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Front Wheel Spacers question

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Old Apr 17, 2009 | 10:00 PM
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WVNightrain Rider's Avatar
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Default Front Wheel Spacers question

I am in the process of changing my "pizza cutter" front wheel on my nightrain to the 120/70-21.
The bad news is the kids decided to "clean" the garage and now I am not sure which wheel spacer goes on which side.

Can someone with a Custom or nightrain please post which side has the longer spacer? (Front)

I sized things up in relation to the caliper and rotor and think i have it straight but the wider tire really accents the wheel offset, so it looks a little more noticable with the tire closer to the left fork than center. So far the breaks line up fine with OEM spacers (guess i got lucky).
 
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Old Apr 17, 2009 | 10:07 PM
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The longer spacer is on the left (rotor) side on my Custom.
Post some pics of your new front end when you're finished. I'd like to see that.
 
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Old Apr 17, 2009 | 11:23 PM
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Thanks, The longer one being on the left is what i had that made the rotor line up good. Have a new problem now.
Both hubs measure 6.5" (through the axle hole), strange thing is the OEM wheel is almost perfectly centered between the forks, the new rim is 1/4" off to the rotor side. This means to center the wheel I will need to add an additional 1/8" longer spacer to the rotor side and also add the same spacing to the caliper, basically add a few washers between the fork and caliper.
Looking back I think I should have re-laced my OEM hub.
 
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Old Apr 18, 2009 | 06:59 AM
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is the new wheel built for your year model? if someone sold you a 84-99 wheel, like someone did to me, it will not be centered.
 
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Old Apr 18, 2009 | 07:38 AM
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Originally Posted by phrogflyer
is the new wheel built for your year model? if someone sold you a 84-99 wheel, like someone did to me, it will not be centered.
They claim it is for my year, 2000+, but you know how that goes.
 
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Old Apr 18, 2009 | 10:47 AM
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Originally Posted by WVNightrain Rider
They claim it is for my year, 2000+, but you know how that goes.
unfortunately i do. does it have sealed bearings or temkin bearings in the hub?
 
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Old Apr 18, 2009 | 01:22 PM
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Originally Posted by phrogflyer
unfortunately i do. does it have sealed bearings or temkin bearings in the hub?
OK, I am going to show my vast knowledge of the HD wheel with this question... What is the difference in bearings and is there a way to tell?
I have been playing around half the day cutting PVC spacers.

Also, does anyone know if the fender is perfectly centered, it would be a lot easier to use the fender has a center reference if I knew for sure it is built centered.
 
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Old Apr 18, 2009 | 01:27 PM
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Sealed bearings are sealed. Timkin's are not sealed and look much different. It's easy to tel with two different wheels in front of you.
 
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Old Apr 18, 2009 | 05:21 PM
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The bearings look exactly the same as the OEM wheel.
After playing around all day on spacing I found some interesting stuff.
The 21x2.15 OEM wheel with orginial spacers sits 1/4" off to the right measureing from wheel lip to fork lower. (Fender is perfectly centered)
The new 21x3 sits 1/4" to the left with OEM spacers and the breaks line up.
I ended up using pvc temp spacers adding 1/4" to the long side and taking 1/4" from the short side. This makes the new wheel center with the OEM fender but still gives the offset like the orginial wheel.
Now I need to machine some spacers and add 1/4" spacers to the caliper.
For those of you that installed the wider wheel and had no problems, man I wish I was that lucky.
 
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Old Apr 18, 2009 | 07:14 PM
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FYI if the front wheel is off 1/4 inch, Absolutely nothing will happen. The Fatboys and maybe other models as well hcome with a front wheel offset from the factory.
 
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