Re: Front end noise

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Fred, I did the Furber fix with a washer supplied by Paul and found in my particular case that I had the best results by tightening the lower nut to only about 3-4 ft.lbs. I then did the second one up to 30 ft. lbs. and then just did the top stem nut tight by hand. It woudn't be more than 50 ft.lbs. My first attempt was 10, 40 respectively for the 2 lower nuts. That produced an obvious weave at low speed and too heavy steering. Second shot was 6, 40 which was much better. Only slight weave and steering effort was really close to OEM. I didn't take a great deal of notice on how the bars bounced or otherwise, as it is difficult to objectively use this as a perfect guide till you ride the bike. I also believe having the steering on the very slightly loose side was more effective than having it too tight. Basically I found if you could ride the bike without any tank slapping wobbles when letting go of the handlebars as you decellerate from about 50 mph to 30 or less and the steering still felt nice but not overly firm youv'e got it right. I believe there are too many variables such as one guys torque wrench or even technique differences, the tool used for tightening as you asked about, the precise condition of the head bearings and other components such as tyres, forks etc. Just play till you have no wobbles on decel and a smooth steering action that is not too firm obviously without knocks from excessively loose bearings. Sam Blumenstein #795 Frederick Wilson wrote:      A follow-up on front end noise (metal to metal contact) caused by striking sharp bumps. I performed a Furbur fix and the noise is gone but several questions remain. In order to prevent the front forks from bouncing when they fell against their  stop I had to use much more than ten ft-lbs (est.) of torque. I can"t detect any low speed weave but the steering is noticeably heavier. Should I back off on the bottom nut? Also:What is the torque spec for the top stem nut? Yamaha calls for 80 ftlbs which made the front end a little stiffer.Has anyone tried to use a torque wrench with the factory spanner? The arrangement would appear to give a mechanical advantage to the wrench and create false readings.                                  Thanks for the help, Fred Wilson