Headstock bearings

Help! my new S3 needs an adjustment to the headstock bearings, my dealer says it's maintenance (past 6 mos) and wants to charge me for it. I am cheap ,AND I like to DIY so..has anyone done this themselves on an 02 or newer S3? If so how ,what, tools,ect. also the Haynes manual only covers up to year 2000 would that be the book to get or should I bite the bullet and pay for it? :???:

[beers2u]

From what I can tell, this is a "feature" of this particular Triumph. The headstock nut seems to loosen itself (maybe loctite would help?). I've had to tighten mine twice in the 2700 miles I've had 'er. My friends '99 is the same way. The symptom is the clunk (or click) when you apply/let off the front brake. A thin 17mm open end wrench will fit the pre-02's but not yours (or at least not my '04). It's too thick to fit. I went ahead and bought a Triumph tool for $30 from my dealer and just keep it in the toolkit.

What happened to the two year unlimited mileage warranty?

I guess a warranty doesn't cover loose bolts. Maybe it only covers the head after it cracks from leaking and the cyclinder after it gets filled with radiator fluid.

Why waste warranty work on preventive maintenance? If the thing breaks they probably make money off Triumph for warranty service.

They don't want to lose future income by tightening a bolt when they can wait and get a couple grand in parts and labor at a later date.

If the thing breaks I'll probably crash and die, then my relatives will sue triumph for 94 Kazillion dollars....

[beers2u]

Ooops. It's not 17mm as I mentioned in my previous post, I just measured the Triumph tool and it's 38mm.

My headstock bearing has also loosened up, to adjust it is easy though.

First, loosen up the two allen bolts on the upper triple clamp clamping down on the fork tubes.

Then you will need to loosen up the top headstock nut, which is a round nut with a bunch of small holes around the circumference. You can buy a tool to do this from off of the internet (forgot the site, but it is on this forum somewhere!) The tool is a socket that has pegs to fit into the holes on the nut. Lososen it up, and take it off.

The upper triple clamp can then be lifted up to see the lower adjustment nut. You tighten that nut until you don't feel the "clunk" anymore when you brake, this may take some trial and error. Don't over tighten the nut thinking more is better, as you can overtorque it and cause it to break prematurely.

After a couple of times of tightening the headstock bearing a little, then putting the whole thing back together, and going for a test drive, and again, you will get it so that it doesn't clunk anymore, and you can just make sure everything is tight and have some fun!

Done and done. It sounds worst than it is. :-D

[kdguy]

This is warranty work! Don't let them tell you different. In the 14 months I've had my S3, my dealer has adjusted the head bearing no less than 5 times. I've now got new head bearings on order (again warranty work). This problem is endemic to the S3 and Daytona. I'm guessing once someone starts a lawsuit in the USA, Triumph will eventually recall all the effected bikes for repair. Sad someone has to get hurt before they implement a permanent fix.

[beers2u]

Hey Heckeng,

If you have the Triumph open end wrench (or one that is similarly thin) you don't need to remove that weird nut on top. It is then a 10 second job and there is no way in the world I'm going to a dealer every thousand miles for warranty work when I can do it myself so easily.

got it done today ,had to buy a 36mm socket and the Triumph tool of course....Still it's cheaper and quicker than having a dealer do it. thanks guys

True, you don't NEED to loosen up the upper triple clamp, you can get a thin wrench on the upper headstock adjustment nut. BUT once you tighten it, what is keeping that nut tight? Nothing. . . that is why to do it right, and keep from having to adjust the headstock bearings every couple hundred miles or so, you let the upper triple clamp be the locking device. If you have the upper triple clamp lose, tighten up the adjustment nut, then tighten the triple clamp down against the adjustment nut using the Triumph tool, or the skyking tool (the one I bought--works great, but expensive), then re-tighten the outer triple clamp allen bolts.

There should only be three reasons that the headstock bearings would keep getting lose. Either the bearing races are not fully pressed into the frame and are moving, the bearings are falling apart or wearing very heavily, or the headstock adjustment nut is loosening up.

1. If the bearing races are still moving, eventually they will bottom out into the correct position in the frame and no more adjustments will be necessary.

2. If the bearings are wearing out---we're all screwed!! At least to the extent of having to get new bearings.

3. If the headstock nut keeps loosening up, that's whomever is adjusting it's fault for not using something to lock it in place--the upper triple clamp!

Don't get me wrong, the nut may be able to be tightened up and stay in place without the use of the upper triple clamp, but you never know, and that is how it was designed to be used, otherwise why would you even need that center nut on the triple clamp? If it wasn't being used for locking purposes, you could just have a triple clamp with only the outer two fork clamping bolts. :wink: