Originally Posted by
wildersfam
2 - check, have at least 3 mm space at top, maybe more like 5 mm....
4 - hmmm...interesting thought. I'll have to take a closer look at this suggestion. I'll try a longer bolt.
5 - check, the spacers don't seem to be an issue, as I've switched them out for clean, AL ones for testing purposes. Though some of the carbon spacers I have don't seem to be completely flat.
The loose stack problem makes me wonder as well, wish the problem was a little more obvious... My perception is that there is minimal play at the crown when I press the fork upwards, but it's really hard to tell.
If the top cap bolt is running out of thread,
you don't want a longer one, but a shorter one, or push the plug deeper for the same result. You can easily test the length of the top cap screw.
Remove enough spacers so the steerer sticks out. See if you can tighten the top cap bolt until the top cap touches the steerer. If so you know for sure it can press down on spacers 3-5mm higher than that.
While you're at it tighten the top cap bolt with the cap beached on the top of the steerer (no spacers). The bolt should tighten hard as it bottoms out, if you can continue to turn it, it'll draw the expander up, which may be the problem. Tighten the expander by degrees trial and error until you cannot draw it it up except by torquing beyond what you expect to need to set the headset preload.
I doubt it's the crown race, but it should have needed a bit of force to press on. If it did it's OK and there's no need to check again.