Bike falling away to left

[poorbiker]

Ok took bike out for its maiden run, about 25 miles. starts, runs, shifts and brakes as I hoped, no issues. However, Bike wants to fall away (lean hard ) to the left when I remove hands from bars. I can feel it with hands on bars. Wheels are true, hubs are adjusted properly and bearings are good, I actually ran these on another bike just some months ago with no issues. Wheels front and back are true in frame (align. with clutch hub shell) and spring forks, neck bearings are good and adjusted properly, axles have right torque, chain rides true. Have two other rigids one oem stock Pan one raked 43 degrees/6" up 17" over springer, Pan. Both run true down road hands free. What can I check, what should I look for, what have I fd up. Offsets on wheels correct. Built several bikes never had this happen.

Bike info: 47 Knuckle
Rigid of coarse, pan frame with spacer on front mount
Stock or oem springer
16" front and back

[Jerry Wieland]

First thing I would do is make sure my rear wheel is tracking straight. If not that it could get worse - like a bent frame or front end. Tires can cause a little bit of this.

Jerry

[sirhrmechanic]

Check that the rear wheel is true... if it is a bit to the right, the bike will pull left.

Old trick is to use an 8 foot fluorescent tube to check alignment. Have someone hold the front wheel straight and run the tube from front to back. See if it touches at 4 points on the wheels.

That's the easiest... as Jerry points out, from there things get tricky. But everything is fixable... look at it is sorting out the last details w. riding in the near future!

Cheers,

Sirhr

[poorbiker]

Thnx for the replies. Rear wheel tracking. I`m not sure I get the tube trick off the front wheel. The front wheel being held straight seems to me to be a bit subjective, off center even a little relates to a bunch off by the time you get to the rear wheel. I do however align the trans clutch shell with the motor sproket ( in my case pulley) and lock it down via a straight edge. Then align the rear rim with a straight edge from the trans clutch shell. That should and always has for me align everything up,
Having said all that it turned out I was off a 1/4" from being straight on the rear wheel, I must have loosened it at some point after I had initially aligned it and never rechecked.
Its late and I have not re-test rode the bike, mainly to spare my already grouchy neighbors.
Do you think a 1/4" will end up making that much diff. thnx

[Jerry Wieland]

Having said all that it turned out I was off a 1/4" from being straight on the rear wheel, I must have loosened it at some point after I had initially aligned it and never rechecked.
Its late and I have not re-test rode the bike, mainly to spare my already grouchy neighbors.
Do you think a 1/4" will end up making that much diff. thnx

Your wheels do not need to be in the same plane, they can track left and right as long as they are in a straight line and are parallel (HD XL's are naturally 1/4" out of track). A leaning wheel will pull to the direction it leans. Some of those custom fat tired bikes are out by more than 1/2".

Jerry

[poorbiker]

Thats true Jerry,
My 02 flsts front and rear wheel do not track togeather, on purpose from factory, the rear wheel is a 1/4" off to one side and is visable in relation to the fender.
Works and tracks fine, 97th on it.
My rear wheel on my knuckle was canted by a 1/4", one side over adjusted. Hope tomorrow the adjustment cures lean but I dont think i twill.

[poorbiker]

Well I couldnt leave it alone, went back out in garage and decided to do a {square} test. Took a framing level and with bike on lift and a scissor jack under rear of frame rails and rear tire just off table I put sqaure on table and against engine pulley, perfectly sqaure. Then slide it to clutch shell and it needs about 20th shim on drive side, turned shell 180 and same result. Then slide the sqaure to front wheel as close to center as posible and took measurement, perfect.
Then on to rear tire, guess what, bottom measurment 5/8" from lip of rim to square, top measurment 1/2" from lip to square, rotated rim 180 and retook measurment, same result.
1/8" difference, so what can I do now, short of torch and some luck.............

[poorbiker]

Actually took a simplier measurment, from top of table to the bottom of flat where axle goes through axle plate, 1/8" off from other side. What I believe to be the offending sides
axle plate is not square either. hmmmmmm, sht.

[T. Cotten]

Poorbiker!

To get the wheels parallel as Jerry suggests, try a simple trammel.

Mine is a long piece of conduit with two long pointers held by cheap mirror clamps (attached).
Just roll the bike until the front wheel tracks straight, and then set the trammel points to the axle centers on one side of the machine. Comparing it to the other side of the machine will tell if the rear axle is skewed.

Good luck!

....Cotten

[sirhrmechanic]

So Simple a Garden Gnome can do it!

Classic picture! My apologies in advance if that is, in fact, you, Cotton. I thought you were taller...

Cheers,

Sirhr

[T. Cotten]

Sirhr!

That's Liberty's night shift, "Shifty".
He is sensitive about his baldness, so he always wears his helmet.

....Cotten

[TimR]

Poorbiker, did I miss read your post or did you say that the rear wheel is not plum with the front wheel, does it lean to one side?

[poorbiker]

Yes. I have a very flat service lift, double checked with a good level. Put a framing square on front wheel for test and front was square, did the same with engine pulley, it was square, did check on rear 1/8" off of square. Measured to botom of bottom flats on axle plates and one side is 1/8" off from the other in height. Yes the wheel, hub and brake backing plate are off, not square. Tire and wheel assy. leans to the rt. If this is my issue I would think bike should pull or lean the other way?

[NiteOwl]

Poorbiker:
Excuse my ignorance but I just want to make sure I understand what you have done. Just trying to get my head around it for my own bike.

Bikes on a good flat service lift.
you have taken a framing square and checked the front tire to ensure its perfectly aligned with, I guess, the edge of the lift.
This would ensure the front wheel is perfectly straight.
You then took a measurement of the engine pulley also with the square and the edge of the table.
This says the frame is aligned straight with the front wheel and probably the steering system.
The rear wheel is now taken and your showing its off, (front to back) or (top to bottom)

[poorbiker]

top to bottom. I made some assumptions and you know what they say about assuming.
My service table is as flat as can be had short of surface grinding it.
Set a good level 3` and a 8` on table to double check side to side and then front to back.
Here is what I assumed, If I set my scissor jack toward the rear and raise bike rear tire just off of table top (lift) that should level frame, I put level under the frame rails side to side to make sure, scissor lift did not raise frame to level, I added some thin shims to get frame level with lift top. I then took a framing square and set it on top of the table (lift) and slide it into the engine pulley, it was right on, top to bottom. then to front wheel, it also was right on square. Then to clutch shell, shell was off top to bottom about (I retook this measurent as to correct it ) 1/16", low, clutch side trans mount needs shimmed. I dont know how critical this is from wear but intend on fixing that.
Slide square to rear wheel and from either side, of course, it was off top to bottom, 1/8" .
Measured from table to bottom flat on each axle adjuster and same result, 1/8" off.
I could have in retrospect just measured from c/o of rear axle ends to the floor from both sides. Would have told me the same thing. I have a tendency to over complicate 2+2..
Not sure how I am going to repair, cant afford a frame service. I believe some heat and some clamps, make a jig to go in between axle plates to help control any unwanted movement.........Like my bowels...............