steering stem loose

got a problem with my 76 kz400. the steering stem is loose in "neck" area. i dont know much about this particular subject so i was hoping for some advice. ive tried tightening the large bolt on the top but it seems to just turn and turn without tightening anything. as it is now its very hard to steer like its dragging. there is also alot of play in the front end. ( if you take the weight off the front of the bike the whole front end drops down far enough that the turn stops no longer make contact allowing the handlebars to hit the tank.

theres a nut under the top triple tree you tighten for steering head bearings,sounds like youve got bigger problems though

Thanks for the reply, I'll look for the nut ur talkin about. Does it go around the steering stem?

yes,its under the top triple tree might have to remove tank to get at it

Removal of the tank is recommended.

The nut is as mentioned above. Just under the top triple tree. I am not sure on the torque specs on the 400. The 305 states 22 lb ft.

mooney wrote:

( if you take the weight off the front of the bike the whole front end drops down far enough that the turn stops no longer make contact allowing the handlebars to hit the tank.

If you have that much movement in there, for your own safety, I'd suggest you check out the whole tree instead of just trying to tighten it up.

If it's the stock loose ball bearings and cupped races and some are missing, like I suspect they may be, you could replace the neck bearings with a newer style tapper kit, probably be able to get it from Z1. Pretty inexpensive and a very simple straight forward replacement.

Buy some waterproof grease ahead of time and you can grease the bearings up while you have it apart checking for possible wear on the steering stem, races, and missing ball bearings. Most likely they're dried right out if they're still there.

If you open the tree up and there is already a tapper kit in there you can probably get away with just tightening it up until you have time to actually go in there and repack them with grease. Though running that loose I'd suspect damage to even a taper kit.

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Def a big issue here. sounds like stipped tree threads and missing bearings.
Please dont ride it untill u solve the problem.

I agree with mark. It sounds as if the lower bearings rusted away. Time for tapered steering stem bearings, and maybe a new bolt (or fork tree).Might as well clean all the electrical connections while taking it apart. good luck. Bob

+1 what they said.

U dont need to go out of your way to find tapered bearings. the new bikes still use round ones.i'm not sure why the tapered ones are so popular for an upgrade ? i know the round ones tend to dent the races sometimes, but why do they still use the round ones in the new bikes?
i think Z1e has booth.

You will need a new lower tree. The threads are stripped. I would replace the bearings while you have it apart.