Front alignment problem

[tarascio]

Recently I noticed my front tire rubbing up against the fender.   I unscrewed the 4 bolts and shifted the fender but now the 2 right bolts don't line up.  Its safer than before but I only have the 2 left bolts holding the fender.  Any suggestions on what's misaligned?  Thanks.

[JamesG]

Has the bike been dropped or crashed?

The fender holder may have moved where it attaches to the forks.

What I would try is put the fender back so you can get all 4 screws on the fender. Loosen the bracket at the corners where it attaches to the forks. Shift the fender so that its centered again. Tighten them down. You may want to take the oportunity to replace them with stainless steel hex cap screws as the stock ones strip out easy. Also use red locktite on them. Hell, while you are at it, pick up one of the fork braces that are floating around here!

[Rema1000]

When I bought mine, the black "fender extender" at the back of the fender was rubbing, and missing the screw on one side, so I just took it off.  The seller explained that his mother had dropped a lawn chair on the fender, which scuffed it and bent it a bit.

Then, a few months later, when I got into "the lean" a bit more, I found that the even the colored plastic fender would rub when riding in a hard lean.   So I loosened the 4 bolts holding the fork brace (the flat metal plate between the fork tubes), and bounced the suspension a few times, and that helped.  It still looked a little crooked, but at least it didn't rub anymore.

Then when I replaced the fork springs, I had to take the fork brace and fork tubes completely off the bike.  When I put them back, I was amazed to find that the fender was no-longer crooked.  I even attached the fender extender again, and it was straight as well.  Apparently, the fork tubes were tightened-down in an unnatural position.  I wondered why, until later when I changed the front tire, and saw "89 GS500" written on the inside of the front wheel, in typical "yellow junkyard marker".  The bike had been crashed, hard enough to need a new front wheel.  Whoever put it together had not bothered to straighten the fork tubes.    
("lawn chair"?   ).

So one possible cause of crooked fender is misaligned fork tubes, which can be caused by a crash.  What you can do:

put the bike on centerstand
loosen both the lower fork pinch bolts using a hex wrench
loosen all 4 bolts on the fork brace
bounce the suspension up and down a few times
retighten

Moral of the story: do your own maintenance, and you'll learn about the bike's past.

[tarascio]

Thanks for all the advice which I will try this weekend.  

Now for a little bike history.  It was pretty well misaligned when I bought the bike last year.   It got worse after a standing drop to the right side.  I don't see any front fork damage but it could be slight.  I think the tires maybe the original since they only had 5,000 miles on the bike and showed signs of small cracks in the tire near the rim from age.   Both tires are Dunlop.  There are some scrapes along the side as if the bike had some previous falls but they look minor to me.  I'm the third owner.  That's it.  Wish I could have talked to the first owner for more details.

[jake42]

try this.

reattach all four brace bolts.  then loosen the lower pinch bolts and push the bike up agianst the wall and bounce the front up and down about 4 or 5 times and then retighten the pinch bolts and see if that helps.  

jake

[gavin]

I dropped my bike ('01) a while back and while replacing the handlebars I noticed that the left fork tube (the side that hit) had been forced up into the handlebar, about 1/2" about the upper triple.  I also noticed that the outer lip of the wheel rim is bent outward about 3/4 cm in one spot.  I moved the fork tube back into place, but the front end feels loose.

1. Is it safe to try and bend the wheel rim back?  According to Haynes, it's a loss and needs replacement.

2. To realign the fork tubes, should I loosen the lower pinch bolts at the end of the triple or at the wheel axle?  I assume the lower triple.

3. What other things should I check out?  

Thanks!
Gavin

[The Buddha]

OK My brother bent the wheel on his FJ 600 long time ago ... we took it out and bashed it as hard as we could. It got a bit better but was still bent. It was holding air so he rode it. Seemed to work fine. So Start bashing it ... put like a aluminum can over it and clobber away ... If it gets too f*cked up ... then get a new wheel. Else ride on ... BTW doing it with the tire helps to not bend it past the right position. BTW the rims are cast aluminum ... AKA sheite ... So not a clue when or where it will give ... however its the edge ... so possibly worst case you'll start losing air ... If you had a bend in the middle I'll totally say replace it ...
Cool.
Srinath.

