What’s up with my front end??

takehikes

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New to XS650 but not motorcycles (riding and building 50 plus years).
Have an 81 Special II. I just found two lock nuts on top of the stem. Manuals I have are unclear but seems way wrong to me.
Secind thing is I wonder why the left fork has bosses for a brake yet it’s a wire wheel single disc bike. Inquiring minds want to know!
 

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They all came the mounting bosses for the left caliper but US models didn't have dual disc, the jam nuts on the stem are what actually sets the bearing preload.
 
Both things are indications of a "Frankenbike".

The double locknut on the top triple clam is just laziness/poor practice/field expedient fix that never got fixed right. CORRECTION: I see you're talking about the stem and also that it IS a bolt/nut on the top triple clamp. Doh.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong (going on memory, a risky thing at the best of times) but aren't the calipers on an XS on the trailing side of the leg? Looks to me like A) lowers are swapped from side to side and B) the lowers came off a dual-disk bike. Again, probably a "fix" that the dreaded PO never got around to doing right.

Which, BTW, means the wheel is in bass-ackwards too.
 
The double steering stem nuts are correct. The bottom one sets the tension on the bearings then you lock the top one against it to hold it there. But, you'll want to pull the nuts off and inspect them because they're special and should go together a certain way. When you examine the nuts, you'll notice that one side has a pretty good bevel around the I.D., the other side is mostly flat .....

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You want to install these beveled side facing beveled side, so the two beveled sides are tightening against one another. They will tighten up more progressively and with more "feel" this way. Also, this presents a flat side down on the bottom nut to better preload the bearings and a flat side up on the top one to better support the top triple tree.
 
Both things are indications of a "Frankenbike".

The double locknut on the top triple clam is just laziness/poor practice/field expedient fix that never got fixed right. CORRECTION: I see you're talking about the stem and also that it IS a bolt/nut on the top triple clamp. Doh.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong (going on memory, a risky thing at the best of times) but aren't the calipers on an XS on the trailing side of the leg? Looks to me like A) lowers are swapped from side to side and B) the lowers came off a dual-disk bike. Again, probably a "fix" that the dreaded PO never got around to doing right.

Which, BTW, means the wheel is in bass-ackwards too.
I think the picture is a little deceptive, his caliper is trailing ( look at the direction of the speedo drive cable leading back to the bike) They all came with tabs for dual disc but not all bikes had dual disc, My 80 especial II also has tabs on both lowers but only has single disc (right side)
 
I had heard that possibly they all came with the left fork leg ready for dual disc but were delivered with single. I'm good with that, I'll get them machined off.
As for the double top nut never have run across that but kind of makes sense. Seems overkill though since you also have a bolt holding it all together.
Either way thanks for the info.
 
In looking at the pic, it appears that one can adjust the steering stem preload without removing the fork crown is this correct? My steering feels somewhat loosey-goosey (technical term) at times. If my supposition is correct, that might be a quick project for a warm day.

Mike
 
In looking at the pic, it appears that one can adjust the steering stem preload without removing the fork crown is this correct? My steering feels somewhat loosey-goosey (technical term) at times. If my supposition is correct, that might be a quick project for a warm day.

Mike
Mike, that's correct. You should still loosen and retighten the upper triple tree but removing it isn't necessary if you have the right hook spanners. Personally if my steering were loose I would tear it apart and replace the ball bearings with tapered rollers from All Balls, but I'm not a fan fan of the old ball bearing setup.
 
In looking at the pic, it appears that one can adjust the steering stem preload without removing the fork crown is this correct?

FWIW when I do that job I always loosen the bolt above the steering stem and the three top yoke - aka top tree? - pinch bolts, then adjust, then snug everything back up again. Not a lot of extra effort. Cheers, Raymond
 
And speaking about adjusting these notched ring nuts, you really should use the proper hook spanner wrench, and you really need two of them. You want/need one to hold the bottom adjusted nut so it doesn't move (and throw your adjustment setting off) as you tighten the top nut down against it with the second wrench. The ring nuts have about a 40mm diameter so a 40-42mm size spanner is ideal. But, I found the next size up, a 45-52mm spanner, fits just fine and works well. That's good because this size is readily and cheaply available off eBay .....

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https://www.ebay.com/itm/45-52-For-...284909?hash=item1f0be10ead:g:1NoAAOSwXA9eU9y7
 
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