i just recently bought a Surly Steamroller (with a 1-1/8" fork), which has the first threadless fork i have ever had. I bought a new stem that has a better rise/reach for me and it looked to me like it would be a super-simple swap out job. I removed the star bolt and placed the new stem on the fork. I tried tightening down the hex bolts on the stem itself and then tightened the star bolt to add the cover.

Somehow, the stem doesn't seem to be tightened down tight enough on the fork. Are you not supposed to be able to move (rotate) the spacers around the steerer tube? Does that confirm that the stem isnt putting enough downward force on the spacers/headset cups?



I then went on to try to swap out the handlebars into the new faceplate, and although the brochure that came with the stem says it can accomodate my bar diameter, i am not able to get the faceplate to tighten down to close the gap between the plate and the stem. Is this normal? Do any other Mutant Stem owners have the same issue? I was kinda ok with this, until i tried to put weight on the handlebars, and they began to rock downwards. I've attached some pictures from above and below the stem to demonstrate this gap.





I guess i have two questions. #1) Is there an order to which you are supposed to tighten the stem bolts, star bolt when installing a new stem? Do you need to push down with alot of force to get everything pretty tight? Is there a tool/technique that can help with this? Rubber Mallet? I dont wanna **** up the stem's paint job.



#2) Is there a way to secure bars in this type of stem/faceplate? I almost stripped the hex bolt trying to tighten it all together. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!