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Front wheel wobble

Discussion in 'Motorcycle Tech Talk' started by tedbistrup, Jul 12, 2011.

  1. tedbistrup

    tedbistrup New Member

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    Have an unusual problem with my 03 Sportster Hugger, which did not occur until after I replaced the stock brake rotor, 19" tire and wheel with a floating SS rotor, 21" Revtech billet wheel and Avon Venom tire. All parts were purchashed new. The bike begins to wobble/shimmy at exactly 45 mph. It does not get worse as speed increases, in fact it seems to lessen slightly above 60, and also seems to be slightly less after I've been riding for awhile, though I realize I might just be getting used to it. Wheel has been spin balanced (6 ounces of internal ceramic beads, but shimmy was present before beads were used), and runout does not exceed .0015". Rotor was checked for true before installation. No work of any kind was done to the front forks, steering head, etc., other than replacing the fork oil (yes, the correct amount - we drained it and refilled it just to be sure). Bike did not do this prior to new front wheel assembly being installed. Anyone have any ideas as to what might be causing this or how to eliminate it, 'cause I'm stumped. Thanks....
  2. FLHTbiker

    FLHTbiker Moderator Staff Member

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    If you pulled the front wheel, did you put it back together the way it came off and did you properly secure the front axle assembly.
  3. tedbistrup

    tedbistrup New Member

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    Yeah, I did and the shop that did the spin balance/runout did too.....
  4. FLHTbiker

    FLHTbiker Moderator Staff Member

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    Something is a miss, did you take it back to the dealer.
  5. JohnnyBiker

    JohnnyBiker Well-Known Member

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    check thread "Death Wobble" and see if there is anything in there that may help..
  6. FLHTbiker

    FLHTbiker Moderator Staff Member

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    I think something did not get put back on the way it is supposed to. Also check the steering head bolt, but can't see why they would loosen that up.
    They could have also screwed up the balance on the wheel.
  7. tedbistrup

    tedbistrup New Member

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    Yeah, they could have, but the bike did this before we balanced the wheel, too. We checked it for balance statically the first time, and it seemed good just the way it was, so we put it on. It wobbled, so I had it spin balanced with exactly the same results. We checked the wheel for true because the first one (same manufacturer and distributor) wobbled much worse, and when we checked it for true it was out by a 1/4" or more. I sent it back and had it exchanged for this one, which is far better, but....
  8. tedbistrup

    tedbistrup New Member

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    Thanks for the tip, but the "death wobble" thread didn't seem to have anything in it that applied....
  9. tedbistrup

    tedbistrup New Member

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    Oh, I forgot to mention that the shop didn't get the whole bike, I just dropped off the wheel. They couldn't have done anything with the forks....
  10. FLHTbiker

    FLHTbiker Moderator Staff Member

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    Tire or Wheel !
  11. JohnnyBiker

    JohnnyBiker Well-Known Member

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    Just a thought.....:D
  12. tedbistrup

    tedbistrup New Member

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    Yeah, appreciate it....
  13. tedbistrup

    tedbistrup New Member

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  14. FLHTbiker

    FLHTbiker Moderator Staff Member

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    Also did you put the spacers in properly on the front wheel. Wished I could look at it.
  15. tedbistrup

    tedbistrup New Member

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    Put 'em like the factory shop manual shows. The one constant in all this has been the tire, and I'm thinking about trying another. What the hell, I've already had one bad wheel. My first thought was that if it was the tire it would show up at all speeds, but of course if I actually knew the cause it would be solved by now. Ever seen a new tire cause this sort of thing?
  16. cowboy

    cowboy Moderator Staff Member

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    yes a tire can cause this , had to put two different tires on My Daughters 04 sporty , the dealer & there parts changer both said it rode good , if My daughter had been riding it she would have lost it ,I knew the service mang at the time & he rode it came back & slammed the parts changer for being a dumb asz for not feeling the wobble put new tire on & rode good
  17. FLHTbiker

    FLHTbiker Moderator Staff Member

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    I've had some bad luck with Venom tires in the past, but any manf. can have bad ones.
  18. Fatboy128

    Fatboy128 Well-Known Member

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    I ran into a run of bad tires years ago. They were out of round but it was very obvious to the eye when spinning the tire. The dealer had 4 that were bad.
  19. chucktx

    chucktx Moderator Staff Member

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    if you have spokes in the rear wheel, check them for tightness........
  20. tedbistrup

    tedbistrup New Member

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    No spokes, wheels are one-piece (RevTech).

    And thanks for the feedback, y'all. I think I have narrowed the problem down to the tire. To make a long story short, I had set the tire's "balance dot" right above the valve stem, the way we did it in the old days. I rotated the balance dot 180 degrees from the valve stem and the problem is almost gone. Still there, but just barely. I'm gonna try another front tire and see what happens.....

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