So.. As some of you may remember I had a mad discussion with HD re my bike pulling left, and after countless discussions with HD, I gave up with them saying there was nothing they could do.  Well I knew I was getting new triple trees so I didn't bother with it.... Until today!!!!

So... I have my new trees installed and wanted to wait for a few rides to make sure the trees were all good.  Last weekend I did the fall-away and adjusted, and all good.  And yes, the bike was still pulling left.  Now you should know that these new trees (4 degree rake) don't have pinch bolts.  They slide right through the lower tree and screw into the underside of the top tree.  A bit like the trees you would see on American Chopper.  The only thing that holds them in the bottom tree is a grub screw like clamp system - but there is NO ROOM for adjustment.

Anyways...   Today as my padocks are still too wet to get into, I decided to rip the rear axle covers off, and have a look at the alignment of the back wheel.  Not expecting to find anything, as remember, the dealer did the alignment and he said it was good.     That'ts funny right there!!!

 

I should qualify that I didn't want to touch this issue while it was under warranty, as I didn't want HD to have any way out - but I have had enough.

 

I grabbed the workshop manual and checked that there was nothing special on this fatty like drive train alignement like on the Tourers - and no... it just mentions that there should be equal distance between the centre of the axle bolt and the centre of the swing-arm bolts on both sides.  (Remember that statement)

I took off the axle covers, grabbed my trusty tape measure, and what did I find... wait for it....  6mm difference from the centre of the axle on the right side!!  WTF!!!   6mm at the axle equates to a shitload at the front of the tire.   Now here is where I think the work experience kid at the dealer got it wrong.  The right hand side was further BACK than the left.  This would result in the rear wheel pointing to the right, but would equate to the bike pulling left!  

SO... the only thing I can think of is they told the work experience kid to adjust the wheel to stop it pulling left, and failed to tell him what way to adjust it.

What they should have told him is.... MAKE SURE THE DISTANCE IS EQUAL.... Just like the FUCKING MANUAL STATES!!!.

 

Guess what boys and girls... Now that my axle is set correctly... Yes.. you fucking guessed right... THE BIKE RUNS TRUE!  

 

FUCK ME!!!   Can it be that difficult???

 

So now I am left wondering if I should go and give it to the dealer, or just smile, and know that it's now correct.

 

Cheers all

Mongrel

Mate maybe he has read this. I would ring them and let them know anyway. Also let HD Australia know as well. I remember you were dealing with HD Aust as well (Right)? The thing is that you rightly believed what they were saying which is the correct thing to do, but as you now know was wrong.

I suspect that they set the wheel wrong originally and when ever it went back to be looked at nothing was done, and yep more than likely some 1st yr App was told to look at the bike and he didn't know what he was looking at.

It is good to see you finally get an outcome from this. And pays to do your own work as you know it will be done correctly.

Hi AJ.

You are right. I was dealing with HD Aus, and if you remember, they were going to come down and ride it.

You are right. What it says to me is the workshop manager either trusts his workers too much, or does not take responsibility himself to ENSURE the bike was setup correctly. He even rode it and said he couldn't do anything about it.

If it were me, I as the workshop manager, would have made sure the rear wheel was setup correctly. Especially when it came back for the second time. You would think he would at least say... Hmm... Let me look at this.

The above assumes he didn't look at it. If he did, then well, I am speechless.

A simple tape measure and 30 seconds told me what the problem was. How they missed this is beyond me.

good on ya for being persistant , and finding the problem. 

 

did you take photos showing how you found it?

Yeah i would be letting the dealer know. the bloke that did the work might get a tune up which will prevent him from fucking the next one up

Copy and print out everything you have put in this thread.... including the comments, and send them T HD Australia

 

Oh, and glad ya got it running true

For sure let them know,It will shake the manager, and hopefully he will shake the shit of all the blokes in the workshop for not looking at the obvious!

I'm happy that you fixed the problem but can't believe after all this time you hadn't checked it earlier...I'm sure when you first posted about your bike pulling to the left some of the advice was to check alignments...Anyway mate,hindsight is a wonderful thing and if we all had it there wouldn't be any problems...Well done on the fix..

