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Finished lots of upgrades and farkles and now have Front End Wobble

Update -

First let me be PERFECTLY CLEAR.......At no time did I say Baja Ron's sway bar was causing the problem!All I said was "The only thing I did that could affect handling was put on Baja Rons new sway bar and I took off the front wheels to install the Bright Sides led lights." My point in making this statement was to provide as much detail as I could about what is different since the last time I rode the Spyder.

Tonight I put 18 psi in both front tires. And YES they are on the Spyder correctly!

  • I do not have Ride-On or anything else in my tires.
  • They are factory tires.
    They have 5000 miles on them.
  • They have no visible damage.
  • The balancing weights are still in place.
  • Nothing is bent or broken from jacking. I use a frame lift jack.
  • Everything was fine when I rode in December.
  • Nothing else was in the garage to back into or over the Spyder.
  • The wheels are on correctly and torqued properly

Tonight I went for about 10 miles. The shaking occurs between 40 to 42 mph. It does not happen all the time. It was not as bad as it was last night when it first started. It seems to hit or miss if it happens. There is no shaking at any other speed below 40 or above 42 up to 75 mph.

I still have no idea what is causing it. :banghead:
 
Is this a swaying movement in the fenders (Back and forth) and does it happen When you mostly have let off the throttle and the Spyder is Coasting(Free Wheeling)???? Is it sometimes hard to repricate if you try to--But happens only once in a while???:dontknow:
 
Sarge707 said:
Is this a swaying movement in the fenders (Back and forth) (No The wheels shake) and does it happen When you mostly have let off the throttle and the Spyder is Coasting(Free Wheeling)???? (No. If it does it it does not matter if you are accelerating or decelerating) Is it sometimes hard to repricate if you try to--But happens only once in a while??? (It happens when ever it feels like it) :dontknow:
Click to expand...


XXXX
 
If it is truly a wobble (side-to-side movement), I would check the wheel runout carefully. If it is OK, I'd consider a spin balancing of the wheels. Older tires can develop some odd balance issues...especially if one or both have a lot of balance weights. If it is another typye of vibration, but pulsating in nature, check the sprockets very carefully for an imbedded stone or for tar/debris accumulation in the grooves. I scrape a small screwdriver along each groove to check for "bumps". You'd be amazed at the vibration and pulsation it can cause.
 
NancysToy said:
If it is truly a wobble (side-to-side movement), I would check the wheel runout carefully. If it is OK, I'd consider a spin balancing of the wheels. Older tires can develop some odd balance issues...especially if one or both have a lot of balance weights. If it is another typye of vibration, but pulsating in nature, check the sprockets very carefully for an imbedded stone or for tar/debris accumulation in the grooves. I scrape a small screwdriver along each groove to check for "bumps". You'd be amazed at the vibration and pulsation it can cause.
Click to expand...


When it happens (between 40 & 42 mph) I can see the front wheels shake.
 
DR Buck said:
When it happens (between 40 & 42 mph) I can see the front wheels shake.
Click to expand...

My RT was doing that, shaking at 45 mph so bad that I could see the fenders vibrating. My problem was the tires were cupped and needed to be replaced. Unlike you I had over 18,000 miles on them. I hope you can figure this out soon.
 
I would say you always had unbalanced frontwheels - but you didn`t feel it because the front was too soft - did you maybe change anything on your shocks ? is the wobbling away if you ryde faster ? check also if your front-fenders are still tight ..
 
The fenders are tight. If the fenders were loose, they would shake not the tires/wheels. Besides when the wheels shake you can feel it in the handle bars. Fenders won't do that.
 
chris56 said:
I would say you always had unbalanced frontwheels - but you didn`t feel it because the front was too soft - did you maybe change anything on your shocks ? is the wobbling away if you ryde faster ? check also if your front-fenders are still tight ..
Click to expand...

Very possible this may be the problem. With the sway-bar, the added stability could make any imperfections in the tires and other wheel/steering components more pronounced.

It appears you have ridden far enough to eliminate any flat-spots in the tires -- although I have have never had fat spots occur on mine, but I suppose it could.

It may be that you are going to have to take the sway-bar off and see if your problem remains. If so it does or doesn't provides more options to consider.
 
Dr... Sorry to be asking the dumb questions today... :opps: Could the bar be contacting one of the end links? I don't know if that could cause it; but when you've got to start eliminating things, start with the ones that you can check the easiest!
 
If you can jack up the front end again and pull the front wheels. check the inside of the rims for any damage. also spin the front hubs by hand and listen and feel for any ruffness in the bearings. also check the back mounting plate of the rim to make sure nothing got wedged between the the two. what you are describing is a ballence issue that shows up at a certain speed and you drive thru it and it smooths out. there is a small chance it my be a drive belt problem. That shows up at certain speeds depending how tight the belt is and you can drive thru it also. But since you only feel it in the handle bars and front wheels its something up there. Spin the tires while on the jack and have your hand on the tread. You might feel a problem on the tire before you can see it. hope this helps.
 
This just screams something in the rotating mass is out of balance or out of round... sorry that's all I can come up with.

John
 
I have checked and tried everything recommended. Nothing visually or otherwise can be found to be wrong. I took the wheels off again today and inspected everything. And I am happy to say that I put them BACK ON THE CORRECT SIDES AGAIN. I also put the Spyder up on the jack and inspected underneath around the ball joints, sway bar and connections. Everything is OK there as well. The good news is I took a 30 mile ride today and the problem has all but disappeared. Started out with some minor shaking at the usual ~42 mph and after about 15 miles it was just gone. We'll just wait and see if it stays gone.
 
Last edited:
Not sure if related but...

I was having the front tire wobble last fall at 44 to 47 MPH very consistently. Then riding one weekend one of the other riders mentioned my back shock must be shot as to the way I was bouncing around when he followed me. Had the back shock replaced (probably early wear-out due to no air in the suspension (?)), got me back on the road and I immediately noticed there was no front end wobble. My only comment is the way the parts of this bike interact can make finding the wobble problem difficult. I still have the original tires with 12,000 miles and run 18 psi so I guess it is not tire related. Good luck finding the problem!

Diana
 
dmdahnert said:
I was having the front tire wobble last fall at 44 to 47 MPH very consistently. Then riding one weekend one of the other riders mentioned my back shock must be shot as to the way I was bouncing around when he followed me. Had the back shock replaced (probably early wear-out due to no air in the suspension (?)), got me back on the road and I immediately noticed there was no front end wobble. My only comment is the way the parts of this bike interact can make finding the wobble problem difficult. I still have the original tires with 12,000 miles and run 18 psi so I guess it is not tire related. Good luck finding the problem!

Diana
Click to expand...


You may be on to something. I did increase the air in the back shock quite a bit before my Sunday ride. This is something I never considered. I'll have to look into this more closely.
 
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