Quite a large fork Misalignment

Discussion in 'Mechanics Garage' started by cblues, Aug 11, 2021.

  1. cblues

    cblues New Member

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    FRONT WHEEL ALIGNMENT PROBLEM...As you may or may not know, I recently (april) bought a 99 800...I've had a lot of bikes in 53 years, and Love it!..A week ago changed the fork seals, bushings and oil of course..It's been nasty fires and smoke since then and only had it out twice..Working great...
    Yesterday took it out for a couple of hours and was riding along and noticed the Upper Triple Tree was skewed to the right when going straight..
    Theres not much going straight where I live so I was surprised at this...In some 4000km I had not noticed this. Pretty sure I would have.
    So yes something is definitely out of order...although strangely, the bike rides great. I've done a lot of searching and watched Delboy videos, Dave Moss and a couple of others to remedy the problem.
    Unfortunately today after several hours dicking around, none of these things worked.
    ANY IDEAS OUT THERE?
    Two of these pics are when i first got it some 4000km ago,, and one is the skewed yoke.
    fork crooked.jpg fork1.jpg forks2.jpg
     
  2. rhoderage

    rhoderage New Member

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    My 6g was hit while parked and tipped. Got it upright and the bars were tweaked to the side versus front wheel. Loosened everything off, held the bars and used my knees on the front wheel until I had it straight. Follow the owners manual sequence to tighten everything back up including the axle pinch bolts. Rides straight and true again now.

    What steps have you taken so far specifically so we can help more?
     
  3. rhoderage

    rhoderage New Member

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    Note i remember a good guide on this from back when i had a ninja 500... if you search ex-500.com , and find user FOG (Fast Old Guy) write-up on "Rocking The Forks", I believe it was specifically about this type of scenario
     
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  4. skimad4x4

    skimad4x4 "Official" VFRWorld Greeter

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    Hi Cblues and welcome to the Madhouse :Welcome:

    When you get time please swing by the "Introductions" part of the forum to say Hi to the rest of the folks on here, and tell us a bit about your VFR and your riding history. You may want to update your forum profile to add an approximate location (City/Province) as there may be others nearby able to help with the problem if you are just up the road and have a well stocked beer fridge:drink:.

    As for sorting out the alignment problem I would start by getting a decent torch and checking for "witness marks" as clearly something has moved since the bike left the factory, and close inspection may reveal what has moved. As the bike was running OK when you first got it, hopefully you may be able to work out where/which components (fork legs - clip ons etc) have moved and which have not. Before starting I would certainly spend time reading through the relevant service manual instructions to install forks/clip ons etc, as it may be simply something was not sufficiently tightened down and has progressively moved out of whack whilst riding.

    Good luck - let us know how you get on.



    SkiMad
     
  5. Darth Vader

    Darth Vader New Member

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    Thre is a specific sequence to tighten the forks after removal in the service manual. Follow that and should be ok.
    Or do like you used to do as a kid on a pushbike and knock it against a wall/kerb/lamp post.
    Loosen all the bolts below the yolks/tripple tree lower bolts and knock it back true then tighten, simple
     
  6. raYzerman

    raYzerman Member

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    Seems you've got a simple misalignment... all good advice above, but loosen the fork pinch bolts in the triple tree, straighten it up and snug the pinch bolts back up.... simple as that really.
     
  7. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    that's it right there. bike musta taken a hit.
     
  8. cblues

    cblues New Member

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    Thanks all! I've taken it all apart and installed to spec again...I don't have the front wheel on yet as got sidetracked and changed pads and caliper cleanup while its in limbo..I'll put the wheel on tomorrow and see whats up...Eyeballing it at the moment seems better..As I think I mentioned, It was fine a week ago before I took forks off..and nothing has happened in that interim, so it's a bit mysterious....All the parts seem great.

    Thanks SkiMad....I shall do that!
     
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