'65 FLH Steering Head Adjusting Nut

[Garym]

Hello,
Is there a spanner wrench available to adjust the steering head nut, without having to remove my handlebar bracket, and upper fork bracket?

I'm open to suggestions, on how to adjust the nut, with the least amount of disassembly.

Thanks,
Gary

[Lloyd]

I have used a thin punch or screwdriver and a hammer............... Lloyd

[Garym]

Thanks Lloyd. I was using a small screwdriver and hammer. It's slow going. I guess I need more patience.
Gary

[motorhead1]

Don't forget to loosen the lower clamp pinch bolts! (With the frame blocked up of course.)

[Robert Luland]

Gary what nut are you talking about. The flat one with the star hub on it under the top tree or the damper nut on top of the top tree. Bob

[Garym]

Hi Bob,

It's the "head bearing nut", under the top tree. I have the non-adjustable fork. The one you refer to as the "damper nut" is a 1-1/2" nut. I have not found info, in the service manual, on how to adjust the damper nut. Would this be a "trial and error" road test adjustment?

The problem I having, is I get a wobble, at about 40 mph. It's barely detectable, but if I remove my hands, it will get worse. It's OK at freeway speeds. If I tighten the head bearing nut, this problem will go away, but now when I am slowing down, from about 25 mph to 0, I experience a very low frequency wobble, or side to side drift of the motorcycle.
I have never experienced this type of handling, before.

Thanks,
Gary

[portagepan]

First off Gary, good luck. There are a lot of wear items that can affect the steering. I had to give up the old style tires on mine, and use the new Dunlop Harley Davidson tires. I would set the steering head to specs, and if that didn't do it, I wouldn't tighten them myself. Mine didn't shake, it would just wobble one way or the other. My '72 Harley FLH dips to one side or the other, while going straight. That is a fork issue, and not steering related. I know one thing: do not ever go to an oversized tire on the rear of these bikes. Even one size wider will overwhelm the marginal components of these heavy machines. I am sure you know the list of everything that can affect the handling, so if you have skipped anything, then you are just going to get frustrated chasing this problem, until you have completely checked everything on it. And besides that, it is just plain dangerous.
Mike

[Rubone]

Gary,
Be sure to check the swingarm bearing adjustment. And set the fork bearing up with no play but also no preload. Front wheel needs to be off the ground for any adjustments. If the steering is too tight and the swingarm loose the whole thing will handle like it has a hinge in the middle. Lots of handling problems come from the rear end. Check wheel alignment and wheel bearing play as well. And believe Mike when he says tires are an issue.
Robbie

[Paps]

I'm in total agreement with Mike.

[Lonnie]

You can also raise the front end and set "fall-away" as you tighten the nut. That is how the new bikes are adjusted and it is how I originally set up my '50. If you have still have the same problem after making sure the swingarm bearings are good and have discounted all other issues, you may want to check the front forks for straightness of the tubes and for excess play in the sliders.

I had a '72 in 1977 with similar problems and it was traced to slightly bent tubes - the bike felt it was leaning slightly on a straight road, drifted to the left when hands were removed and had a very slight wobble. Took me forever to figure it out.

[Robert Luland]

Gary,
Unfortunately, you are sort of screwed in your situation. The stem nut has loosened and there is only one way to tighten it up. You are going to have to pull the top tree to in order to adjust it properly. Now I am going to let you in on a little secret - we've had massive amounts of problems with this over the years. The lower nut will always work itself upward through movement and allow the tree to become loose again. The factory had the answer to this problem but never completely followed through. If you look at the top tree you will notice there were three holes around the center hole. What you need to do is run a 1/4 - 20 tap down all three of these and insert 1/4" x 1/2" set screw in the one that lines up with the star below. This will lock up that nut from ever moving again. It is my assumption that the factory always meant to do this but never followed through. As far as low and high speed wabble go, you swing arm doesn't have much to do with it unless it is totaled. Keep in mind this is Timken bearing. Very rarly would this play out. But what will have an effect on that, but you don't realize because you can't feel it, is loose spokes. If you jack up your bike and just take your hands and grab the wheel and thrust it back and forth- if it moves the spokes are loose. This is not uncommon but you cannot feel it until the wheel is off the ground. The rear wheel is more prone to this problem. Hope this helps - BOB

[Garym]

Thanks Bob, and thanks to everyone else. I need to do some checking. I installed new swing arm bearings, a year ago, and adjusted the tension, according to the manual. It's been about 2000 miles, since I put this thing back together. I will check the spokes, and I have yet to check the wheel alignment. What about the top 1-1/2" nut...Is this truly for dampening, and what proceedure would you recommend for adjusting it?
Gary

[Rubone]

Gary,
The top nut is not a damper and is intended to be very tight! The damper is a whole different affair and is only used with sidecar equipped bikes. On your bike the adjustment needs to be done, then the lock tab goes on top of the tree and the nut tightened. After the nut is tight the edge of the adjuster needs to be bent up to hold the nut from turning. Before you bend it up though, check the adjustment as often tightening the nut changes it. The top nut sandwiches all the parts together and keeps them from moving, at least in theory. Re-adjust as necessary to get it right. It can be fiddly so take your time. The nut for a damper assembly looks like it is splined and should not be on your bike.
Good luck!
Robbie