Front Wheel Alignment

[pimpin]

Question. Got the bike on the road for the first time this year yesterday and noticed the handling is completely out of whack. (1988 FZR 400 frame with FZR 600 motor). in a straight line it is "OK" but tends to have a SLIGHT pull to the right. It's a fairly heavy duty fight to get the bike to lean past centre one way or the other and once you do get it to lean past centre it goes hard. it feels like the front tire is out of alignment but in looking at the front fork set up I don't know how this can be. I replaced the front fork seals a year ago (followed the wiki on this site and although the job SUCKED big time the wiki was an amazing resource so thanx for that!) and really have not ridden since. I put about 8 km's on it in this condition yesterday and in looking at the front tire it has some of balance scrubbing on it but hard to say. Is there a way to "align" a front wheel? The only thing I can think of is that when I reassembled the front end after the seal job is that some thing got put back out of whack. I measured everything very carefully when reassembling to avoid such a problem so I really don't know where the problem could be. Thank-you.

Pimpin.

[sweekster]

Are you sure it's the front wheel? A condition as you describe, from my experience, is usually from a misaligned rear wheel. That's where I would suggest starting first. Even a few mm out of center and the bike will turn one direction better that the other.

[pimpin]

for sure. Some thing is out of whack in the front end. I haven't touched the back end in about seven years and everything looks good there.

[_Will_]

for sure. Some thing is out of whack in the front end. I haven't touched the back end in about seven years and everything looks good there.

then that certainly makes it worth going through too with more than a look. Like sweekster handling problems usually came from the rear, my rear tire "looked" fine but I found it to be way under pressure.

[pimpin]

Tire pressure is fine and the rear wheel is fine. The only thing I can think of that might allow for the front wheel to move off axis is the fork fluid levels, am I wrong? Everything else seems to be fine as far as fork hight etc etc.

[reelrazor]

Tire pressure is fine and the rear wheel is fine. The only thing I can think of that might allow for the front wheel to move off axis is the fork fluid levels, am I wrong? Everything else seems to be fine as far as fork hight etc etc.

Triple trees and front wheel could be out of line(forks twisted). Do a search on that, there's a couple of pretty good threads about fork alignment


But, from what you describe and the fact it was 'first time this year' I am gonna say that your stem bearings need a look see. One or the other is prolly rusty


Ohh, and fork seal replacement? Pretty easy job. If it went hard for you I'd put some suspicion there.....I'm just sayin.

[pimpin]

found this on another site so credit goes where credit is due as it should. I have not tried this yet but gonna give it a go. any comments on the process?

1. Remove upper and lower fairings
2. Remove front tire
3. Place axel back into the forks, do not screw in the axel bolt
4. Loosen the lower and upper triple tree bolts, but don't loosen the upper triple bolts to the point where the fork can slide down, or so you can't turn the front end left or right. You just want about 5-9 ft/lbs or torque on these bolts.
5. Loosen the steering stem bolt (you will have to push the clip-ons all the way to the left to loosen this bolt)
6. As soon as you get the steering stem loose enough to be able to loosen it with your hand, tighten the bolt back down with just your fingers.
7. Now turn the clip-ons back to the right, so that the entire front end is lined up with the bike.
8. Loosen steering stem with your fingers, so it is completely loose.
9. Measure the top of your forks above the triple. You must ensure they are the exact same height. Even .5mm difference can effect wheelspin.
10. Pull axel out of the forks. Did it come out easily? It should be very easy to go in and out of the fork tube opening. If it didn't come out easily, then you need to leave the axel in and loosen the top triple tree pinch bolts, and remeasure your forks above the triple again. Once they are both the same height, tighten down the top triple pinch bolts again.
11. Check and make sure axel moves freely in and out of the fork tubes. You should be able to do this with just your fingers.
12. Once the axel moves freely, put it back into the forks and then tighten down the steering stem bolt (85 ft/lbs of torque I think. Check the manual or download it from this site.)
13. Tighten upper and lower triple tree pinch bolts to correct torques.
14. Check for free play with axel again. It should move easily in and out of the fork tubes.
15. Place front tire back on and use lithium greese on the front axel.
16. Tighten down all bolts as per norm.
17. Pump brake to ensure pads seat correctly.
18. You should now have a good 5-10 spins out of the front tire. If not, check your brake calipers. Cause your front end is now aligned.

[pimpin]

k. tried this and it made no difference... at all. I topped up the fork oil a touch and that seemed to do it. There's a bit of oil around the top of the bushing so I'm guessing the new seals didn't do the trick and I'm still loosing some oil here and there.

pimpin