How tight to make steering stem adjuster nut?

wrote:

I like All Balls Racing but it was said they were made in China so I looked it up. THEY ARE MADE IN CHINA. 

  I had Timken bearings as we did in the day but after sitting 15 years the steering was a little notchy so I replaced them with the All Balls kit. I had to use a shim to use the kit. Will be going back to the Timken;s or find a German source. 

Steve

 I use their steering head bearings Steve, I just refuse to use the Chinese wheel bearings, I've never used them but have read of a few instances where they've failed...
 

They failed on me.
Steve

650ed, what tool did you use to apply the torque value to the adjusting ring, was it home made or a factory tool?
This would be good info for the forum as almost everyone changes over to tapers when doing frame up rebuilds.
I mean no offense to anyone here but feel the need to point out using a hook and baggage scale is absolutely not the way to do it,.
The hook tool is a lever introducing leverage, ie a torque multiplier. the weight figure of the scale has no correlation to the torque figure applied to the collar.

wrote:

I mean no offense to anyone here but feel the need to point out using a hook and baggage scale is absolutely not the way to do it,.
The hook tool is a lever introducing leverage, ie a torque multiplier. the weight figure of the scale has no correlation to the torque figure applied to the collar.

I fully admit that it's very far from a precision instrument, but your statement is incorrect.  

Torque is measured in foot-pounds or newton-meters.  The units themselves show that torque is the length of the lever multiplied by the force applied to the end of the lever.  A lever that is 1 foot long, with a force applied of 10 pounds at the 1 foot mark, gives you a torque of 10 ft-lbs.  A 2 foot long lever with a force of 5 pounds still gives you a torque of 10 ft-lbs.  The lever length and weight of the scale are directly correlated to the applied torque.

I used the shock adjusting wrench that came in my tool kit.  It's about 6" long, or 1/2 of a foot.  And say I want to apply a torque of 15 ft-lbs to the steering stem locknut.  That means I need to apply 30 pounds of force at the 6" point on the hook wrench.  If I confirm that my scale is accurate to within +/- 2 pounds, my final torque will be accurate within +/-1 ft-lbs.  That's fine for a range of 11-18 on the 650.

When I did this I measured from the center of the steering tube to the exact point on the hook wrench where I pulled with the scale, and marked that point with a pen.  I used this measured length to calculate the weight I needed to pull with the scale to achieve the desired torque.  This is a perfectly valid way to apply a known and measured torque.  

wrote:

The hook tool is a lever introducing leverage, ie a torque multiplier. the weight figure of the scale has no correlation to the torque figure applied to the collar.

Yes, the tool is a multiplier and it will work just fine if you do a little math. If the tool is 12 inches long, and the scale shows 1 pound, you have one foot-pound. If the tool is six inches long, and the scale shows one pound, you have 1/2 foot-pound.

wrote:

650ed, what tool did you use to apply the torque value to the adjusting ring, was it home made or a factory tool?This would be good info for the forum as almost everyone changes over to tapers when doing frame up rebuilds.I mean no offense to anyone here but feel the need to point out using a hook and baggage scale is absolutely not the way to do it,.The hook tool is a lever introducing leverage, ie a torque multiplier. the weight figure of the scale has no correlation to the torque figure applied to the collar. 

Here's what I used.  Notice that the length of the wrench changes a little as the torque setting on it is changed.  Ed   

I use the lever & luggage scale method in situations I can't get a real torque wrench the fastener. When in doubt, you can connect your contraption to a known good torque wrench and check accuracy.

Just put the adapter 90 degrees to the torque wrench beam.
No math necessary.

That 90 degree thing doesn't seem right, and they seemed to speed up the video at that critical point. I feel like the crows foot is probably pretty close at 90, but if you have a really long offset like 650Ed's is that still accurate?

But I'm even more surprised by this one about where to hold the wrench.  With a bending beam torque wrench I get it, but I don't understand why it matters with a click wrench.  Why does it matter?

Snapon Techangle Electronic Torque Angle Wrench Owner's Manual.
www.ubtech.org/ubt/_zumu_user_doc_cache/...torque_wrench001.pdf
 





This adapter is almost a foot long.

That is very surprising and totally fascinating.  I have no intuition for why that works.

I tighten just until the bars do not flop side to side, or just very slowly depending on the bike.  If the forks freely flop to the stops they are too loose.