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Wheel Alignment Question

cmvsm

cmvsm

Member
After changing the forks on the front end, is it an automatic that the wheels should be aligned front to back or is it more of a 'ride and see how it feels' type of deal? Wasn't sure how sensitive it all is in terms of the alignment, and was reading a little about the death wobble and wigged me out a bit, although I really don't ride past 70mph in the city.

I'm waiting on a front caliper which should be here by Tuesday, but the alignment and ride was great before I changed the fork, just haven't been able to ride it yet to test my work and wanted to see what you all thought.

Thanks.
 
I was told you could use an 8 foot flourescant tube and see if it squares off the rear to front wheel I'm just a little bit of a backyard mechanic and was told this by a old time Harley guy, sounds reasonable to me that you would get a basic idea of where your alignment is at though, I'm sure there will be some people here that will know for sure.
 
I would suggest checking the alignment any time the wheels are taken off and especially when suspension parts have been replaced.
 
The alignment procedure on your Dyna is complicated, and if it was good before the change, I'd ride it and see how it goes. If the front end was assembled correctly (centered before tightening everything), it should be good. I think there is info about centering forks in the self help section.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. All I did was replace the sliders, rebuilt with seals, and put everything back on in the same order with new spacers. I kind of eyeballed the alignment, ensuring that the axle was centered on the fork and spinning.

I'll take it out this week and see how it feels. Guess I'll know right away if its jacked up or not.
 
cmvsm said:
After changing the forks on the front end, is it an automatic that the wheels should be aligned front to back or is it more of a 'ride and see how it feels' type of deal? Wasn't sure how sensitive it all is in terms of the alignment, and was reading a little about the death wobble and wigged me out a bit, although I really don't ride past 70mph in the city.
Click to expand...

What did you change? Just the tubes and sliders, or the whole front end, tripple tree on?

If you have just changed out the two sides of the front fork, then just follow the procedure in the book to mount and align the front wheel. Make sure that the top of both tubes are at the same height out of the top clamp of the tripple tree. Then as I said, follow the instructions in the book for mounting the front wheel.

As with every major change we make on our bikes, but especially with suspension and brakes, double check that every thing is secure. THEN road test somewhere off the beaten path running slowly until braking and roll path are verified. Slowly increase speed and put her through her paces as you check off that things are right.

TQ
 
TQuentin1 said:
What did you change? Just the tubes and sliders, or the whole front end, tripple tree on?

If you have just changed out the two sides of the front fork, then just follow the procedure in the book to mount and align the front wheel. Make sure that the top of both tubes are at the same height out of the top clamp of the tripple tree. Then as I said, follow the instructions in the book for mounting the front wheel.

As with every major change we make on our bikes, but especially with suspension and brakes, double check that every thing is secure. THEN road test somewhere off the beaten path running slowly until braking and roll path are verified. Slowly increase speed and put her through her paces as you check off that things are right.

TQ
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. I just changed out the tubes and sliders. I did not remove the triple tree or tube bracket. I did ensure that tubes are equal height on the triple tree. I followed the instructions on my service manual for mounting the wheel, but it didn't say much about alignment, just the actual installation portion.

I'm not going to take it out on the road until I get my new caliper, but I can ride around my neighborhood at 30mph or less to get a feel.
 
Just took it out for a spin and it seems as if the forks are vibrating a bit at lower speeds. I'd guess this indicates that they might need a bit of tweaking? I can't find it in my service manual. Can anyone point me in the right direction in terms of ensuring that the forks and front wheel are aligned?

Thanks!
 
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