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Tight steering and speedo re-set Tight steering and speedo re-set
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Yamaha Tech Originally the Yamaha XT600 Tech Forum, due to demand it now includes all Yamaha's technical / mechanical / repair / preparation questions.
Photo by George Guille, It's going to be a long 300km... Bolivian Amazon

I haven't been everywhere...
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Photo by George Guille
It's going to be a long 300km...
Bolivian Amazon



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  #1  
Old 1 Dec 2006
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Question Tight steering and speedo re-set
I don't see this problem in past threads, so I would like to know if any others have had this problem. My steering has tightened (gotten hard or stiff) at the steering head. This seemed to happen after a light drop of the bike, but could have been due to travel on exceptionally rough, rocky trail. The tightening leemed to loosen some after a few miles of hiway riding, but is still stiff. I have checked for cable drag, and all are loose so there is no binding there. I loosened the lock and adjusting nuts and the unit loosened up and felt fine. However when I re-tighten everything to the called for specs the unit tightens up again. Any help would be welcome.
The other problem is that I have lost the screw on the odometer re-set knob. I have even contacted Yamaha, but nobody can tell me what screw I need. It apears to be about 2mm X 40mm, but I am not sure. Paarts like that are hard to find in the middle of Wyoming, so I will have to order one from somewhere so I will need to know the exact size. If anyone knows the size please relay that information.
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  #2  
Old 2 Dec 2006
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Steering
Maybe you should go ahead and check your steering head bearing to see if they are greased, if yours is a US bike it is a bit old. Then if everything is in good shape adjust the steering head bearing till it steers right for you. Too tight steers bad...too loose it clunks over bumps. It may sound crude but a drop of super glue will hold your speedo knob on. Also if anyone breaks the reset knob a small piece of small diameter fuel or vacum line will patch it. (once again super glue the pieces together)
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  #3  
Old 2 Dec 2006
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You need to make sure when you tighten up the head-bearing lock nut you don't also move the one underneath as that will load up the bearing and make it stiff. With the right amount of tension in the head races (free to move but not so loose there's a clunk, not so tight they start to get stiff) hold the lower nut then tighten the upper nut onto it.

If you first noticed the stiffness after a fall just check the forks are straight in the yokes too
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Old 4 Dec 2006
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Thanks
Thanks for the info. Rick, this one uses a single lock on the bearing, but I will watch to make sure there is no movement when I tighten the shaft lock nut. Thanks for the heads up. Bill, your right it is a bit old, 1990. Good bike though. I pulled it apart and the bearings are not shot, but not too good either. I have new ones ordered and I think that will fix the problem. They look like Yamaha missed them with grease when the bike was built. Both upper and lower were totally dry and the bottom had scared the race quite badly. The bike has about 40K on it. When I pulled the stearing apart for the repair there, I took the speedo out and looked at it closer. It does notwork like I had thought it did, and I think the crude, but affective, super glue fix might work. Though I have a 5 gal tank on the bike, I still need my odometer fuel guage working. Thanks again, I will post how things work out so all will know. Cross Eagle
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  #5  
Old 4 Dec 2006
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Steering head bearings
Yamaha probably diddn't put much grease in the bearings brand new. There is the bit about over greasing ball bearing that rotate. Too much grease can cause excess heat. Unfortunately they also don't grease bearings that don't ever rotate a full revolution. So for other riders out there a regreasing of your steeringhead bearings could save some expense and hassel in the future.
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Old 4 Dec 2006
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It's been a while since I had an XT but as far as I can remember there is a ring-nut under the top yoke (that you need a C spanner for, the type often used for setting rear shock spring pre-load) The top yoke sits on top of it, but on top of that is another nut. It's the combination of these two that act as nut and lock nut. You set the bearing adjustment by turning the ring nut until there's no play, then, without moving anything, tighten the top nut to lock it all down tight. New bearings and spot of grease will work wonders.
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  #7  
Old 19 Dec 2006
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Smile Returned info was on the money.
Just want you all to know that the new bearings fixed the stearing and I have my old XT back. Also, the super-glue trick worked on the speedo re-set. Thanks again for all the help. Cross Eagle
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