How to tighten the steering head

[EEL]

My opinion from personal experience here.

The steering stem nut operates very much the same way as an oil filter. Hand tight and then 3/4 of a turn. You dont want to apply too much pressure as this will reduce the lifetime of the bearings. The nut wont be coming loose because the top triple holds it in place. There is a bolt that secures the top triple around the nut.

That being said the rubber provides just enough grip to torque it properly but starts slipping before it gets too tight. Approx 3/4 to a full turn should work.

[KnightofNi]

after reading some of theser responses i think the reason chris told me to use the drift is because of the spanner type nut that rebelpacket mentioned.

My opinion from personal experience here.

The steering stem nut operates very much the same way as an oil filter. Hand tight and then 3/4 of a turn. You dont want to apply too much pressure as this will reduce the lifetime of the bearings. The nut wont be coming loose because the top triple holds it in place. There is a bolt that secures the top triple around the nut.

That being said the rubber provides just enough grip to torque it properly but starts slipping before it gets too tight. Approx 3/4 to a full turn should work.

to do this you would have to remive the top triple correct?

[EEL]

That is correct.I suppose the socket adapter might work without taking off the triple but I dont know if you could trust how tight the nut is on there with the top triple on. That being said, that nut isnt something that readily comes loose so usually its done when your putting in new bearings, lower triple or top triple work.

What is our reasoning behind tightening it?

[KnightofNi]

What is our reasoning behind tightening it?

1) i'm getting a new triple

2) it seems to have a bit of a wobble and i want to see if it came loose (like half the other things on my bike) and just needs to be tightened before replacing the bearings.

[erik822]

Perhaps a stupid questions, but, do you have to remove the front wheel and/or fork legs to tighten the top nut?

[Cider]

MonsterParts added the tool to their catalog when I asked for one:

http://www.monsterparts.com/pc/CI-tripletool/Maintenance/CI-tripletool.html

[KnightofNi]

Perhaps a stupid questions, but, do you have to remove the front wheel and/or fork legs to tighten the top nut?

nope.