Rear Wheel Alignment Help

[Syndacate]

Hey,

I'm trying to put my rear wheel back on after my first tire change (on my first bike).

I can't get it aligned worth of damn.

There's about 1cm difference (larger) in the left than in the right.

I measured it both from the center lip of the rim, and just in case that wasn't accurate, I did it from the lip (which is a pain in the *** on my bike btw b/c the aftermarket exhaust hangs right there and can't be moved far).

Regardless of where I measure from I have 1cm more room on the left in the front of the rim than I do on the right.

Only problem is that the left adjuster is tightened all the way to the point where I'm not comfortable tightening it any further, and the right adjuster is loosened almost to the point where it makes no difference. That should pitch the wheel as far left as possible in the front - but it's not, it's making minuscule difference and I have a 1cm gap larger on the left than the right!!

I have no clue what to do - please, somebody help .

From what I saw, there's no way to put the adjusters in upside down, right? They seem pretty symmetrical, and I'm 99.9% sure I put the right one in the right fork and the left one in the left fork - although that shouldn't matter either, right?

I have no clue what to do, the wheel just doesn't seem to care what it's adjusted to.

I haven't looked at the markers on the outside much, but they're telling me the same thing a ruler is, right has about 3 ticks, left has like 4.5 or so. I believe they both had about 5 when I removed it - but there's no way the bolts were this tight...and if I put the right to 5 ticks, it'd be even more outta whack than it is now. I just screwed with it for an hour and got absolutely nowhere.

Does anybody have any advice/tips/what the hell is going on/reasoning that I'm missing here??

Thanks..

[wfrpalm]

You have to do a little at a time until they are both equal. Loosen both and square your axle up and hand tighten the adjusters untill they are just touching the axle then start tightening them 1/4 of a turn until you get the chain to the right tension. Even snug the axle so there is a little resistance. Its not hard but take your time. Good luck.

[steves]

First off, the marks on the side plates are totally arbitrary, and mostly useless.

You can use two straight edges with a string or something to check. I'm sure if you google it, there's directions.

The best way to eyeball the rear wheel alignment is to check the rear sprocket, and see how the chain is riding. You want the sprocket to be right in the middle of the chain as the wheel rotates.

[Syndacate]

You have to do a little at a time until they are both equal. Loosen both and square your axle up and hand tighten the adjusters untill they are just touching the axle then start tightening them 1/4 of a turn until you get the chain to the right tension. Even snug the axle so there is a little resistance. Its not hard but take your time. Good luck.

I tried backing them off until they were barely touching, but in that spot, the left side was still 1cm+ on the gap than the right side. I'll try adjusting by hand first, though, as you suggested.

First off, the marks on the side plates are totally arbitrary, and mostly useless.

You can use two straight edges with a string or something to check. I'm sure if you google it, there's directions.

The best way to eyeball the rear wheel alignment is to check the rear sprocket, and see how the chain is riding. You want the sprocket to be right in the middle of the chain as the wheel rotates.

Yeah, that's the issue, the sprocket teeth are all the way on the right side on entry, and taper off hard to the left side when it goes to the back - it's quite obvious that the measurements of 1cm extra on the left than the right are accurate :-\.

I've been using a straight edge to get the measurements.

Guess it's time to go back out there and try again, now.

[wfrpalm]

You don't want to back them off. Get the axle square by pulling the wheel and then hand tighten the adjusters until they are just touching.

[Syndacate]

You don't want to back them off. Get the axle square by pulling the wheel and then hand tighten the adjusters until they are just touching.

Yeah, I figured I didn't want to back them off - so I guess I don't have the power to do it?

I was pushing on the rear of the wheel from the left side with all my weight to the point where the bike wasn't the most stable on the center stand - and then tightened it - but the same thing happened - the chain was too tight.

Basically the problem I'm running into is that the rim seems to be very favored towards pointing to the right in the front, I'm not sure why. I can't push the right side forward any more as the adjuster is almost completely loosened (still putting light pressure on the plate). The only other adjustment I can make is to tighten the left adjuster, pulling the left side back - only problem with this is by the time it's straight (or almost straight), the chain has so much tension on it - it's way past it's stress point, so I have to back it off a bit (probably 3 turns), and we're back at square one.

[wfrpalm]

Dude. Loosen both adjusters as much as possible, pull the wheel to it is square ( use the marks stamped into the swingarm), finger tighten the adjusters until they just touch the axle ( keep it square ) then tighten the adjusters a 1/4 of a turn (one then the other ) until they are both at the same point and the chain slack is what you want. It is not hard but it may take some time. Good luck and do a burn out for me when you are done.

[Syndacate]

Dude. Loosen both adjusters as much as possible, pull the wheel to it is square ( use the marks stamped into the swingarm), finger tighten the adjusters until they just touch the axle ( keep it square ) then tighten the adjusters a 1/4 of a turn (one then the other ) until they are both at the same point and the chain slack is what you want. It is not hard but it may take some time. Good luck and do a burn out for me when you are done.

