Over the past few outings, I have noticed a clunking noise coming from the front end. Have done all of the usual stuff, headstock, front wheel bearings, tighten forks, check fork internals Check frame mounts, cracks in frame etc, etc, still have clunking sound. Mainly happens when front becomes light. Only other thing I have thought of could be fork stiction?

Any help would be appreciated

You say that you have done the headstock? Have another look - raise front wheels off floor and grab bottom of front fork legs - rock backwards and forwards looking for play. Be careful of sliding fork movement which can mask small amounts of play in the bearings (which is my logic for thinking you may have missed this in your first check)

Even a minute amount of play in the head bearing will cause a knock. Could also be your brake caliper loose.

Cheers, but already checked all the usual places.

Had a similar problem with my 09 EVO. Everything semed fine and I just kept adjusting the head free play until eventually the steering was dragging but the clunk was still there. To try and see what was going on I stripped the head bearing right down but couldn't find anything wrong. I put it back together with new grease and it dissappeared. Been fine ever since. The only thing I could see was that the top bearing seemed slightly skewed on the shaft. May be worth stripping down and greasing.

Edited July 11, 201016 yr by ianwilson

Over the past few outings, I have noticed a clunking noise coming from the front end. Have done all of the usual stuff, headstock, front wheel bearings, tighten forks, check fork internals Check frame mounts, cracks in frame etc, etc, still have clunking sound. Mainly happens when front becomes light. Only other thing I have thought of could be fork stiction?

Any help would be appreciated

have you checked the bar clamps, usually the clunking starts when the yoke nut creeps loose, remember to slacken

the top yoke clamp bolts then nip up the yoke nut

Edited July 11, 201016 yr by 2LLS

Strip the headstock and re grease. Had the same on all my Beta (3 so far). Did this and the clonk disapeared. I had to do it on 2010 Evo too

sounds like the rebound on your forks as they extend out to full length.. empty both legs clean and replace with new oil adjust to handbook..

sounds like the rebound on your forks as they extend out to full length.. empty both legs clean and replace with new oil adjust to handbook..

i done my forks a few weeks ago, i have the same feeling/noise, do you think they need a touch more oil then???

What brand forks are in evo ?

i done my forks a few weeks ago, i have the same feeling/noise, do you think they need a touch more oil then???

If the oil level is too low, that could be the problem. Sometimes the cartridge is not bled properly which will result in

a too-low oil level after riding the bike a short time and loss of rebound damping. A low oil level affects the rebound

damping much more than the compression damping as the piston (which houses the damping assembly) travels down

into the oil under compression and up out of the oil under rebound.

Two other possibilities are that the damper rod (the rod that goes into the cartridge and the top attaches to the cap

on the upper fork leg) is not screwed far enough into the top cap (unusual, but has happened) or, more likely, the "top out"

spring (a small spring above the cartridge piston inside the cartridge) has broken. I've not had the 2010 forks apart yet so

I'm not familiar with any potential problem areas and these are general possibilities.

Unusual for a brand new set of forks to have a problem yet another possibility is that this is a characteristic of this

particular fork (I would be surprized if that were the case, however).

Jon

Edited July 14, 201016 yr by JSE

This is about the only thing I have'nt tried, will let you know the outcome

Cheers

Im not sure what brand fork the Evo has on a 2010....

I had what sounds like the clunking noise you describe on my 2008 Raga.

A call to the Gas Gas man confirmed what Jon suspects. A shim in the inner cartridge on the Marzocchi breaks causing this problem.

Have since found it is happening with 2009 and 2010 Marzocchi. One fellow has replaced three times and the firm doing the repair are now using a spring instead of the original type metal shim.

this only happens to me with my front brake locked. Not when i put i agains a wall and compress or compress with no brake. its not the head or the rotor... going to check the oil level today, hope that clears it up cuz i'm depressed without my baby!

I know this is going to sound realy basic, but make sure its not just the float in the front disc rotor, this is mostly aimed at the guy above.

Adam

I know this is going to sound realy basic, but make sure its not just the float in the front disc rotor, this is mostly aimed at the guy above.

Adam

yah, that was the first thing i checked... it turned out to be a few things. When we'd loosen the clamps it would go away. then the head was a little bit loose upon inspection as well. went through everything, realigned the tubes, tightened the head a touch and it's 98% better. Only little bit left i can attribute to 'stiction' in the initial stroke.

thanks!