Crooked Front Wheel?

Questions and comments about converting to beefier forks..
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Rjcapt
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Crooked Front Wheel?

Post by Rjcapt »

I've just installed my 2003 kx250 front end and the front wheel points left about 10 degrees. What did I do wrong?

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Thanks

Pete
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scheckaet
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Post by scheckaet »

does your caliper fit?
make sure you didn't swap the spacers, one is longer than the other...
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Post by Frysk »

Did you use the right axel or bearings ?
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rbates9
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Post by rbates9 »

Is your wheel pointing to the left or is your fender pointing to the right?

When I put mine together I used the KDX front fender and it is little crooked if you look at it close. Some one else on here said the same thing about theres.

Otherwise you may need loosen everything back up and re straighten / ailing everything.
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Post by Rjcapt »

The brake is on with no binding.

The wheel/axle/spacers came off the same forks.

The bearings are good and tight.

The fender a new KX and not warped.

The only think I can think of is that one of the tubes is bent.

I guess I'll have to take them apart and see if they're true.

Hopefully they can be straightened if bent....

I guess the wheel could be out of true, I'll have to spin it on some blocks and see.
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Post by heckler »

I had a bitch of a time with my first USD wheel install, but follow these instructions carefully to install the wheel properly. Make sure the wheel is off the ground when you install it.

http://kdxrider.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1107

hopefully you're wrong about the bent tubes, but I'd check them.
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Post by gsa102 »

Bent tubes cannot be straightened, because the metal is stretched. I tried with a pair of street bike forks and just put a different bend in them.

You probably assembled the triples without aligning them properly. Follow the instructions in heckler's post.
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Post by Rjcapt »

Well. I tried re installing them with no luck.

I don't think there's any way the would just be out of adjustment in that the lower tubes rotate independently of the uppers and there's enough width to the lower bosses that they should self align.

I have to revalve them anyway, so I'll have them checked at that time.

Thanks for all the help.

Pete
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Post by Rjcapt »

I'm at a loss here. I pulled the forks and put them in my lathe to check their runout. They are both true to 0.05". The axle is true as well.

I remounted them and I can feel some slight play, so they could probably stand some new bushings, but I just can't seem to find where the variance lies.

Anything I'm still missing here?
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Post by Fletch »

take the fender off then look again at everything. It may be throwing you off if it isn't drilled properly. That's the only thing I can think of.
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Post by scheckaet »

wheel bearing trashed? any play in them? maybe one is not seated all the way?
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Post by Rjcapt »

I did pull the fender so it wouldn't be a distraction. It may be out of alignment, I haven't checked it yet.

The wheel bearings are good and the brake disc runs true in the caliper.

I was wondering (although it's a long shot) if one of the triples may be bent or maybe machined out of alignment.

Oh well, I'm going to rebuild the forks and see if new bushings help.

Thanks for all the input.

Pete
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Post by Mr. Wibbens »

Triples probably are not straight
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Post by skythrasher »

I am with Wibs on the bent triples. I have seen several bent lower clamps over the years. Could be from a crash, but most likely a bad bearing or stem installation at some point in the past are the most likely culprits. I also think that fifty thousandths run out is excessive for a fork tube. You posted 0.05" could you have meant 0.005" or 0.0005" of which both would be acceptable.
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Post by Rjcapt »

>|<>QBB<
skythrasher wrote:I am with Wibs on the bent triples. I have seen several bent lower clamps over the years. Could be from a crash, but most likely a bad bearing or stem installation at some point in the past are the most likely culprits. I also think that fifty thousandths run out is excessive for a fork tube. You posted 0.05" could you have meant 0.005" or 0.0005" of which both would be acceptable.
It may be a bent clamp, for right now I'll live with it and see how it goes.

And yes it was 0.005". I figured that was good enough given I was measuring the assembled fork. Heck I'll probably bash it up worse than that in no time anyway...lol
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Post by rbates9 »

Could be the triples are just not lined up right. You could try putting one fork in the triples and snugging them down, then try fitting the other one in and see how far off it is.

Does the stem come squarely out of the lower triple clamp?
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Post by Rjcapt »

>|<>QBB<
rbates9 wrote:Could be the triples are just not lined up right. You could try putting one fork in the triples and snugging them down, then try fitting the other one in and see how far off it is.

Does the stem come squarely out of the lower triple clamp?
I didn't check the stem for square, I just got it back from RB and I'm assuming he did his job properly. I'll check it next time I have it apart.

Pete
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