I hope this may help someone(if it hasn't been mentioned before)

After replacing my steering head bearings on my 04 rev 3(as the top seal was faulty letting in water) I found that the top nut would come loose especially after droping off steps. This was only sometimes accompanied by a single click sound from the front end somewhere which i presumed was the mudguard slapping the tyre.

The nut on inspection seemed to be fine and i could tighten it up very tight with no problem but it would still come loose. I also noticed at trials other bikes which had loose nuts(one was so loose i undid it with my fingers)

Anyway a mechanic friend said that the nut probably had a crack in it but as ive said it looked fine under a magnifying glass and i could do it up very tight with no sign of it jumping a thread.

The importers said that they had not heard of a nut failing like this but i purchased one anyway.

Its now been fitted for four months and been ridden dozens of times and the nut has remained tight.

So there must be a crack in it somewhere and infact the nut must have been jumping a thread.

MIne on my 03 Beta also comes loose regularly, so I have a small line painted on the nut, and on the top yolk, so as soon as it starts coming loose I notice it, and tighten it sooner than later.

Another one of my brilliant ideas...hee-hee

THanks for the tip though...maybe I'll order a new one too , to see if it sorts it.

Yep Ive done that too and also on the collar under the top yoke as mine is new and tight on the frame so used to move with the old nut on. Since fitting the new nut my marks have stayed in line.

But i will keep the marks on as a quick visual check.

Interesting.....

While servicing the steering stem bearings on my 04 200 it seemed to me that both the top nut and the collar that tightens the triple tree to the frame weren't on very tight. thought I would do a search and see what comes up .....

btw

does anyone know what torque specifications are used on the top nut and that collar?? how about on the fork clamps

I'm going to need new bearings ... are these bearings readily available at any bearing shop? I had a suzuki that had steering stem bearing I could only get at the dealer. I'm stateside btw

the threads streach as you tighten them up over the years and they vibrate loose

I had one odd thing happen with my '05. I was getting a slight clunk out of the front end and did the usual snugging of the triple clamp but the clunk kept coming back. What I found was the top triple clamp and the pivot that it rides on were not as snug of an interference fit as usual. I wound one layer of teflon tape around the pivot and that cured the clunk. A little unusual but worth noting.