Hello...could somebody out there if possible post a couple or a few pics. of a HD rig
in the yr. of 05 or close, after proper alignment if possible maybe even close ups of bottom
front mounting adjustment location...I know new kids on the block are a pain in the butt
but after looking at the front and rear of my bike today sure seems to be leaning to far to
the left(towards the car). I know some lean will disapear after rider gets on but man it looks
like it may be 2 much...Thanks for your time...=)
ophiophilia - 10/7/2009 4:10 PM
Hello...could somebody out there if possible post a couple or a few pics. of a HD rig
in the yr. of 05 or close, after proper alignment if possible maybe even close ups of bottom
front mounting adjustment location...I know new kids on the block are a pain in the butt
but after looking at the front and rear of my bike today sure seems to be leaning to far to
the left(towards the car). I know some lean will disapear after rider gets on but man it looks
like it may be 2 much...Thanks for your time...=)
Hmmmmm. it could be photographed, I guess but it would be difficult to tell the minute differences in adjustment.
A good suggestion would be to get the setup manual. There are diagrams in the book along with toubleshooting notes to correct pulling left and right, etc.
The manual is 99485-09 (or earlier year -05-06-07, 08, etc) They update it every year. They are on eBay all the time, usually brand new.
Here's a whole bunch from which to choose.
Thanks for the reply q...I have 1 of these man. off of ebay but I was curious to see a pic. of finished
alignment and see just how much lean is created maybe some front and back of rig after this is done...?
ophiophilia - 10/8/2009 1:29 PM
Thanks for the reply q...I have 1 of these man. off of ebay but I was curious to see a pic. of finished
alignment and see just how much lean is created maybe some front and back of rig after this is done...?
Hmmm, well, there are diagrams in the book. the settings are usually 3/4" toe in and one degree lean in. That's where mine is set and it runs nice and srtaight. You can't tell the toe in or the lean in from a photo.
Good luck.
I have about 5/8" toe in and 1 degree lean out - handles fine and tire wear is good.
Looking at my rig from behind it looks like it leans out but it's subtle and I doubt that a photo would help. No way you could tell 5/8" from 3/4" toe in with a photo.
I have an 04, can't really tell from pics, I set it up a little over 1* lean in. I'm a heavy guy, (gotta stick to the diet) and it tracked straight, just felt uncomfortable in the left lane of the highway when I had less, toe is probably in the 5/8 in range. Tires don't seem to scrub, handles well, as stated elsewhere in the forum, it's all a bit of a compromise. What works at 65mph won't work as well at 35, try to set it up where you do most of your riding.
I get great tire wear with 0-1 deg. in and 3/4" toe-in. Handling is very neutral and stable. Here's a picture of my tire showing a good pattern down the center. That tire has 6,000 miles on it and it's hardly worn.
You do need to be very precise in your settings, however. I have two straight edge units made out of 1-1/4" square tubing that will get the toe-in very close. The lean is set with a magnetic protractor. Sears has them.
gnm109 - 10/9/2009 9:09 PM I get great tire wear with 0-1 deg. in and 3/4" toe-in. Handling is very neutral and stable. Here's a picture of my tire showing a good pattern down the center. That tire has 6,000 miles on it and it's hardly worn. You do need to be very precise in your settings, however. I have two straight edge units made out of 1-1/4" square tubing that will get the toe-in very close. The lean is set with a magnetic protractor. Sears has them.
That is the sidecar tire, how is the rear tire on the bike doing at 6000 miles?
Rear tire is ready to be changed in another couple of thousand. Front tire looks like new. On a HD, with or without a sidecar you can get 6-8K out of a rear tire, 20K out of a front and, if the sidecar is properly aligned, the sidecar tire will rot before it wears out. At least that's been my experience. YMMV.
P.S. This is with Dunlops.
