SV650 Steering Stem Nut vs. Pitbull Damper

I purchased a Pitbull damper for my SV and the OEM steering stem nut is supposed to be used, which is fine but it is not open on the top which causes it to be taller and thus not allowing my damper to sit flush. I have the instructions from Pitbull and it shows an open-ended nut that isn't as tall. But all the OEM parts diagrams I have referenced show the nut as being closed at the top.

Where is that open ended nut coming from?

 

They all have closed nuts on each of the diagrams, unfortunately

 

^ This, even the sv1000's. All gens from what I see. The diagram I posted is directly from me contacting Pitbull and that is a screen shot from the instructions they sent me.

 

I cut the top part of the nut off with hacksaw to make it work.

 

That's a GSXR front end in that picture. NOT the stock SV front end. GSXR top clamp nut is open end

Do you have a stock front end or GSXR?

 

The original version(that required drilling) of that mounting kit fit both GSXR 600/750 models('01-'03) and the SV650S so it is possible that the photos are from a GSXR installation. I suspect that our Stabilizer bracket kit was designed to fit steering stem nut: 51353-17G00 rather than 51353-27G00. It appears that one is open and one is not. I'll ask Charlie V if he has any additional insight and follow up if there's anything to add. It sounds like you already applied the hacksaw fix, but just in case someone else runs across this later.

 

Charlie V said that as he remembers it, that cap on the nut is a flimsy piece of sheet metal that can be knocked out with by flipping over the nut and hitting it with a screwdriver and hammer. Hope that helps!

 

Thanks! I'll give it a shot!

 

Are you guys still making the dampers? I didn't see any reference to them on your Web page.

 

Does anyone have the template used to mark where the holes should be drilled into the triple?

 

I used the mount itself and a transfer punch as the template.

 

Did you have to remove the damper from it's mount for the triple? I tried mocking up the mount, damper, and tank mount, marked the holes and drilled them, then when I went to mount the entire thing, the holes weren't quite in the right place and I couldn't mount/ tighten the bolts properly. New triple is on the way and I didn't want to screw that one up too lol.

 

If i remember right i used a pencil and traced the outside of the mount, when everything else was bolted down then removed the damper from the mount, lined everything up and transfer punched.

 

We actually discontinued them this year. We've never produced them at a profit since we started building them, and we weren't willing to sacrifice any features in order to build them cheaper. We also didn't think the price could go any higher so we decided to stop producing them. We'll still do rebuilds for a while since there are a lot of units out there that will need serviced periodically.

 

We've got some of those. Just give us a call and we'll drop one in the mail to you Tim.

 

And that right there is the perfect example of why to do business with pitbull.