Fork cones: How tight is too tight?

I have a pair of Suzuki K10 forks. They have a 1" threaded steerer tube. I have an off size head tube, and my 1" bearing cups out of my last cruiser didn't fit. So I installed head tube reducers. Here is the issue. My steerer tube would wiggle, even though I had tried to get the top bearing cone tight several times. Today I decided that letting it loose any longer was simply unacceptable. I used a pair of tongue and groove (aka channel lock) pliers to get the cone as tight as I could without completely freezing the forks. I put blue threadlocker on the nut that tightens down against the cone, and also tightened it as tight as I could (used the channel locks on it because I don't have a wrench that will fit it). The steerer tube does not wiggle anymore. The forks move without difficulty, but don't spin free. Is this too tight? Will I damage the bearings? Due to the fact that triple trees are a pita to undo/redo, I'm leaving it as is unless I have further issues with it, just nice to know what others think. It's been kind of a frustrating process adapting these forks to a bicycle, now that they aren't loose anymore, I'm leaving them alone for awhile lol.

The wiggle is definitely coming from the cones. I took the top triple tree clamp off and wiggle the fork. The cone moved, but the adapters and the bearing cones did not. If you're saying that as long as the fork does move when I turn the bars (which it does) that it should be ok, then I'm leaving it alone for now. If it has any future problems, I will look into the bearings or the bearing cups. But its good to hear that its probably ok. As long as the bearings aren't damaged or going to self-destruct, I'm ok with it the way it is. I usually lean into turns anyway. Turning the bars doesn't seem like a good idea with anything motorized lol. Even though you slow down before a turn, you're still under some engine power, and the engine power makes the back wheel want to keep going straight while the front wheel is turning (at least is my thinking anyway). That doesn't sound like the best combination, lol. So anyway, this should be ok now hopefully. Thanks for your input, maniac.

I never learned the no hands trick. The fork doesn't fight me at all. I'm not taking it apart again unless there is a problem.

Well, drove back and forth to work with no problems. The fork still moves without fighting, bike handles pretty much the same, no problems steering or anything. It doesn't wiggle either, so I'm happy with it so far.

So a little bit of an update. I got the idea from another thread here to use loose bearings in the top bearing cup. I believe this will solve my dilemma of the fork wiggling. Its not wiggling right now, but the headset is on as tight as it will go. I think with loose bearings, I can have the headset be regular tightness and the fork can spin freely as it should. Going to look for some extra bearings down in the basement. Think I may find some down there.

I dug around in my basement and found more bearing rings (actually didn't have to dig, I have a few pairs of forks and two of them had a bearing ring on them). They all turned out to be the same size as the bearings I had in there, but that didn't matter. I put them in the top bearing cup loose, and it worked like a charm. The steerer tube doesn't wiggle anymore, and the forks turn freely. Here's how I did it. I took the triple tree off while I already had the fork tubes removed for another repair, greased the bottom cone and bearings and set the triple tree to the side for a minute. I then took a q-tip to spread grease on the top bearing cup. I greased the top cone as well. I then removed bearings from 3 bearing rings to make sure I had enough loose bearings. I put them in one at a time until I had as many as would fit. Then while holding the triple tree in place, I threaded the top cone on. Reassembled my headset and it was a done deal. Very happy with the front end now.

Thanks, Scotto. I'm always keeping an eye on my front end. Its pretty much a habit by now. When the bike started out, the bearing cups were shimmed with sheetmetal. I realized that was a bad idea when the sheetmetal got too springy. Ordered some headset reducers and got the bearing cups properly installed, then had some trouble with the fork wiggling. Even when I tightened the cone down really tight, there still seemed to be a tiny bit of slop. Now with the loose bearings (never thought I would find myself doing that btw lol, knew it was going to be kind of a pita, but it ended up having to be that way), there doesn't seem to be any slop at all. Another trick I've learned since having an odd length steerer tube and having to mix and match headset parts, putting blue loctite on the cap nut (because I cut off the cap part with a dremel to get my headset to fit properly) also helps. But yes, I always have to keep an eye on my front end. I may even need to disassemble it every so often just to clean everything up. There was so much dirt around my lower fork seals, probably from running without fork gaiters (cant stand em, they are ugly and totally ruin the look of my bike at least in my mind). I even put blue loctite on my axle nuts, because the threads are a little short and the loctite helps keep them from loosening. When my forks leaked, oil got in between my axle nuts and they loosened a bit. Hopefully no more leaking after my teardown and cleanup today.

So here is another update. When I put the loose bearings in the top bearing cup, I tightened the cone fairly tight and then put the washer on that slides into the groove and over top of that a cap nut that I had cut the cap off with a dremel. I used blue loctite on the cap nut and called it a day. Well, I've noticed my front end squeaking a bit when I turn the wheel sometimes (not while riding, I never turn the wheel to steer, I lean instead). So I decided to check my forks the other day and sure enough, there was slop in the steerer tube. Yesterday I took the top clamp off and loosened the cap nut, and sure enough, the cone had come loose. I dont understand how the cone was able to back out against the cap nut when it was loctited, but I dont want to take the chance of it happening again. So I found another cap nut in my parts pile and then I tightened the cone again. I didnt put the washer back on, because it wouldn't fit. What I did was put the other cap nut, cap still intact, directly over the cone. The cap nut tightens all the way down against the cone, and with the top clamp in place, the cone and the cap nut should not be able to back out against each other or the top clamp at all. Hopefully this solves my problem for good or for awhile at least.