Again Thanks for the replies and pics.,...I guess given with the replies received it's not possible
to just stand back I don't know say 5-10 ft back from front of or rear of rig and see either a lean
towards the car or away from the car...? I wonder if I post pics. of what I'm looking at and asking
about if someone would say that's to much lean towards car...? qnm109 Thanks for the pic of car tire
how about a couple of pics. of entire rig from a distance from the rear and front of your rig...?
Thanks for your time...=)
ophiophilia - 10/10/2009 9:58 AM
Again Thanks for the replies and pics.,...I guess given with the replies received it's not possible
to just stand back I don't know say 5-10 ft back from front of or rear of rig and see either a lean
towards the car or away from the car...? I wonder if I post pics. of what I'm looking at and asking
about if someone would say that's to much lean towards car...? qnm109 Thanks for the pic of car tire
how about a couple of pics. of entire rig from a distance from the rear and front of your rig...?
Thanks for your time...=)
Rather than try to perform the alignment by viewing how it looks, if you get ahold of a magnetic protractor and set it up on the rear brake disc, you will be able to tell definitively what the lean figure is in degrees. I usually start with 0 (zero) and then try a degree either way. That usually does it.
Before that, I set the toe-in to 3/4 and see how that works as well.
Good luck.
im running a radial car rear tire on my ultra - the rear has 10k on it and is not even half worn out
but the sidecar tire went in 7k [im real conservative if one wearbar is close i change the tire]
the new tire has about 5k on it and is a bit worn in the center.
i think with the radial the sidecar tire takes most of the scrub - but im just guessing - it could also be because the car tire tread is 5" wide at the road and the sidecar tire is 2" wide on the road
to
timo482 - 10/13/2009 11:20 AM
im running a radial car rear tire on my ultra - the rear has 10k on it and is not even half worn out
but the sidecar tire went in 7k [im real conservative if one wearbar is close i change the tire]
the new tire has about 5k on it and is a bit worn in the center.
i think with the radial the sidecar tire takes most of the scrub - but im just guessing - it could also be because the car tire tread is 5" wide at the road and the sidecar tire is 2" wide on the road
to
I've never heard of a TLE sidecar tire wearing out in such low mileage. Are you sure about alignment? Something is wrong somewhere.
I bought a used 1987 TLE in 1995 and the bike it came off of had 40K miles on it. The tire was rotten and hard but the tread was mostly still there. I was told it was the original. Of course, there was no way to verify that but 7K miles is not very good and is very unusual AFAIK.
Does the center wear show any signs of directional scrubbing or is it a smooth wear pattern?
Any directional scrubbing or differences in the appearance of the wear pattern that seems to have been caused due to a lateral influence would indicate an out of alignment situation.
That is extremely low sidecar tire mileage. If no lateral scrubbing is present, perhaps you are being too conservative in not following the manufacturere recommendations.
Lonnie
timo482 - 10/13/2009 1:20 PM
im running a radial car rear tire on my ultra - the rear has 10k on it and is not even half worn out
but the sidecar tire went in 7k [im real conservative if one wearbar is close i change the tire]
the new tire has about 5k on it and is a bit worn in the center.
i think with the radial the sidecar tire takes most of the scrub - but im just guessing - it could also be because the car tire tread is 5" wide at the road and the sidecar tire is 2" wide on the road
to
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Just some food for thought here
. We have found that some rigs, when a car tire is fitted to the rear of the bike, tend to wear the sidecar tire more than they did when the bike still had a cycle tire on it. I suppose the additional grip of the car tire 'overpowers' the smalle,r or motorsysle style, sidecar tire and creates more wear. Getting a tire onto the sidecar that is similar, or the same, as the one on the rear of the bike can even things back out in some cases. With that being said even having to deal with increased wear on the sidecar tire is still better than having to replace a rear tire on the bike too often. It seems as though the 165r15 car tires are getting around 20,000 miles on the rear of most rigs....not bad for a tire that retails for around 60 bucks.
