Submitted by: billnourse

This is the rod I use for alignment. The end of the short end goes in the middle of the swingarm bolt. At the end of the screwdriver you can see the piece of plastic tubing that slides up and down the rod.



This is the positioning on the right side. Although you can't see it in the picture, the short end of the rod is in the center of the swingarm bolt. Note that the piece of plastic tubing is slid to the center of the axle. If you go to the other side and the tubing is not in the center of the axle, adjust the axle until you get to the point that there is the same distance on each side.



Once the axle is exactly centered in the swingarm you can adjust the belt tension by loosing or tightening the axle adjustment bolts. Make sure that if you change one side you change the other side the exact same. I keep track of the turns on the adjustment bolt by counting the flats on the bolt.



Here's the alignment hole on the swingarm of some other models just foward of the axle nut.





By Patrick Zambori, H-D tech at Wisconsin H-D

Since you cannot get to the ends of your swingarm pivot bolt, the manufacturer in their infinite wisdom placed precision drilled marker holes in the swingarm, just a few inches forward of the rear axle, tiny little eighth inch holes. You can measure from these holes to the rear axle center and align the rear axle to them. Best way on the Dyna is to back off both adjuster bolts one turn, loosen the axle and knock it forward, then snug up the rear axle just enough so that you can't spin the spacer by hand. Measure both sides from the axle center to the marker hole, and draw the smaller side of the two to be equal with the other, then draw them back one flat each until the belt tension is correct.

Then go for a ride, and pay attention to whether or not the center of your body is in direct line behind the steering neck. If it is not, a bit of fine tuning may be allowed. If it is -way- off, your swingarm may be twisted.

Rules of alignment.:
1 - the front wheel will always go directly straight down the road
2 - the rear wheel will always follow parallel to the front wheel, although not necessarily directly behind the front wheel.

Changing the angle of the rear wheel in the swingarm not only changes the alignment of the belt, it also changes the position of the rear wheel relative (in line or not in line) to the front wheel. Many times, the perfect alignment is a compromise between the two, as frames and swingarms are welded together with some variance from unit to unit.

 

I'm assuming the pics drop off after a period of time to save storage capacity. Can you re-post them? Thanks Just Don

 

Yeah, where are the pics?

 

I've seen the string methods of aligning the rear wheel to the front and it seems like a lot of work. I've thought of getting two pieces of square aluminum stock that could be clamped together on the outside of each side of the rear tire. The tubes would extend past the front of the front wheel and be joined at the front to match the thickness of the rear tire. That way it would seem simple to align the rear parallel to the front. Just a thought I've been toying with. Although I just spotted the post about the drilled holes and trial and error method and I have to check that out. My problem is that visually the steering looks cocked in relation to the gas tank etc. while I'm driving down the road. Doesn't seem to be causing any problems, just bugs me.

 

My ride has the same thing, the space between the fork tubes and tank seems different from left to right side. But, runs straight and true so I quit worrying about it. Yea, it still bugs me though.

 

Since I have cruise control I can take both hands off the bars if I want. ( Not an endorsement ) I do that occasionally on this one quiet stretch of new highway on the way to work. I did notice one time at about 45 mph after a few seconds it started to shimmy significantly. That got my attention!