Loose steering head

[Dblhelix]

Hi all,

2 weeks on bike and noted a "clunk" up front moving around at slow speeds on 1st day or 2. Read up here on possible clunks from brakes and steering head, decided to give it more time and eval. Noted some chatter/clunk/rattle up front going over road ripples, thought maybe was the windshield or something but then really became suspicious of the steering head. When I lock the front brake and compress/rebound the forks...clunk, clunk on copression/rebound each time felt through bars. Jacked up front of bike last night, grabbed forks and feel/hear clunk when rocking front to back...so I think its pretty clear the steering head is not tightened up right.

Questions:

1. Should I wait for 600 mi service to get all done at once (have 300 mi to go) or bring it in now and have dealer adjust?

2. Anyone have service manual for '08? I do not yet and am curious if the adjustments are the same as below and/or in the link. Also, I am not clear what years of bikes the text below is specific to:

Lower castle nut

initially tighten to: 52 Nm/32 ft/lb

back off 1 revolution

final torque: 18 Nm/13 ft/lb

upper castle nut: finger tight

Stem nut: 115 Nm/85 ft/lb

then reassemble the rest of the parts as speficied.

https://www.dishers.com/2006/08/03/2006-fjr...-and-tightening

My guess is an experienced mechanic could do this adjustment in 1/2 hr or so. I am inclined to bring it in and demand adjustment on the spot.

Sorry if you feel this issue has been beaten to death already on the forum....happy Friday and thanks for the input.

 

[mdisher]

I'm 99.9% certain the 08 is identical to the 06 in this area.

If you post up, there's a likely hood that someone near you already has this tool and may let you borrow it.

-MD

 

[Bungie]

1. Should I wait for 600 mi service to get all done at once (have 300 mi to go) or bring it in now and have dealer adjust?

Bring it to the dealer ASAP. Your bikes under warranty and new. It should've been caught during assembly. 2nd, if its that loose you can be causing additional damage to the bearing/races by waiting. 3rd, its a big safety issue!

 

[El Toro]

1. Should I wait for 600 mi service to get all done at once (have 300 mi to go) or bring it in now and have dealer adjust?

Bring it to the dealer ASAP. Your bikes under warranty and new. It should've been caught during assembly. 2nd, if its that loose you can be causing additional damage to the bearing/races by waiting. 3rd, its a big safety issue!

+1 +1 +1

If its that loose, you may have already peened some balls. They should take responsibility for it. If you have on record that they had to do a warranty adjustment before 600 miles, you should be covered later when the bearings actually fail.

Don't leave this for the 600 mile service.

Don't let someone who is not recognized by Yamaha as an authorized service point touch it.

 

[SouthernCruizer]

Don't panice yet. My '08 had a loose steering head nut. The bearings were torqued correctly, but if that top 39MM nut is loose, it sounds like the entire front end is loose. Torque down the head nut, and hopefully, all will be well.

 

[Foxhuntr]

Mine loosened up after 25,000 miles and I took it right in. They tightened it up and found no damage to the bearings. Cost me $140, however. They said repacking and tightening was a service item (it's on the maint. schedule) and not covered under my YES warranty. S/B covered on a new bike, tho.

 

[Bustanut joker]

Screw waitin' ya just bought it new! Why let em off, take it back and make them earn the money they took from ya.

:jester:

 

[Dblhelix]

Well at the risk of being seen as a nervous nilly, here's the scoop...Brought bike into dealer. Nice crew there, they really looked it over, put bike up, checked things out. Showed me how one would adjust steering head on the bike etc. Its not the steering head in this case. In fact its nothing at all. To my amazement the floating rotors really do allow a few mm's of play back and forth even with the brake locked up. Better safe than sorry when learning a new machine, but I feel a bit silly. All the reading of this problem and that problem can make you start to believe you may have the same! Thanks for the feedback, wanted to provide closure to the thread. All is good at time being, now need to pack some miles on this baby!

 

[zorkler]

I had the same problem on my 05 with 2k on it over 100mph no go . Dealer fix it in no time

 

[DailyCommuter]

Jacked up front of bike last night, grabbed forks and feel/hear clunk when rocking front to back...so I think its pretty clear the steering head is not tightened up right.

Then how do the rotors account for this? They were taken out of the equation if you had grabbed the forks. I hope they checked the steering head nuts before they told you that they weren't the problem, nice of them to show you how to adjust them though. I'd apply that knowledge if I were you, since they choose not to.

 

[Bungie]

Jacked up front of bike last night, grabbed forks and feel/hear clunk when rocking front to back...so I think its pretty clear the steering head is not tightened up right.

Then how do the rotors account for this? They were taken out of the equation if you had grabbed the forks. I hope they checked the steering head bits before they told you that they weren't the problem

Ya! Somebodies talk out their ass. Oh well, so long as your happy with the 'fix'.

 

[v65]

Well at the risk of being seen as a nervous nilly, here's the scoop...Brought bike into dealer. Nice crew there, they really looked it over, put bike up, checked things out. Showed me how one would adjust steering head on the bike etc. Its not the steering head in this case. In fact its nothing at all. To my amazement the floating rotors really do allow a few mm's of play back and forth even with the brake locked up. Better safe than sorry when learning a new machine, but I feel a bit silly. All the reading of this problem and that problem can make you start to believe you may have the same! Thanks for the feedback, wanted to provide closure to the thread. All is good at time being, now need to pack some miles on this baby!

Is this the same group that should have checked it when they assembled the bike? If the forks feel loose when it's on a stand, it's not the calipers.

 

[painman]

Any new bike owner should make sure "everything" is right and not wait on anything. Some make the mistake to wait for the 600 service to get something corrected and then it could be too late. Don't ask me how I know. But something as important as the steering head bearing or any other safety issue, especially don't put off.

The loose head bearing is a common problem with a new FJR as well as other's. I was really not impressed with the way my 06 had been set-up and the flack I had to go through to get it corrected. :angry: Check the Bin-O-Facts on what to do as a new owner. Don't overlook "any" items on that list. PM. <><

Bin-O-Facts

 

[Dblhelix]

You all are right. I will be ordering the Yamaha steering nut wrench and make sure its done properly. Seems pretty straight forward to do/check in any case. Thanks all.