[gavin]

Thanks Srinath!  It's only a slight bend so it should be a snap to bend back.  Just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to anger the tire gods by doing it.

BTW, do you happen to know which set of "lower" pinch bolts I need to loosen to do the realignment trick in this thread?

Thanks again!
Gavin

[RedShift]

OK My brother bent the wheel on his FJ 600 long time ago ... we took it out and bashed it as hard as we could. It got a bit better but was still bent. It was holding air so he rode it. Seemed to work fine. So Start bashing it ... put like a aluminum can over it and clobber away ... If it gets too f*cked up ... then get a new wheel. Else ride on ... BTW doing it with the tire helps to not bend it past the right position. BTW the rims are cast aluminum ... AKA sheite ... So not a clue when or where it will give ... however its the edge ... so possibly worst case you'll start losing air ... If you had a bend in the middle I'll totally say replace it ...
Cool.
Srinath.

So if I can summarize:

... If it jams -- force it!.  If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway ...[/size]

Wild.
Roy...

[se7enty7]

Thanks Srinath!  It's only a slight bend so it should be a snap to bend back.  Just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to anger the tire gods by doing it.

BTW, do you happen to know which set of "lower" pinch bolts I need to loosen to do the realignment trick in this thread?

Thanks again!
Gavin

eh... its Al.... it cracks really easy... it's not like steel where have to bend it a couple times before it breaks.


Be very careful.  I wouldn't be suprised if your jeapordizing the integrity of the wheel

[gavin]

Well, the bend is slight (see pics) so I could just leave it alone, but I think risking further metal fatigue is worth restoring the shape since another hit in the same place could cause a blowout.  At least with the shape restored that spot will have better structural support to absorb another blow.

The other side of the rim is fine.  I think this side just got rolled-up by the road when the bike was sliding.  I didn't hit anything hard, I just lost traction in some road gravel in a tight slow-speed S turn and high-sided (rookie mistake).

-Gavin

[Rema1000]

BTW, do you happen to know which set of "lower" pinch bolts I need to loosen to do the realignment trick in this thread?

About 2.5" or 3" lower than the turn signals; see the yellow dot in the picture:


Probably needs a 12mm socket.

You'll want to loosen the outside 4 corners of the fork brace at the same time; then bounce the front of the bike.  The idea is the the fork tubes are probably not permanently bent (that takes a serious accident).  So you want to loosen everything up, and let the fork tubes spring back to where they want to be; then tighten everything back up.

Don't worry about what direction the mudflap is pointing yet.  First get the suspension happy.  Later, you can take the front wheel off, and straighten the mudflap.

[GeeP]

... If it jams -- force it!.  If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway ...[/size]

Wild.
Roy...

Hey!  That's my line!    

Personally, I'd just leave it alone or buy a new one.  Bashing on it is only going to work harden it which will make it prone to failure.  However, there's nothing wrong with giving it a try!  If it ain't broke, don't fix it!  

[Blueknyt]

gavin, that little dent aint nothing, you could hamer that back without issues ,just work carefuly. might even get it using a Vice and 2x4 as a press.  in truth, it looks so slight from pic, dont worry about it.

[The Buddha]

And You'd be surprised how hard its doing to be ... of course using a vice and a big ass pipe in the handle for leverage might be easier ...
Whatever you do do not go past the original point ... that massively will concentrate the stresses on the bent part.
And the bolts are 14mm on the lower triple and the top triple has 8mm allens ... and you'd need a Socket with allen and a long handle ratched for both ... cos they are tight and Loctited in from the factory ...
Cool.
Srinath.

[gavin]

Thanks for the advice everyone.  I rapped on the rim a bit today but it barely moved -- Srinath was right.  Tomorrow I'll take it off the bike and gently coerce it back into shape in the shop.  I'll try the realignment trick after the remount.

-Gavin