2002 road king drivetrain alignment

[oldscoolz]

i'm waiting on the swingarm bearings to reassemble everything. dolt, where are you attaching the flat steel to the frame to make sure the frame is level. is it common for the top frame rails to be out of true with the steering head?

regarding adjusting the horizontal (or lateral) position of the drivetrain with the front motor mount, are you saying that moving the front of the engine to the left will move the swingarm and rear wheel to the left in the rear fender well? if so, this is a major difference from my understanding. i don't think moving the front of the engine to the left slides the swingarm to the left on the swingarm axle. i think the swingarm is designed to allow the axle to pivot in the rubber biscuits where the ends of the axle sit in the biscuits. the biscuits sit in the swingarm brackets and are a point of attachment of the drivetrain to the chassis. so a move to the left at the front of the engine causes the swingarm and rear wheel to move to the right in the rear fender well. the pivot point is where the swingarm axle sits in the rubber biscuits.

are you sure of your information? have you changed the front engine adjustment and observed what happens to the rear wheel position in the rear fender well? i can see from your pics that you moved the position of your rear wheel in the fender well to the right. what exactly did you do to make that happen? i'd like to hear that without changing anything else, you lengthened the front adjusting screw, that moved the front of the engine to the right, and then when you looked at the rear wheel, it had moved to the right in the rear fender well.

appreciate your comments. i'd love to know definitively how this works. we danced around this before without resolving it. i figured i'd just find out when i got further into it on the project. i should know for sure pretty soon as i start puttin it all back together. when i press the swingarm bearings in, i'm going to try to position them so the swingarm is as far to the right as possible. i'll bottom the right sided bearing and leave a little room on the left side. once i've got the swingarm in, i'll check the alignment. if it's off, i'll adjust the front end left or right and tell you what happens.

i'm still thinkin that my misalignment may all be due to improper assembly of the swingarm. i mentioned before that the swingarm axle wasn't pulled all the way into the right biscuit. this allowed some play but when i reassembled everything, it didn't significantly change the position of the swingarm in the fender well. when i took the swingarm out the second time and pulled out the right biscuit, i found that it wasn't seated flush in the bracket. this would have moved the swingarm and tranny to the left. so it's possible that when i put in the new biscuits (and bearings) and get everything assembled correctly, the rear wheel may move to the right without any adjustment of the front engine position. we'll see. regardless, i'd still be interested in knowing how the horizontal (lateral) drivetrain adjustment works because right now, you and i have different ideas about that.

 

[dolt]

dolt, where are you attaching the flat steel to the frame to make sure the frame is level. is it common for the top frame rails to be out of true with the steering head?

I remove the tank and clamp a piece of steel flat bar that is approximately 18 inches long, 1" wide and 1/4' thick (could be any suitable size) to the flat part of the frame back bone and square same up to the back bone. Has nothing to do with the frame rails being out of true with the steering head. This is just a second check to verify that the front wheel is on the chassis centerline and pointed straight ahead. You may have achieved that by leveling the frame and setting the front wheel at 0.00 with a laser level or protractor on the rotor but that is not a given IMHO, so I use a second check. Your call as to wheter or not you think a second check is necessary.

are you saying that moving the front of the engine to the left will move the swingarm and rear wheel to the left in the rear fender well?

No, just the opposite.

so a move to the left at the front of the engine causes the swingarm and rear wheel to move to the right in the rear fender well. the pivot point is where the swingarm axle sits in the rubber biscuits.

Yup. That pivot point is the "hinge" in the FL frame and the source of the infamous "bagger wobble"

are you sure of your information? have you changed the front engine adjustment and observed what happens to the rear wheel position in the rear fender well? i can see from your pics that you moved the position of your rear wheel in the fender well to the right. what exactly did you do to make that happen? i'd like to hear that without changing anything else, you lengthened the front adjusting screw, that moved the front of the engine to the right, and then when you looked at the rear wheel, it had moved to the right in the rear fender well.

Yes, I am sure; the proof is in the pictures. The position of the rear wheel in the fender (which is hard mounted to the chassis) will move opposite of the way you move the front adjustment. Be advised that you should have the top adjustor loosened while you are adjusting the front and re-check the top adjustor and vertical alignment after as these two adjustments can affect one another.

when i press the swingarm bearings in, i'm going to try to position them so the swingarm is as far to the right as possible. i'll bottom the right sided bearing and leave a little room on the left side. once i've got the swingarm in, i'll check the alignment. if it's off, i'll adjust the front end left or right and tell you what happens.

