuts.

the lower castle nut holds the assembly together.

the upper castle nut acts as a king of locking nut to decrease the possibility of the lower one backing off.

the clip that rests on top and that has fingers that drop down through the crenelations of the 2 castle nuts keeps them "locked" together instead of needing to gorrilla the top nut into the lower one.

Lock nuts have been used on many different applications over the years. This method lets you lock the top to the bottom yet reduce the risk of galling the aluminum castle nuts.