Deej, good call on the bearings and thanks for the help. Thanks to everyone else too.

 

That may have been me Deej. Some where in that long winded response I said that if the bearings weren't pitted just clean them and grease them. Yes your correct they aren't spinning like a wheel bearing but I can't stand rusty parts and since those bearings aren't that expensive ( you can get them much cheaper than the oem ones from the dealership at a bearing supplier ) I personally would replace them if they were pitted while I had it all apart.That looks like the classic example of what happens when you power wash your bike the top bearing is OK and the bottom one gets rusty where the water collects. ADVtouring the play you want to check for isn't up and down it's front to back. Grab the bottom of the forks down by the axle with the front wheel off the ground and try to move the fork front to back. If you feel any play tighten them up until there is no more play then make sure the triple clamp moves freely. You may have to compensate because sometimes when you get all the front to back play out and then tighten the stem nut the bearings become too tight. Check for no play and smooth movement after you have tightened the stem nut. The torque spec is 4.9 Nm or 43 inch lbs, according to the manual for the 09 model. It should be the same for all of them though.

 

ADVtouring I just looked at the manual more closely and that torque spec I posted is incorrect. I was thinking that that didn't seem right so I rechecked it.I just saw the value it gave at the bottom of the paragraph without reading the whole thing. You'd better look at pages 14-8 and 14-9 it explains the procedure. You can download that manual for free off this forum somewhere. Sorry about that.

 

Found it..."Torque Steering Stem Head Nut to 44Nm (4.5 kgfm, 32 ft lb)"