Wide Glide Rake Angle Misunderstood Help!
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Novice
Joined: Sep 2013
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From: oxford maine
Wide Glide Rake Angle Misunderstood Help!
It seems as though the general belief is that the wide glide rake is increased by 5 degrees or so by the steering head and a couple more by the triple trees. I may be off a little in the exacts, but my problem is that I bought a wide glide triple for my super glide and I see that it actually has a NEGATIVE rake to it. My belief is that Harley put a lot of pos angle in the head of the WG then backed it off with the trees a little maybe for trail reasons. Anyway is this going to screw up my super glide to fat bob conversion? Has any one used these triple trees on a super glide and will it handle poorly?
Sounds like you are doing what I'm going to do. I believe the Wideglide trees have a 1 1/2 deg. positive rake. Place the top tree on the lower tree, you will see the lower tube holes are further forward than the upper tree holes.
Tourer
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 297
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From: Nor-Cal
It seems as though the general belief is that the wide glide rake is increased by 5 degrees or so by the steering head and a couple more by the triple trees. I may be off a little in the exacts, but my problem is that I bought a wide glide triple for my super glide and I see that it actually has a NEGATIVE rake to it. My belief is that Harley put a lot of pos angle in the head of the WG then backed it off with the trees a little maybe for trail reasons. Anyway is this going to screw up my super glide to fat bob conversion? Has any one used these triple trees on a super glide and will it handle poorly?
Club Member
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 11,483
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From: Passaic County, NJ
It seems as though the general belief is that the wide glide rake is increased by 5 degrees or so by the steering head and a couple more by the triple trees. I may be off a little in the exacts, but my problem is that I bought a wide glide triple for my super glide and I see that it actually has a NEGATIVE rake to it. My belief is that Harley put a lot of pos angle in the head of the WG then backed it off with the trees a little maybe for trail reasons. Anyway is this going to screw up my super glide to fat bob conversion? Has any one used these triple trees on a super glide and will it handle poorly?
My 2007 WG has 34* in the neck and *2 in the trees for a total of 36* rake. Stock, from the Moco as delivered to the dealer.
Road Captain
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 676
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From: Glendale, AZ
The holes are supposed to be lined up....if they weren't, you couldnt get the tubes in 
. The difference is between the angle of the tubes and the neck shaft. You should be able to measure the distance from the centerline of the forks to the center line of the shaft, on the top of the upper T-tree. then do the same on the bottom of the lower tree. The measurement on the bottom of the lower tree will be the same or greater. that would be a zero or positive rake addition. it could only be negative, if the bottom measurement was smaller.
See pic: (The lower tree is shown on top)
Here is a good page that explains how it works... http://www.seegercycle.com/Rake-and-Trail.aspx
. The difference is between the angle of the tubes and the neck shaft. You should be able to measure the distance from the centerline of the forks to the center line of the shaft, on the top of the upper T-tree. then do the same on the bottom of the lower tree. The measurement on the bottom of the lower tree will be the same or greater. that would be a zero or positive rake addition. it could only be negative, if the bottom measurement was smaller.See pic: (The lower tree is shown on top)
Here is a good page that explains how it works... http://www.seegercycle.com/Rake-and-Trail.aspx
Last edited by DesertDyna; Oct 30, 2013 at 09:40 AM. Reason: spelling, add pictures
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Novice
Joined: Sep 2013
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From: oxford maine
Yes the bottom measurement is smaller. The picture (i know not so good) shows that the shaft is forward in the hole while the fork holes are lined up. So is it possible these actually are for a Fat Bob I saw somewhere that they may have a slight negative tree rake.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 1,554
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From: Ottawa Canada
I thought WG trees were 1.5 -2 degrees and Fatbob had zero degree rake in the trees, what I have read so far, zero rake in the trees might explain why the Fatbob handles so well
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I believe, at least on mine that the trees are 2 1/2° over what a standard Dyna is. I am going to add 3° of rake with offset steering arm bearings. This is just like chopping the frame so it won't mess with the trail. You might look into this too. Vulcan engineering makes them for just about any bike out there. Just a suggestion. These kits are a lot cheaper than buying raked trees as well.