Latest Update:

My rear brake caliper had a piece of plastic sticking out just below the slider pin. I pulled it out with a pair of needle nose pliers and mistakenly thought it was the Anti-Rattle spring. It turns out the plastic I pulled out must have been in there during shipment and they forgot to remove it. The anti-rattle spring is metal. There's no plastic involved in the rear caliper.

I pulled the caliper tonight to check it out. What I found out is that the entire caliper floats with the axle. The caliper is bolted to the Rear Caliper Mount which has the axle going through it.

So my initial concern of adjusting the rear axle out of spec because of rotor bind was unfounded. I'm going to go ahead and bring my bike into whatever it takes to make it track straight and true. My guess is another 1/32" will be more than enough.

I'll let you all know tomorrow how it worked out. I'm very relieved about the brake thing. Everything looked ok when I pulled the caliper so I'm not going to give moving the axle another thought.

Last night when I was under the bike adjusting the shocks I could clearly see that the swing arm was not aligned horizontally with the frame cross member. This tells me that these frames have a lot of variance.

I also noted in other messages that my drive belt is riding the left side of the pulley which means I need to keep moving the right side of the axle towards the front of the bike which I have been doing.

Through all of these adjustments I got a bit concerned about belt tension so I bought the goofy little overpriced tension gauge so I could bring that back into spec when everything is all happy and true.

 

plane,

let us know what you come up with. i am not convinced mine is correct

 

After adjusting the rear wheel to the right one more time I test drove it and found no improvement. I then put the bike back up on the stand and started examining the belt drive.

Something very interesting popped out at me. With the wheel moving in its normal direction the belt hugs the left side of the pulley. Now when I reversed direction the belt goes to the right side of the pulley.

This is what made me figure it out. My rear wheel is leaning to the left which is causing all of the tracking problems and is why the belt moves from side to side when moving the wheel forwards and backwards.

If you think about it you can visualize it in your mind.

The top of the drive pulley is farther to the left than the bottom of the pulley.

When moving the rear wheel in normal rotation the belt is leaving the top of the pulley (to the left of the bike) and when it returns to the bottom its feeding into the left side of the pulley.

Now move the rear wheel backwards and the belt is leaving the bottom of the pulley (towards the right side of the bike) and feeding into top right side of the pulley.

The only way this could happen is if the rear wheel has some lean to it. The problem is there are no adjustments for it. Either the swing arm isn't straight or the frame itself is out of whack. This to me proves once and for all that it isn't NORMAL for these bikes to pull left. This also is why my last adjustment had no effect.

Well try it out for yourselves guys and see if yours does the same, I'm betting it does.

I'm sick about it because I thought I was buying the best and got sub mediocre. I can only imagine what the dealer would say about this. Well I don't have to imagine, they'd say it's NORMAL.

 

There is no need to lift the bike to check wheel lean. Just move the bike forward and note which side the belt is riding. Now back it up and see if the belt reverses to the other side.

 

Interesting thread!

My 98 FXDWG front wheel is offset to the left.

I have removed and reinstalled my front forks many times due to installation of progressive springs in my front end, then trying to straighten bent fork tubes, then installing new fork tubes.

From my experience in trying to get it as true as possible, this is how I would do it to make the front end as true as possible.

Remove the fender, brake caliper, and front wheel. Loosen all 4 pinch bolts, the top fork tube nuts at top of the triple tree, and the fork stem nut that holds the triple tree to the fork stem.

Remove the axle from the wheel and install it in to the sliders and hand tighten the nuts to hold it firmly into place.

Tighten the fork tube nuts alternately in small increments at the top of the triple tree. Tighten the lower pinch bolts, then the top ones, then the fork stem nut.

Remove the axle from the sliders and install back in to wheel and reinstall the wheel.

Now adjust your fall away and torque the triple tree stem nut to specs.

Reinstall the fender and brake caliper.


Just thought I would share my experience.

 

Of course I will...

But I really don't have much faith in a dealer spending all that time trying to figure out whats going on with the bike... Even at MOCOs urging...

I will like I said... see it through to the end...

You have given me some ammo I can use... especially with the canted rear wheel theory.... Does make some sense though and a possibility...

Charlie D.

 

Just wondering, do any of you guys find that your ride turns easier one direction than the other?

 

Final Update:

Since I've exhausted the rear wheel adjustments to fix the pull to the left it was time to concentrate on the front. Since my upper tree was turned slightly to the right (it used to be a lot to the right before the rear wheel alignment) I kept thinking about how to fix it.

Here's what I did:

I loosened the the big nuts on the top of the tree, the pinch bolts on the lower tree, and I removed the two bolts holding the fender on the right side.

I knew that I needed to pull the front of the tire to the right so everything would line up like it's supposed to be. I sat down on my *** on the right side of the bike. I then pulled the front of the tire to the right until the lower tree hit its stop. I then put my right hand at 2 o'clock and my left foot at 8 o'clock on the tire. I pulled with my hand and pushed with my foot and could see the forks moving. I pulled really hard too.

I then got up and carefully tightened everything without moving the wheel. Lastly reinstalling the two fender bolts.

I then test drove and found my forks perfectly aligned. I then ran it up in 2nd gear and using the thumb wheel I locked the throttle and let go of the bars and found the bike now tracks correctly.

The pull to the LEFT is GONE!

It's good to know my bike is now NOT normal. Also the view looking down at my trees is a beautiful sight indeed with everything square and straight.

I suppose I could have hassled it with the dealer taking it back and forth many times and getting ulcers over it but I opted to learn and figure it out on my own. Hopefully this will help someone else...right Charlie?

Note: since my bike is a Fat Boy I wasn't concerned about damaging the wheel since it's a massive piece of aluminum. But the 21" lace wheels might be a problem and another way to do this might be warranted. On the other hand I don't think you'd damage it but might knock the radial alignment out a bit.

If I had a 21" laced I'd go for it and then have the wheel re trued if necessary.