JMHO but I don't believe the position of the swing arm bearings will have any impact on the position of the swing arm; however, I could be proven wrong and that certainly won't be the first time.

i'm still thinkin that my misalignment may all be due to improper assembly of the swingarm. i mentioned before that the swingarm axle wasn't pulled all the way into the right biscuit. this allowed some play but when i reassembled everything, it didn't significantly change the position of the swingarm in the fender well. when i took the swingarm out the second time and pulled out the right biscuit, i found that it wasn't seated flush in the bracket. this would have moved the swingarm and tranny to the left. so it's possible that when i put in the new biscuits (and bearings) and get everything assembled correctly, the rear wheel may move to the right without any adjustment of the front engine position. we'll see. regardless, i'd still be interested in knowing how the horizontal (lateral) drivetrain adjustment works because right now, you and i have different ideas about that.

I really don't believe we have different ideas; seems to me we are on the same page.:newsmile07: Not sure I understand your comments regarding the biscuits but if I do, you may be onto something. I strongly advise that you replace those biscuits. Just an FYI but the rear wheel being off center of the fender is not an uncommon occurrence in the older FLs. When I was sorting out mine, I heard from several others with early FLs that had the same issue.:coffee

Let me know how it goes.:s

 

[oldscoolz]

here's what i've found. the biscuit on the right side of the swingarm was not seated. the lower front lip of the biscuit was out of the bracket. (when the swingarm is in place, this is a difficult area to see. so a visual inspection probably isn't gonna pick it up without taking the swingarm out and removing the right biscuit.) the right end of the swingarm axle was not pulled completely into the biscuit. the left swingarm bearing was worn. see pics.

when i replaced the swingarm bearings and biscuits, and put the axle back in place, i had to wrestle it into place even though i had released the front motor mount (but not the top motor mount). i'm waiting for a 9/16" crowsfoot to get at the top motor mount. then i'll completely realign the bike with the swingarm now properly installed.

here's my take on all of this. i bet the swingarm was incorrectly assembled from the factory. it was then aligned (or they tried to get it as close as possible given the improper assembly. the position of adjustment linkages should have tipped them off that something was wrong.)

without putting the lasers on it, i can tell that things are different after assembling the swingarm correctly. the swingarm is not moving completely freely and the rear brake rotor is no longer 90 degrees when the frame is level. so the vertical alignment is binding the swingarm. i haven't done a formal horizontal alignment yet but i released one end of the front motor mount adjustment device and it has moved significantly from its original position. i'll post again once i've finished the alignment.

 

[dolt]

That would do it! Seriously suggest you go back to my post #30 and consider ordering the stabilizers I posted; they will be an improvement over the OEM biscuits.

 

[oldscoolz]

did the alignment after the swingarm work. i had to readjust both the toplink adjuster and the front motormount adjuster. waiting for a nice day to get it out and then recheck the alignment.

here's a word of caution to anyone usin inexpensive lasers. double check to make sure the laser is shooting straight. i bought two harbor freight torpedo line lasers. one of them was off 1/4" at 8 ft! like someone said earlier in this thread, the devil is in the details.

 

[oldscoolz]

here's some followup. i've had the bike out since the swingarm work and re-alignment. bike's trackin fine. the old pull to the right is gone now. no wobble or vibration.

to anyone with alignment issues as suggested by a bike that pulls to one side when u let go of the handlebars, abnormal engine vibration, abnormal belt wear, or bagger wobble in highspeed corners, i'd suggest the following. begin by checkin the tires and brake rotor runout. (wheel bearing, warped rotor, or tire problem). check the rear wheel axle position on each side where it come through the swingarm slot. make sure the adjuster cam on the right side of the axle doesn't have too much slop. (misalignment of the rear axle in the swingarm). check front motor mount. (crushed deteriorated rubber vibration damper). release the front motor mount adjuster. run the engine. see if the adjuster still lines up with the bolt hole. if it doesn't, something has changed since the original setup. take the swingarm apart. examine the shaft, biscuits, and bearings. after reassembling the swingarm, redo the alignment completely by releasing front and top motormount adjusters.

thanks everybody for the help.