# Headset won't tighten???



## SADJ (Jul 29, 2004)

When I lock the front brake and rock the bike back and forth I feel a bit of wobble that I think is coming from my headset (raceface threadless). At least I think it's the headset, although I suppose it could be my fork bushings, but I doubt it. In any case, I tried to tighten the headset a bit by loosening the stem bolts and tightening the headscrew down a bit. Starting from completely loose, I went little by little up to a point where I felt that I was going to break something if I went any tighter. Nothing... Handlebars still turned freely, no noises, but the wobble is still there. It appears as though my headset won't tighten. Is this possible? Should I take the whole thing appart, or what? I'm at a loss. Any help is appreciated.


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## Fat Elvis (Jan 14, 2004)

*I ain't no expert, but....*

I can think of three possibilities off the top of my head.
1. Something else is loose, like your fork bushings, your brake mount, your front hub, or qr.
2. The bearings in the HS are shot, or something like that.
3. You ovalized your headtube, possibly because you went riding with a loose headseat. Let's hope that's not the case.

Maybe a pro could check in, but those are the most likely problems.


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## mtb_biker (Jan 27, 2004)

SADJ said:


> When I lock the front brake and rock the bike back and forth I feel a bit of wobble that I think is coming from my headset (raceface threadless). At least I think it's the headset, although I suppose it could be my fork bushings, but I doubt it. In any case, I tried to tighten the headset a bit by loosening the stem bolts and tightening the headscrew down a bit. Starting from completely loose, I went little by little up to a point where I felt that I was going to break something if I went any tighter. Nothing... Handlebars still turned freely, no noises, but the wobble is still there. It appears as though my headset won't tighten. Is this possible? Should I take the whole thing appart, or what? I'm at a loss. Any help is appreciated.


My guess is you need a spacer on top of your stem. What might be happening is you don't have enough space on top of your stem so when you start tightening down your headset bolt, it can't suck up enough of the fork to make the connection tight. Add a spacer to the top/bottom of your stem and try the process again.


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## Mike T. (Dec 30, 2003)

mtb_biker said:


> My guess is you need a spacer on top of your stem. What might be happening is you don't have enough space on top of your stem so when you start tightening down your headset bolt, it can't suck up enough of the fork to make the connection tight. Add a spacer to the top/bottom of your stem and try the process again.


He should check that his steerer is down below the top of the stem by 3-5mm.


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## ConorD (Feb 23, 2004)

*Grease the headscrew*



SADJ said:


> When I lock the front brake and rock the bike back and forth I feel a bit of wobble that I think is coming from my headset (raceface threadless). At least I think it's the headset, although I suppose it could be my fork bushings, but I doubt it. In any case, I tried to tighten the headset a bit by loosening the stem bolts and tightening the headscrew down a bit. Starting from completely loose, I went little by little up to a point where I felt that I was going to break something if I went any tighter. Nothing... Handlebars still turned freely, no noises, but the wobble is still there. It appears as though my headset won't tighten. Is this possible? Should I take the whole thing appart, or what? I'm at a loss. Any help is appreciated.


If you are getting alot of resistance on the headscrew and the heaset is not binding up (hard to turn the handlebars), then you should grease the headscrew as well as check all the other suggestions in the other posts.


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