Adjusting Rear Wheel

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Jun 2, 2008 | 01:47 PM

romac

Thread Starter

Cruiser

Joined: Jul 2005

Posts: 108

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From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Adjusting Rear Wheel

When adjusting the rear wheel to make sure the axle is even on both sides do you do it with the rear wheel off the ground?

Thanks,

Jun 2, 2008 | 02:02 PM

2007fxdc

Elite HDF Member

Joined: Aug 2007

Posts: 4,722

Likes: 7

RE: Adjusting Rear Wheel

I do mine and my son's dirtbike with the wheel lifted at least enough to take some weight off. First of all, it's easier to have the bike standing straight up vs. leaning over on the kickstand.

Jun 2, 2008 | 02:23 PM

retiznapuerco

Tourer

Joined: May 2008

Posts: 319

Likes: 0

From: Ottawa, Ontario

RE: Adjusting Rear Wheel

Adjust your bel tension first, with a deflection of 3/8 of an inch when applying aprox 10 lb of pressure. This must be done with the bike on the ground, and with the weight of the rider on the bike, so get someone to sit on it while you do it. THen if you look on the swing arm you will find a hole on it about 3 to 4 inches behind the axle nut. That's you reference point when aligning your axle. There is one on the othe side just like it. Now go to your closet, get a wire hanger, and cut a piece of it 12 inches long, and put a 90 degree bend on it about 1 inch long. Now if you can find a grommet that will fit the hanger, roll it onto it. You can also use a small rubber band. The object of this adjusable grommet is so you can stick the 1 inch 90 degree bend in the alignment hole, then move the grommet until is dead center on the axle on the belt side, then transfer this meassurement to the other side. Use the axle adjuster at the end of the sing arm to get the axle dead center on the mark, tighten up your axle nut to spec, install your cotter pin, go ride like hell.

Cheers,

[IMG]local://upfiles/62526/082EE25B1FC74076989547E00D721CC7.jpg[/IMG]

Jun 2, 2008 | 02:30 PM

2007fxdc

Elite HDF Member

Joined: Aug 2007

Posts: 4,722

Likes: 7

RE: Adjusting Rear Wheel

Okay, I'm no expert here but why would you adjust the belt tension before you potentially change the belt tension by moving the rear wheel/axle?

Jun 2, 2008 | 02:35 PM

spiritwarrior

Road Captain

Joined: Apr 2008

Posts: 726

Likes: 2

From: North Carolina

RE: 2" Tank lift

Just curious, what does the 2" tank lift do? Appearance only, or some performance or handling thing? Thank you.

Jun 2, 2008 | 03:10 PM

retiznapuerco

Tourer

Joined: May 2008

Posts: 319

Likes: 0

From: Ottawa, Ontario

RE: Adjusting Rear Wheel

I am assuming that the reason the axle needs to be adjusted is because some sort of maintenance was done on the bike. The adjusters located at the back of the swing arm hold the axle in aligment, as well as holding the tension of the belt. Once you get the tension right on the belt side, all you are doing is aligning the other side. The belt side stays in place while the brake side pivots until all is a nice straight unit. Once you tighten the nut, everything stays in place.

Cheers,

[IMG]local://upfiles/62526/E09C8220BE504F96A915B1FB6541573F.jpg[/IMG]

Jun 2, 2008 | 03:33 PM

romac

Thread Starter

Cruiser

Joined: Jul 2005

Posts: 108

Likes: 0

From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

RE: Adjusting Rear Wheel

Thanks for the info everyone!!!

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Jun 3, 2008 | 08:51 AM

2007fxdc

Elite HDF Member

Joined: Aug 2007

Posts: 4,722

Likes: 7

RE: 2" Tank lift

Quote:

ORIGINAL: spiritwarrior

Just curious, what does the 2" tank lift do? Appearance only, or some performance or handling thing? Thank you.

spirit, it's basically an appearance mod. It's cheap and gives a slight chopped look. The side benefits are that it supposedly allows more air to flow over the rocker covers for a little better cooling and it also makes the rocker covers easier to get to for cleaning. Some people notice a change in how the fuel gauge works when they install it, some people claim it doesn't change. For me, it completely fixed an issue I was having where my fuel gauge never showed full even when it was packed with gas and my light used to come on when I had over a half tank left and now it comes on between 1 and 2 gallons. So, in my case, it made my gauge more accurate. That's not why I installed it, however.