Death wobble. Help

[Bill Seward]

If you're gonna go to the trouble of tearing the forks apart to look inside, which is a good idea to be sure things are ok in there, I'd just put new bearings in. A bit of a pain to do, but then you start out new again.

 

[CNN SUCKS DONKEY]

Contenplating............. Dammit you guys make it sound easy. Mechanicly I know I can tear it down easy, its just those small but critical reasembly details that have me vision a wobble at 75mph then a subsequent Hollywood Die Hard style explosion for no dam reason.... with me on it hahaha. I appreciate everyones helpful input.

 

[CNN SUCKS DONKEY]

Look at the description in the factory service manual about accessing the steering head bearings. It may be easier to manage everything if you remove the front wheel (axle nut & pinch bolt), the calipers (2 bolts each), and each fork tube/slider combo (top & bottom triple tree pinch bolts).

At that point, you only have the top and bottom triple trees to mess-with, much easier to remove and to replace without the bulk and the weight of the fork downtubes/sliders, calipers, and wheel assembly to contend with. It will be easy to remove the top triple tree and then the bottom triple tree. You can run your finger around the outer races top & bottom to check for pitting or an uneven surface. It should be perfectly-smooth. You can use your fingernail and fingertip to check for unevenness. Since it's now apart, consider washing out the old grease from the bearings, and re-pack them thoroughly, until the grease oozes out around all the bearing rollers. Be sure to coat the steering head outer races with a coat of grease before re-assembling the bearings into them.

A careful tightening according to Sean Morley's video, and that should have it. Just make sure that you torque the fasteners in-sequence and to their proper torque values while re-assembling the downtubes, triple tree pinch bolts, and caliper mount screws. All that info is in the factory manual.
http://www.vmaxoutlaw.com/tech/VMX12-Service-Manual.pdf

Thanks. How did you know I had a factory service manual ?

 

[CNN SUCKS DONKEY]

If you mean the spanner wrench? You can get one anywhere. The adjusting nut isn't hard to move. A screw driver and hammer has worked for many. Before tightening the head bearings its important to loosen the tree pinch bolts. Then torque (17ft lbs idf I recall)

If the adjusting nut is the one that can be persuaded with hammer and chisel / screwdriver should it be tightend where the handlebars move freely on their own or stiff n steady as mine was ?

 

[[email protected]]

If the adjusting nut is the one that can be persuaded with hammer and chisel / screwdriver should it be tightend where the handlebars move freely on their own or stiff n steady as mine was ?

The basic SOP is to get the front end off the ground.
Loosen the lower triple tree pinch bolts
Loosen the nut on top of the steering stem
Center the bars and let go. See what happens.
If they drop to one side and bounce of the stop, the bearings are too loose.
Tighten the two castellated nuts.
If the bars stay centered and don't move without force, its too tight.

There is a fine line between properly set and too tight. Too tight, and the bike will want to wander all the time. It will be difficult to ride a straight line at low speed.

If it doesn't feel smooth when you swing the bars side to side (I describe as a "notchy" feeling) then I would take the front end apart and replace the bearings. Its possible they could just need some grease but typically, when you have that notchy feeling, its time for new bearings.

 

[CNN SUCKS DONKEY]

The basic SOP is to get the front end off the ground.
Loosen the lower triple tree pinch bolts
Loosen the nut on top of the steering stem
Center the bars and let go. See what happens.
If they drop to one side and bounce of the stop, the bearings are too loose.
Tighten the two castellated nuts.
If the bars stay centered and don't move without force, its too tight.

There is a fine line between properly set and too tight. Too tight, and the bike will want to wander all the time. It will be difficult to ride a straight line at low speed.

If it doesn't feel smooth when you swing the bars side to side (I describe as a "notchy" feeling) then I would take the front end apart and replace the bearings. Its possible they could just need some grease but typically, when you have that notchy feeling, its time for new bearings.

Understood.

 

[CNN SUCKS DONKEY]

Tightend up the ring nuts as per the video in increments still wobles. Got late on me so tomorow ill try loosening some maybe ill get lucky and wont have to take it to a bike shop.

 

[Hamkaas]

Before going to the bike shop check the air presure from your tires. On the tire itself is written in PSI how much is required.
In the service manual is a chapter about maintenance your rear swingarm. Have a look at that too. Last mentioned solved my death wobble.


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[dannymax]

Tightend up the ring nuts as per the video in increments still wobles. Got late on me so tomorow ill try loosening some maybe ill get lucky and wont have to take it to a bike shop.

Did you loosen all (4) of the lower triple tree pinch bolts before each adjustment...then tighten afterward?

 

[CNN SUCKS DONKEY]

Did you loosen all (4) of the lower triple tree pinch bolts before each adjustment...then tighten afterward?

Yes.

 

[CNN SUCKS DONKEY]

Thing is no matter how much i loosen the ring nuts the handlebars wont swing left n right loosely. Theyll turn over left fall n bounce a tiny bit but wont fall over right on their own for nothing im guessing cause of the cabling atatched on the right side impedes a little ?

 

[Bill Seward]

No doubt you're right. I had the same situation, and just tested the bearing preload by letting it swing left. When I got it correct, I considered it done, and have had no problems since.

 

[CNN SUCKS DONKEY]

No doubt you're right. I had the same situation, and just tested the bearing preload by letting it swing left. When I got it correct, I considered it done, and have had no problems since.

How am i right ? Cause i need to fix this @$!#.

 

[sdt354]

Thing is no matter how much i loosen the ring nuts the handlebars wont swing left n right loosely. Theyll turn over left fall n bounce a tiny bit but wont fall over right on their own for nothing im guessing cause of the cabling atatched on the right side impedes a little ?

Yes, the cables can mess with the drop test. Easy enough to unbolt the throttle, slide it off,and let it hang for the test.

 

[Fire-medic]

The factory manual has the correct routing of the cables, wires, and hydraulic lines and unless you have some aftermarket handlebars that interfere with the length, you should be able to perform the bounce test with no interference from any of those.

 

[sdt354]

The factory manual has the correct routing of the cables, wires, and hydraulic lines and unless you have some aftermarket handlebars that interfere with the length, you should be able to perform the bounce test with no interference from any of those.

The factory manual also has a method of setting the bearings that works very well. Handel bars of any type won't matter. You'll need a spanner wrench with a cut out for a torque wrench.

 

[CNN SUCKS DONKEY]

The factory manual also has a method of setting the bearings that works very well. Handel bars of any type won't matter. You'll need a spanner wrench with a cut out for a torque wrench.

So i can just torque to spec and thats it....no bs around. Is a spanner wrench sold at the local Oreily or AutoZone ? Ebay. Wats it cost ?

 

[sdt354]

$30 last I checked.

 

[CNN SUCKS DONKEY]

Ty.