Yes, it really doesn't seem hard in theory, and I've done what you said there at least 4x - the problem happens each time.

First off, I can't tighten my adjuster nuts by hand as they haven't been touched in 13 years - so they're a bit rough to move - that being said, they move with a wrench w/o any effort.

Secondly, for some reason the left one keeps going in as far as it needs to go (before getting too tight on the chain), and the right one can't come out any further.

I just put it away for the night because I basically got nothing accomplished, I'll try again after I get home from work tomorrow. It just seems to always end up in the exact same state, I can get them almost even with too much stress on the chain and the right adjuster almost all the way out.

I can't even collect my thoughts enough to really get the right words out here, so I'm sorry if it seems a bit garbled. It just seems so impossible as it keeps slipping into the state where the left adjuster is ridiculously tight but the right one is ridiculously loose - it's like it's showing me how impossible it is, I'm not sure why it has so much toe to the right - is it possible I bent something?

I'll try making sure it's 100% loose tomorrow, then I square it, then I'll try tightening one side then the other, in equal amounts. I don't believe I've tried squaring it before I started to tighten the adjusters, just tried to square it and keep the tension all at once..maybe it'll work better the other way, it just doesn't seem possible given what's happening, I mean if you take the scenario that:
- right adjuster can't be loosened anymore
- Then the adjustment must be made by tightening the left adjuster
- but then they're not even square by the time the chain is too tight

I keep falling into that same scenario, it's like a puzzle .

[Astro4x4]

I've done it two ways - 1 - with the strings
2 - eyeballing the rear sprocket
I prefer to eyeball the rear sprocket it's fast and it's right on money when checked with the string method. I just sit on the floor behind the bike with it in neutral and spin the wheel making small adjustments on either side until I get it where I want it, then I set up the chain tension and torque everything down.

[Syndacate]

I've done it two ways - 1 - with the strings
2 - eyeballing the rear sprocket
I prefer to eyeball the rear sprocket it's fast and it's right on money when checked with the string method. I just sit on the floor behind the bike with it in neutral and spin the wheel making small adjustments on either side until I get it where I want it, then I set up the chain tension and torque everything down.

Yeah, I like the simple measurement method - it's as (probably more) accurate as strings, and more accurate than eye-balling, yet simpler than strings.

Though regardless, I can't get the damn thing over that extra .3 or so CM I need at this point. There's got to be something I'm missing about the actual adjustment process..

Right now I got it so that the left side is about 13.5cm to the center lip, and the right side is 13.2cm to the center lip - the difference is enough that when I spin the wheel in neutral the chain rides hard to the outside of the sprocket when coming around the rear. I'm not sure how much tolerance I'm allowed, but obviously this is too much.

[Psycho1]

lay a straight edge (the longer the better) against the outside of the sprocket and line the chain up with that.

[Astro4x4]

I think some pics are in order. Do you have all the spacers etc. in the right spots? Is the axle bolt snug enough to hold everything in place, yet loose enough to allow movement for adjustment?

[Syndacate]

I think some pics are in order. Do you have all the spacers etc. in the right spots? Is the axle bolt snug enough to hold everything in place, yet loose enough to allow movement for adjustment?

I'm about to go out there now, if I can't get anywhere after today I'll take some pix.

Which spacers are there? As far as I know there's only the center piece that fits into the center of the sprocket, between that and the left side of the rim (though the sprocket appear flush to the rim), and the one on the other side of the rim, that goes between the caliper support and the right side of the rim.

I do believe the axle bolt is snug enough, I gave it like 1/4 turn passed finger tight with a ratchet.

Right now, my plan is to loosen the caliper/torque bar castle nut to get some free play there, then loosen the adjusters all the way, then tighten them until they just start to grab the axle, then square off the rim, then turn them back alternating equal turns to each one, until the chain is about 1.4" +/- 0.2" with the swing-arm compressed, as the manual seems to indicate.

I'll verify my measurements from the rim lip to the swing arm by putting the straight edge on the sprocket, and seeing what that shows me.

If I can't get anything accomplished by the time I retire for the night, I'll take some pix..though I'm not sure what I could possibly illustrate through them :-\.

Thanks, I'll see what's what.

[bob393]

I think the eyeball method is the easiest to do. Is the wheel not straight in the swingarm or is it not centered in the swingarm? Not centered is bushings, spacers and not straight is an adjustment.

[Syndacate]

I think the eyeball method is the easiest to do. Is the wheel not straight in the swingarm or is it not centered in the swingarm? Not centered is bushings, spacers and not straight is an adjustment.

As far as I can tell, everything is peachy..but I'm not quite satisfied.

I'm going to post a synopsis post in another forum, located here:

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=111157&page=5

That's everything that happened. I'll be posting there in 10m or so with the overall results.