I just installed one of these on my steamroller (was going cheap as well), and was having a similar problem without evan getting the bike on the road. I would install the little bugger and there would be play back and forth between the stem and frame. The reason that was happening was that bearings in the retainers are two sizes. I believe the larger bearings need to go on the bottom and the smaller on the top. If you have them switched everything can't fit together and tighten correctly. Maybe go to the Ritchey website to confirm I have the what/where correct, but once I got this straightened out I have had zero problems.