Good morning all, need a bit of education here. I'm rebuilding an 86 FXRP, currently at about 90% done. last time i took it in for the engine rebuilt, the mecanic told me that i'll need to align the rear wheel with the engine and transmission. I'm familiar with rear wheel alignment on japanase bikes but this is my first Hog and i'm a bit puzzled about what he meant. When i asked him to explane it to me he just told me bring the bike back when i was ready and he'd do it.

 

Basically, you need to make the rear wheel parallel to the front one, to do that you need to adjust the nut in the balancer link under the seat, adjusting the nut moves the engine to the left or the right along with the swingarm.

The method I use is.

Get the bike as straight as possible, specially the front wheel, place a angle meter in the front rotor and note the reading, then place the meter in the rear rotor and make the reading the same as the front one, I use a electronic one so i just zero it on the front, put it on the back rotor and adjust the nut until it read zero again, this way you have both rotors parallel to each one.

Its very important to first get the rear wheel straight as close as possible (by adjusting the rear axle) else your alignment will be off no matter what

 

Here is a video from "Fix my Hog" which explains the procedure and how to use a simple piece of wire, coat hanger or welding rod and small o-ring or rubber cap.

https://www.fixmyhog.com/video/rear-...gnment-001232/

 

He's asking about the engine alignment, not the rear wheel, even if to do the first you need to get the rear aligned first.

 

I've never really understood the "line up the rear wheel with the front wheel" method for vertical alignment or the engine/swingarm/rear wheel, unless I'm just missing something obvious. I've placed a magnetic inclinometer on a front rotor, and it goes in and out of vertical alignment with the slightest handlebar movement... How does one know that the front wheel is perfectly straight in relation to the frame prior to using it as a reference for rear wheel/engine vertical alignment?

I used mattVA's method, which seemed to work well. Of course this assumes that the frame is square and true, but my bike tracks very well in most circumstances after having done this...

I used a level across the frame tubes and an inclinometer on the rear rotor. I used my bike jack to hold the bike upright, and a scissor jack under one foot peg to zero out the level. Then it's just a matter of adjusting the top engine link until the reading on the inclinometer matches that of the level...

 

F86, I think on an '86 FXR, the swingarm is attached to the frame, not the transmission case. That's why the wheel had to be aligned to the engine/transmission. I could be remembering that wrong, though. That was a long time ago. Your method would be great for getting the engine/transmission/swingarm square with the frame, though.
Sorry OP, I can't remember how it was done back then, other than adjusting both sides of the wheel axle for and aft, so it's parallel with the transmission.


Edit: Forget everything I just said. I believe I can remember the swingarm attaching to the tranny on my old superglide.

 

Ah, gotcha. I haven't seen an FXR apart for many years. Funny though, I was just wondering about the differences in FXR/Dyna engine mounting methods...

 

I just edited my post. I think I was wrong. It is hard for an old fart like me to remember that far back. I sold my old Superglide back in '92.

 

Very good! That's the way I do it too. You can also use bubble levels. Be aware this only adjusts the upper engine mount and the associated plane.

For wheel alignment I use a simple laser shooter placed against the rear belt sprocket and aimed up the belt to the drive sprocket. These two adjustments will align the drivetrain that is rubber mounted to the frame and make sure the belt wears properly.

Checking the front wheel vs rear wheel alignment requires one of several other methods. You may have to adjust the front motor mount. Usually, I find the drivetrain alignment makes everything right.

 

thanks for all the advices, i'll do some more reasearch and hopefully when i get my front end re-insatlled i'll be able to get everything re align properly.