Ride, Wrench, Swap, Race
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Northern California
Posts: 9,194
Bikes: Cheltenham-Pedersen racer, Boulder F/S Paris-Roubaix, Varsity racer, '52 Christophe, '62 Continental, '92 Merckx, '75 Limongi, '76 Presto, '72 Gitane SC, '71 Schwinn SS, etc.
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Probably NOT the problem, but surfrider's mention of a lost ball reminded me of where a lost ball can end up, between the steerer and head tube wall, making headset adjustment pretty impossible.
As long as the top cap bolt isn't running out of threads during tightening (most are fully threaded), I agree with the others here that most likely the spacers are insufficient and thus the cap is bottoming on the end of the steerer before bearing pre-load is achieved during tightening.
If the headset was ridden for a while off road with looseness, a bearing cup may have gotten hogged out enough to allow radial "floating" of the bearing in the cup. My FSA lower cup suffered this exact malady, which could not be cured through subsequent adjustment.