FRONT WHEEL???

[spirello]

I was wondering how many of you that put your front wheel on actualy tourque the axel and how many just do it by feel. The reason i ask is because im wondering if you get it to tight if it would damage the wheel bearings and that may be the cause of the front end wobble. just a thought. because i only seemed to get this problem after putting the first set of tires on. and it got worse after i put on the third set of tires. so im going to put new wheel bearings in tourque to spec and see what happens.

[redjay]

Hi, I am just guessing but I would think that there is a spacer between the inner races of the bearings inside the wheel. There are also spacers on either side of the bearing inner races on the outside of the wheel and between the fork legs. Therefore over tightening the axle should not do any bearing damage. Is the tire correctly seated on the rim ?

[redjay]

Did you put the Harley style fairing on at the same time the wobble appeared ?

[watchman]

I always torque the wheels to the specs. But I always find the rear wheel when torqued to the specs does not have a cotter pin hole that will line up. So I back it off just enough to put the pin in.

[spirello]

I get the wobble with the fairing on or off. The tire seems to be seated on the rim even. The bearings were cheap enough so I figured I would give it a shot. It seems to be worse when I have a load on. The other weekend I had a larger cooler on a tent and a gear bag. The total weight was probly 75 to100lb not as much as a passenger and it was way worse. The cooler went just to the inside of the saddle bags for width. It really seemed to be bad going down hills and it wobbled at 25 and 55. Im wondering if it was a wind thing but at 25mph there isnt that much wind. This thing is starting to drive me nuts..................

[schoeney]

Spirello,

I know you just got new tires. Could you have lost a balancing weight or something else happened related to the new tires? How many miles on the Metz? I know there is a break in time. It's gotta be something simple....I hope.

[VulcanE]

Spirello, did you check your stearing stem nut/bearings? The book says to tighten them to 85 ft lbs to set them, then loosen and retorque. below is a quote from gadget on torque specs.

Tightening specs:



Steering Stem Nut:

14 Foot Pounds with Socket for the VN1500, 43 inch pounds for the VN1600

49 Pound Pull with Kaw tool (1500 Only)

'No slam' with hammer/screwdriver method



Shiny Stem Head Nut

65 Foot Pounds



Pinch Bolts

14.5 Foot Pounds

[dogdoc]

some have had to slightly run front tire into a wall, bumper stop, etc a few times after putting on new tires to help eliminate this problem.

Originally Posted by watchman

I always torque the wheels to the specs. But I always find the rear wheel when torqued to the specs does not have a cotter pin hole that will line up. So I back it off just enough to put the pin in.

GaaK! Don't loosen it!

You're supposed to tighten it a little more until the hole lines up.

The "back it off" method is for tapered wheel bearings, which no motorcycle has AFAIK.

[spirello]

Thanks to all of you. I think i was getting the bottom steering stem nut just right but I dont think I was getting the top nut tight enough so it was letting the bottom nut back off. we will see third times a charm.

[spirello]

Also does anyone know what size socket the top nut takes? I was using chennel locks. I know channel locks what a dummy but I had to use what i had.