middling speed wobble

[bubby-joe]

Out again on Sunaday with friends and came off highway to a 4 way banked left and when I went to straighten up the bike after the turn bike took a very nasty turn to the right and almost put me in the park like the steering was locked.  I came home and rechecked the head bearings and snugged them up and went for a very short ride it was way worse, almost lost it again.  Returned to loosen the bearings and came 1/4 inch looser than it was in the first place and all the problems no seem to have gone but still no bearing slop or excessive play.  I ordered new bearings take a week to get here, coming out of a corner now gyro's back to upright and corners way better slow speed has also improved over what I started with.  Putting a K front end on it is out of the question just getting it back to stone stock would be nice for 30+ on 26-27th of last month its a heck of a machine I should have bought one in the mid 60's to early 70's I'd probably still have it but with a lot more than 84,000 K's or 51.000 miles. Hardly broke in yet.... I think I'll keep it as my last ride. (Very slow learner)

Close to 20 years with little to no maintenance it just takes time to go over it all, the weathers to nice to early to stop now so it's running maintenance for this year and total paint over the winter I should get over 9 months out of this year that's not normal for here as I'm only 90 miles from Alaska as the crow flies.

[ambrose78]

like the steering was locked.

I know exactly what you mean - scary stuff when not expecting it.

 If your bike is in a condition similar to mine then it probably has the original factory grease which will have/be going hard.

At first the steering gets a bit stiff and it makes you think you are having an unco riding day. Then it starts to jam at certain angles.

Service those bearings is my advice. There are some guides on here for reference. Be aware the centre Allen bolt on top of the triple clamp will need a good quality strong and long wrench and possibly a breaker bar or extension of some sort to 'crack' it - it's handy to have someone to hold the bike at this point. Other than that the job is pretty straight forward and takes and hour or two muddling around in the garage.

In the Interim/ and or for diagnosis purposes there is a little hole usually with a flimsy dust cap in the head tube behind the headlight - squirt some wd40 or similar loosening oil in. The steering should free up considerably and stop locking in certain positions.

That should get you by for a week or two if you don't have the time immediately but test it at low speeds in a safe spot first.