SuzukiSavage.com - Front wheel and fork misaligned

Dr. D

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Front wheel and fork misaligned
08/10/16 at 08:34:21

Hi guys. Used bike purchase runs and drives great but the front forks and wheel appear to need aligned. As a result the handlebars are not lined up evenly with the top of the forks when bars are in correct riding position. The front wheel is close to the side of the fender at the back on the driving position right side but about an inch away on the left. At the front/top of the fender the spacing is about equal. Appears to me something needs adjusted where the wheel and forks connect. Any help? Thanks.

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Dr. D YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 9	Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned Reply #1 - 08/10/16 at 08:36:10 Here is a pic of wheel and fender... hard to capture well! Compare to other side.
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Dr. D YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 9	Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned Reply #2 - 08/10/16 at 08:36:56 And the other side.
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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28903 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned Reply #3 - 08/10/16 at 08:45:51 check the spacers, the flanged one goes on the disk side.
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Dr. D YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 9	Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned Reply #4 - 08/10/16 at 08:51:56 OK - but the front of the fender is correctly spaced. It's a twist thing rather than an offset to one side. ------ Checked and the flange is on the brake side.
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verslagen1

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Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned
Reply #5 - 08/10/16 at 09:21:49

verslagen1 wrote on 06/01/16 at 19:52:56:

lift the front end, loosen the fork clamps, axle and caps.
wiggle it around a bit and retighten.

Also, the risers can be bent a little, check it against the tree.

if it doesn't straighten out, you need to remove the forks and check that they are straight.

If the fender is bent, you might want to remove it.

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Serowbot YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline OK.... so what's the speed of dark? Posts: 28846 Tucson Az Gender:	Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned Reply #6 - 08/10/16 at 09:22:48 If it's not the spacer, it's somethin'... I think you need to pull the wheel and axle to figure it out.
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stewmills Serious Thumper Offline Imagination is more important than knowledge Posts: 2641 Auburn, AL Gender:	Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned Reply #7 - 08/10/16 at 09:49:29 Can you provide side views of the hub area? Something is definitely off. ...And I might question riding it until you figured this out... not to scare you, but if someone put it together wrong and it fails you can get hurt....badly.
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Dr. D YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 9	Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned Reply #8 - 08/10/16 at 10:20:36 I have not had the hub apart yet, but it appears to me the forks may not be aligned at the bottom. Here is a pic - you can see the bottom appears uneven/one bent? or? If so, can this be fixed by me? A few other pics following.
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Dr. D YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 9	Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned Reply #9 - 08/10/16 at 10:21:30 Hub, break side.
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Dr. D YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 9	Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned Reply #10 - 08/10/16 at 10:23:35 Another
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ohiomoto Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 2782	Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned Reply #11 - 08/10/16 at 10:47:03 Almost looks like you have the wrong spacers or there is something going on with the bearings in the hub. First thing I would do is loosen the pinch bolt on the bottom of the fork and see if the legs return to their proper positions.
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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28903 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned Reply #12 - 08/10/16 at 10:47:25 The only way the bottom sliders can be mis aligned is if the axle is bent.
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ohiomoto

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Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned
Reply #13 - 08/10/16 at 10:57:34

FYI, the axle should be tightened while the pinch bolt is loose. When you tighten the axle, everything is pulled towards the right side (looking from the front as you have pictured). Then you tighten the pinch bolt on the left leg to lock it down.

You have an awful lot of axle hand out the left side. It almost appears as though the left leg may have gotten pushed too far onto the axle. Maybe by some "mechanic" that doesn't know what they are doing, maybe the bike was dropped or maybe someone did it to cover up a bent tube. (OR maybe I'm just full of crap!)

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ohiomoto

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Re: Front wheel and fork misaligned
Reply #14 - 08/10/16 at 11:15:01

Since you think there might be some twisting involved, I'll paste my reply from another thread talking about trying to straighten up a front end.

ohiomoto wrote on 08/02/16 at 06:48:21:

I've had to straighten up more than a few bikes over the years. (Thankfully all were motocross related crashes and I was never injured too badly.)

1) If the wheel is not centered on the top triple clamp (I'll get to the bars), make sure the fork tubes are not bent. If they are, you'll never get the front end straight and you'll have to replace the fork tube(s).

2) Sometimes the tubes will be twisted in the triple clamps, the triple clamps are twisted, or the axle might have some binding. To relieve the binding, loosen the pinch bolts on the lower triple clamp, the top bolt on the the triple clamp, and the front axle pinch bolt. Then put the wheel between your legs or against something solid, wiggle it back and forth a few times, and then center the wheel. Then tighten everything back up.

3) Our bars are rubber mounted. When these mounts look crooked, it's most likely that the mounts are simply twisted, the the bolts that hold the mounts to the triple clamp are bent (easily replaced) or the cap that the mount sits on is bent (easily fixed with a hammer).

4) If the bars are not badly bent, it's possible to straighten them out with a steal pipe (Especially easy with steal bars.) Most of the time you just pipe on the bar, lean the bike over and sort of bounce the weight of the bike (and rider in the case of a lightweight motocross bike).

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