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I thought to adjust the steering bearings but the column is firmly stuck in the alloy top yoke clamp and wont pull up to tighten the bearings ,is this usual?, Also the Damper knob is loose (again!!) on the damper shaft allowing the damper to drop into the wheel if it vibrates off. Been there done grasstracking at 50 mph with locked to one side steering ,no thanks. How best to lock the knob on?,locktite ?.

I think whats happened is the alloy of the top yoke has spread into the column thread by the action of the nut, going to have to hammer it off.

Locktite is the answer but use one that can be loosened if required to remove knob at a later date.
On my narrow case forks there is a split pin going through holes across the damper lower ears of the bottom yoke, so if the damper rod does undo it cannot fall down.

I assume you have loosened the clamp screw on top yoke, if so yes you may have to use a soft face hammer to shift. Don't forget that when adjusting bearings you must also slacken the fork tube / staunchion clamp bolts to allow the tubes to move with the top yoke .

Hi Jeb, Given up!, put it all back together, hammering up the top yoke was likely to ruin the column thread and the only other option was to pull down the fork legs ,remove R/c seat and tank and turn the top yoke off ,as I have just done the forks twice, I could not face it. With regard to the damper rod dropping down, the split pin only stops the loss of the friction parts and the damper going upwards, if the knob comes off the shaft it will still fall onto the mudguard (if you are lucky!!) I had a very narrow guard and the rod went down one side and jammed the forks in a turn, nasty.Road test next to see how the bike rides with working Fork damping ,new tyres etc. Then to decide if the bust KS gear is going to be a problem and another job.Later=== ride went well, had to bump start though, still got the unreliable tickover ,(splutter stop) ,may look for a short SSI trumpet.