Gentleman
Need some help with a wheel spacer. This is the front left spacer. Seems much too skinny and fits very shallow within the dust seal. I noticed two spacers are available for the front right on the usual sites(partszilla, bike bandit). Is this the wrong one? Of course I can’t find the old one to compare.
Thanks.
On the 4th gen at least, the spacers are a different size L/R...
Thanks. I found the issue. Didn’t have the axle pounded in far enough.
Make sure the forks are the same height in the triples. I had a really hard time getting the axle all the way in and it turned out that one fork was 0.5mm higher than the other. The axle went in fairly easily after I fixed that.
Yeah, don't pound on the axle; it should be a slip-fit by hand if the forks are reasonably aligned. Worst thing is by forcing the axle through, you might push the nearside fork inwards and that causes more binding of the bushes and also a slight wheel misalignment (bike may pull to the other side). Once the axle bolt is tightened, leave the clamps loose and give the forks a good bounce to help the loose leg find its natural (and aligned) resting place. Then tighten the clamps.
Great advice. Thank you Sir!
There's actually a procedure you can follow to ensure that the forks and axle are aligned properly. Several steps to it, but darned if I can remember them (or where I found it). It reminds me of something from the Big List...anyone remember the Texas VFR Garage pages? Maybe it was a Bruce Wilson tech procedure?
Sad thing is I probably have it saved somewhere in my Motorcycle files...but can I find it, lol...
[EDIT: Whaddyerknow, I found it: https://web.archive.org/web/20041021090924/http://www.yft.org/tex_vfr/tech/forkheight.htm]
Ciao,
JZH
Terry, 8/17/2020 at 9:00 AMYeah, don't pound on the axle; it should be a slip-fit by hand if the forks are reasonably aligned. Worst thing is by forcing the axle through, you might push the nearside fork inwards and that causes more binding of the bushes and also a slight wheel misalignment (bike may pull to the other side). Once the axle bolt is tightened, leave the clamps loose and give the forks a good bounce to help the loose leg find its natural (and aligned) resting place. Then tighten the clamps.
Dave Moss (Two Clicks Out) also has a good video on this subject.
Thanks for the info guys!!! Really appreciate it.