Front end alignment

[bobbilly416]

Back at the beginning of August I took a hard spill on my XR650L while crossing a wooden bridge. It tweaked the front end pretty good to the point that the front wheel was pointing off to the right about two or three inches from center. Once home I loosened my fork clamps and steering spindle nut and gently knocked the wheel back to center as beat as I could eye-ball it. Since then I have had a loud whining coming from the front end which I am pretty sure is wheel noise, when I pull in the clutch at speed and allow the motor to idle the noise does not change until the bike slows down and then it slowly goes away. The noise also changes with road surface changes. The question is, is there a proper method to aligning the front end on a bike to insure everything is tracking as it should. The front tire is a stock OEM tire form Honda and has about 1600 miles on it, I have also had the tire off the ground to check the condition of the bearings and the wheel rolls smoothly.

[JB3]

Be sure to loosen the pinch bolts and the axle slightly when you loosen the fork tubes at the triple clamps. Allow all components to "settle" by wiggling them a little before torquing back down.

See if that helps.

[Smiley]

Originally Posted by JB3

Be sure to loosen the pinch bolts and the axle slightly when you loosen the fork tubes at the triple clamps. Allow all components to "settle" by wiggling them a little before torquing back down.

See if that helps.

You do need to loosen the pinch bolts on the axel. Then, loosen either the top or bottom triple clamp bolts. (I usually loosen the bottom.) Loosening both will cause you more problems including the possibility of the fork tubes dropping. Alignment is nearly impossible when the entire triple clamp is loose.

[RollingJ]

Leave the stem nut alone.

Loosen the lower fork bolts and the axle pinch bolts on the non-nut side of the axle. Grab the front wheel between your knees and yank the bars straight like you used to do on your bicycle when you were a kid. When think you have it straight, raise the front wheel using a stand, milk crate, etc. Spin the front wheel fast and rapidly lock the front brake. Repeat three or 4 times. Take the bike off the stand and bounce the front of the bike a few times hard with the front brake locked. Tighten the axle pinch bolts then the lower fork bolts. On USD forks make sure to tighten the fork bolts to spec or you could deform the tube and mess up the suspension action.

To verify the forks are aligned, you can take the front wheel off. The axle should not bind at all when installed without the wheel.

[Smiley]

Originally Posted by RollingJ

Leave the stem nut alone.

Loosen the lower fork bolts and the axle pinch bolts on the non-nut side of the axle. Grab the front wheel between your knees and yank the bars straight like you used to do on your bicycle when you were a kid. When think you have it straight, raise the front wheel using a stand, milk crate, etc. Spin the front wheel fast and rapidly lock the front brake. Repeat three or 4 times. Take the bike off the stand and bounce the front of the bike a few times hard with the front brake locked. Tighten the axle pinch bolts then the lower fork bolts. On USD forks make sure to tighten the fork bolts to spec or you could deform the tube and mess up the suspension action.

To verify the forks are aligned, you can take the front wheel off. The axle should not bind at all when installed without the wheel.

Much beter and detailed description, Joel! Basically what I wanted to say but I'm way too lazy!

[RollingJ]

That's how I roll!

[bobbilly416]

Thanks for the advice, I have never had to straighten a front end before and was wondering if I was missing something. I will go through the process again using the advice y'all have given, hopefully that will solve my noise problem. It could be that the tire is not running in the same groove that it had worn into causing it to whine on the road, it might just take time for it to wear in again.

[chaissos]

Evidently it's a pretty common problem (although one I've never had to deal with). Honda has a specific procedure for the ST1300, and they've detailed it in the documentation. If you fail to do it like this, it will pull (normally to the right):

1. Tighten the left axle pinch bolts to 22 N-m (2.2 kgf-m, 16 lbf-ft)
Note: Indication of “Left” is if you were sitting on bike
2. Tighten Axle Bolt to 79 N-m (8.1 kgf-m, 58 lbf-ft)
3. Tighten the right axle pinch bolts to 22 N-m (2.2 kgf-m, 16 lbf-ft)
4. Now loosen the left axle pinch bolts
5. Note: During the assembly process, this is where you would be installing the brake calipers.
6. Set the bike down where the bike's weight is on the wheels. Lock the front brake and push the suspension up and down several times.
7. Tighten the left axle pinch bolts to 22 N-m (2.2 kgf-m, 16 lbf-ft)

You’ll notice that they have you loosen and retighten the left axle bolts before and after you’ve tightened the axle. I think this may be where the front end pulling is coming from. With the left axle pinch bolts tightened down, tightening the axle bolt would pull the two forks together……or more precisely, it’s pulling the left fork towards the right. Once you’ve tightened down the right axle pinch bolts, loosening the left axle pinch bolts lets the assembly center itself.

I can't say it will work for all bikes, but it's a pretty sound way to go about it, and seems to me most bikes are made the same way. Worth a shot if you run into any issues. If the wheel is slightly off alignment, then there's also a very slight tilt of the disc in the caliper, which can lead to a slight squeal over time.

Good luck!

[dukey33]

you checked the fork tubes are still true?

[Moekazi]

Floating brake discs can whine if things are lined up properly or it doesn't run true.

.

[jqueen]

Also be sure your axle isn't slightly bent. I didn't catch if you had actually removed it or not, but a bend in the right place can be hard to see with the wheel on.

[bobbilly416]

Originally Posted by jqueen

Also be sure your axle isn't slightly bent. I didn't catch if you had actually removed it or not, but a bend in the right place can be hard to see with the wheel on.

No I haven't removed the axle, I didn't think to loosen the axle when I lined things back up the first time that is why I am going to do it all again tomorrow following the advice given here, hopefully that will solve my noise issue. The noise keeps me worrying that something in the front end is going to come apart while riding at high speed.