Cheers...Sparra

 Yer probably know the old sayin'- if yer want a job done properly,do it yerself. Would still give the dealer a serve though

 

Hey mongrel, good to hear that you finally got it sorted.

FWIW, now that you know the best way to get things done is to do them yourself, and that you've got the rear wheel alignment under your belt,

think about taking a look at some kind or another of the lazer level tools that they sell in Bunnings or such like.

All you need to do is get one that can be placed on a flat surface and you can use it to check wheel and belt alignment peice of piss.

quicker, easier, and more accurate that measuring from axle to swing arm pivot.

 Straight edge, stringline, laser or whatever....................always pays to check its alignment with the front tyre from time to time. Especially if you've had the wheel off. I just use a stringline myself.

i would have thought that the 6mm difference would have be fairly easy to notice when comparing the axles position in each axle slot on the swingarm.

Thats probably the first and easiest place to check, although just because the spaces are the same in each slot don't necessarily mean it's right, check the alignment with the front wheel as well.

Burto.

Well, Looking at my Fatboy there is only one adjustment that can be made, and that is the rear wheel, and the only real way to get it right is the distance between the axle and the swing-arm bolt. There is no way of adjusting the front wheel at all.

I am just glad now that it is right! I am just so pissed off that somewhere, somehow, the dealer FAILED!!!

a straightened coat hanger is a pretty neat way of checking ( accurate and quick )

Hi Burto,

I know what you mean bro - but the front wheel can't run anywhere but straight! As soon as the bike starts to roll, the front wheel will track wherever the rear wheel tells it to. The rear being fixed determines where the front will point. The front can't run its own race. Happy to be proved wrong on that.

But yes - I am going to make sure all is where it should be.

Yep! I hear ya. All good.

I told the dealer, but don't think they really cared too much. The reaction wasn't what I was expecting. Then again, it would have been somewhat embarrassing for them.

I don't care. Its good now - that's all I worry about.

alot of early softys had the front wheel 5mil offset to rear if ya own em have a look think the new ones are similar but cant be sure reason being one spacer wider than other so ya can have disc one side been a long while since i checked but am sure was 5mil

 Thanks for this thread Mon, had a bit of vibration that wasn't in the grips before. Also went through the latest Dunlop too quickly.

Checked the adjuster bolts which measured exactly the same each side, was scratching my head.

After reading this thread, measured between the axle and sw arm bolts........8mm out.

Replacing tyres next week so have taken the wheel off myself and will set it up correctly with a new tyre.

cheers mate 

Ron

This is what I will be doing to the new Fatbob.

I will be jacking it up on one of those lifts that raise the whole bike of the ground.
I will make sure the underside of the frame is level in both directions even if I have to pack a little between the frame and jack tynes.
Then I am going to put a short magnetic level on the back wheel disc and check for plumb. This will allow me to adjust the top motor mount to plumb the rear wheel.

I have made up small 90 degree angles that I will bolt to the front and rear disc. The angles hold $30.00 laser levels from Bunnings and is set up to shoot a level line on the ground that is parallel to the respective disc.

Now I will take the short level and put in on the front disc and (assuming the front wheel is set up properly in the forks) look for plumb on the disc. This should tell me the front wheel is point straight ahead.

I will then look at the laser lines on the ground and and see if they are parallel. If they are not, I will adjust the rear wheel to bring the line parallel to the line shoot off the front disc. Depending on how far its out it may be a compromise though. I will then check the guide holes in the rear swing arm to recalibrate if necessary.

I did this with my Road King and it resolveld all the alighment problems I had with that. I dont know how softails work with the motor mounting and the swingarm but maybe food for thought.

I am not sure if the method is perfect, but it sure worked for me in the past and was shit easy for me to do. This is not my idea of course and I basically followed some advice from the Glide Pro site.

Hey Ron,

I had a look at my rear tyre, and after 5000k it is looking worse than it should too!