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Dyna Glide ModelsSuper Glide, Super Glide Sport, Super Glide Custom, Dyna Glide Convertible, Super Glide T-Sport, Dyna Glide Police, Dyna Switchback, Low Rider, Street Bob, Fat Bob and Wide Glide.
Bought my 2007 FXDL used a few years ago. Never really handled right.
Been doing a lot of work on it lately since a lot of things were way out of wack:
new steering stem bearings and fall-away adjustment
new Commander II front tire
trued front wheel
new Predator front motor mount
I have the bike on the lift perfectly level. (Used bubble level and digital inclinometer for double measure across top of frame under seat)
I have the front wheel perfectly straight (used fishing string/weights draped over top of tire and down the sides PLUS digital inclinometer on brake rotor for double measure)
I am doing the string method from rear tire to front tire.
Once I got the strings perfectly parallel to the front tire (by using rear wheel axle adjusters) I discovered the rear tire is offset 15mm to the right, which I understand to be normal.
As I mentioned above, I achieved parallel adjustment by using the axle adjusters only so far. Using my precision caliper tool that I modified to mate up to the swingarm and axle center, I measure the distance from the hole in the swingarm to center of the axle. I measure a 2mm difference from left side vs right side. That seems pretty bad off. I would think the swingarm measurement holes should be within .5 mm tolerance at least?
So my question is, should I move the axle adjusters back to equal distance on both sides and try to make the adjustment at the Predator motor mount heim joint link?
When I installed the Predator I mounted both top and bottom mounts finger tight and left the center bolt loose, started and ran the engine for a few seconds to let it find natural center and tightened it all down.
Looking for suggestions please.
1. Leave it as is?
2. Move axle adjusters to equal and adjust at front motor mount stabilizer?
3. Split the difference between the two?
4. Something else?
I'm out of town and not looking at my bike right now, but I really don't think the Predator is "adjustable" with the link. Shortening or lengthening the link just swivels the base plate as I recall (with no effect on anything).
Suggestion:
Align the rear wheel conventionally, ignoring the front wheel. Then, keeping the center bolt loose on the Predator, use the top link to adjust vertical alignment. Place an inclinometer on the rear rotor to verify vertical swingarm alignment. Then check alignment to the front wheel.
I always find it a little problematic to use the front wheel as a reference point, although it's certainly is logical to do so. Although this doesn't really make sense, I always get slightly different readings with a magnetic inclinometer, depending where I place it on the rotor, and of course very minor steering angles change it as well. If you have dual disks, try checking both front rotors to make sure you see zero on both sides. If not, the fork may not be truly straight.
There are so many alignment variables on the Dyna chassis that it's easy to make yourself crazy thinking about it... I could be TOTALLY off base here, but at some point I just decided that if the rear wheel is aligned to the swingarm holes, and aligned correctly in the vertical plane (with the top engine link), that I feel good about overall alignment. Unlike a car, if the rear wheel and the front wheel aren't perfect, you'll correct with the bars (even if you don't notice). The wheels can't help but roll in the same direction.
Of course, if they're BADLY out of alignment with each other, that would be a sign that something is wrong...
Darn... When I saw the notification that you had commented, I was hoping for a clever, foolproof solution to the Total Dyna Chassis & Drivetrain Alignment Dilemna (TDCDAD)!
It's on my to do list once I get the bike off the lift.
I was disappointed to hear your recollection that the front link won't function for alignment. Not a deal breaker, but it makes things harder...Hammer time..
I need to determine the swingarm data points. The pivot is obvious but difficult to use in real life. The adjuster measurement holes are next up but I don't yet know if they are remotely accurate.
The OP seems to be off to a very respectable start. I'll be very interested in hearing where this goes. I'll provide any input I can but it's mostly theoretical.
I would be interested in looking into left/right engine alignment within the frame. I just don't really understand what to measure against. Custom Cycle Engineering made some goofy front mount "Indexer" to adjust this, but I really didn't like their mounts so I never took that thing seriously either.
I just put my bike on the lift, and adjusted it with a scissor jack under the sidestand...
...until this was achieved:
Then I turned this...
...until this was achieved:
Then I deemed it aligned (before anything, I made sure the axle was correct with the alignment holes).
But I'm sure there's some measurement in some plane that is still off somewhere...
I was disappointed to hear your recollection that the front link won't function for alignment. Not a deal breaker, but it makes things harder...Hammer time..
To my mind, everything builds from the swingarm pivot.
Rough order of operations...
1. Center the pivot between the frame tubes. (Rear shock mounts as ref?)
2. Align front engine mount to bring swingarm pivot perpendicular to long axis of frame (backbone or neck as ref?)
3/4. Align vertical using established methods.
3/4. Align rear tire ( straight edges as ref?)
5?. Fork tube parallelism?
I'd LOVE to have a dimensioned (and toleranced) drawing of the frame and swingarm. Bonus for the engine mounting points.
Last edited by cggorman; Apr 21, 2018 at 06:34 PM.
For rear wheel alignment, I'd use belt tracking to get it centered in the rear pulley then go from there. Technically you can allow the belt to track a little to the left when rolling forward.
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Alignment after new Predator mount
