www.zxrworld.co.uk

How tight does this nut have to be? The manual says 4.9 Nm but I don't have a torque wrench atm. Is it just a case of doing it up finger tight then nipping it up, or does it have to be quite tight?

You on about the washer for the headstock? The way I did it was to full tighten it down to compress the bearings. Tight enough so the wheel can't move, locked solid. The I undid it till I felt comfortable with the steering. I've noticed that it needs tightening again now as the bearings compress futher do to riding on the the road, so beware of that also.

i d be worried about damaging the bearings/races doin it like that Scott.
I just make sure the new bearings are seated right using an old correct sized socket as a drift, then tighten it all up by hand, then a touch with the tools. then just grab the forks and see if there is any play or notchiness in the steering.adjust from there. I would always go for the kawasaki bearings too, not the cheaper pattern stuff

jake wrote:i d be worried about damaging the bearings/races doin it like that Scott.

Nah it was fine. I don't mean stupidly tight anyway as if I remember correctly theres plastic in the equation. A good metal drift is useful aswel to hammer those bearings home.

Actually the manual does say to tighten it up, lossen it off, then re-tighten to correct torque. I used the old bearings to get the new ones in cos I didn't have a big enough socket. If it wasn't tight enough would the play be up and down?

hciR wrote:How tight does this nut have to be? The manual says 4.9 Nm but I don't have a torque wrench atm. Is it just a case of doing it up finger tight then nipping it up, or does it have to be quite tight?

I done this 3 weeks ago and tried using the manuals 4.9Nm torque setting.
It was not tight enough and rocking the bike back and forward with the brake on you could feel a knock at the stem.
All you can do is tighten them a bit at a time until there is no play and no knocking while braking.