Happy New Year to ALL! Hope someone can shed some light on a few things about my roadking. This is my first touring bike , bought 3 months ago (also have custom fatboy) and I'm having the typical vibration issues that seem to be part of ownership. A quick run through...was replacing many bolts with a chrome kit and checked all the normal issues, motor mount, stabilzer links, etc. All are fine but I'm a little concerned about the clearence between the motor and the frame on the left side. It is touching the frame towards the front. How much clearence should there be between the frame and the motor? The right side is fine and the mount is good. Could the top link be out of whack it is leaning the motor to that side? I am assuming that it should not touch the frame so fixing this needs to be done first. The motor looks straight but I have no idea what to attack first. Any suggestions? P.S. bike has 12,000 miles Thanks Jimmy
2002 roadking frame/motor clearence
- Thread starter jimmyc
- Start date
I don't know what's causing your problem but something's not right, My 2002 Roadking has about a 1/4" of clearance on the left side (primary cover side) i'ts close and on the right side looks like there's approximately 3/4 of an inch clearance and at no point does the motor make contact along the frame on either side.
I have checked the front mount, (it's good) and I even have another new one that is no different. When I loosen the mount bolt the motor lifts a little but still touches the frame at the left front. I have read and know there will be a difference between the motors and I can live with that, (apples and oranges) but I agree with Slapp that the motor should not touch the frame at all, as this would self defeat the use of the rubber mount. Could the top link have an issue that is causing the motor to lean to that side? I will pull off the tank and look, but I want to try everything before I undertake that project. Thanks again for the help!
D
dbmg
Guest
Have you removed or look closely at the left floor board attachment area for some frame tweaking??? Or the gusset on center of front of frame where spill bar attaches it may tell a tale....
Without actually being able to see your machine, it sounds as if your first guess is a good one. The motor/transmission assembly is connected to the swing arm at the swing arm pivot shaft, and through the swing arm to the rear wheel. Do you have any friends with Harleys who can help you check the alignment of the power assembly (all of the components listed above) with the rest of the frame? Either the engine and the rest is tilted, as you suggested or off to one side, or both. Does the machine pull to one side all of the time? I hope this isn't from a accident before you bought the machine.
There are youtube videos and some info in here about chassis alignment. To get all the steps correct, a shop manual would be a good investment. If you wind up adjusting the links, be sure to loosen the front engine mount to frame bolts so the engine mount can slide sideways as the link adjustments are made. The engine mount should have no sideways stress when the adjustment is completed. Poor chassis alignment contributes to more rapid tire wear and may be a contributing factor in causing the tank slapper or death wobble condition. Check this out as soon as you can.
There are youtube videos and some info in here about chassis alignment. To get all the steps correct, a shop manual would be a good investment. If you wind up adjusting the links, be sure to loosen the front engine mount to frame bolts so the engine mount can slide sideways as the link adjustments are made. The engine mount should have no sideways stress when the adjustment is completed. Poor chassis alignment contributes to more rapid tire wear and may be a contributing factor in causing the tank slapper or death wobble condition. Check this out as soon as you can.
the frame and mounting arealook good and straight. as far as the bike being hit, I bought from a friend who bought from his friend as the original owner. I asked before buying and checked again and there seems to be no accident history. I have heard that a rear swingarm bushing could have failed and might be causing it to lean. has anyone heard of this possibility? will go and double check everything again, so thanks for the hints. I will look at the video for instructions to help me along, never attempted this yet.
Hey everyone, was away for work so I wasn't able to play with bike for awhile. Came home motivated to fix problem and with some clear thinking found the source of my trouble. First I would like to thank everyone for their input and time. Second I would like to say I thought about not saying what I did wrong, but decided to man up and hope this stupid mistake will help others. As stated in first post I am new to touring bikes so when I took apart the motor mount and plates for cleaning I did not reinstall for a week or so. When I put everthing back I put the motor mount to engine plate on top of the mounting tabs, not underneath where it belongs. So I caused all my own problems by not looking carefully when I disassembled. You will never know how painfull it was to admit this but I owed it to everyone who put the time in to help. OK...let it rip!