My wobbly sidestand

bosco659

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I engaged in a discussion about this on the weekend, but can’t find it so I’ll start another discussion. The sidestand on my ‘76 has always been “wobbly” and the bike leans over way too far for my liking when on the stand. At home I usually put a piece of wood under the foot of the stand to reduce the lean. I took the stand apart and the stand and bolt are in good shape. The problem is the tab for the stand that’s welded onto the frame has an enlarged hole. The stand bolt is 10mm and the frame hole is closer to 11mm. I want to tighten things up and have two basic options:

1. Weld the frame hole up and redrill to 10mm - or cut off the old tab and replace it with a new one of proper dimensions.
2. Drill the stand and frame to accept a 12mm shoulder bolt.

I’m leaning towards option 2 and here’s why. To weld in the hole on the frame is a bit tricky especially for a rookie welder like me. It will also be challenging to redrill the hole in the correct spot, square to the tab. Also not comfortable with cutting the tab off. With option 2, I only need to open the hole in the frame about 1mm. This should be easier than drilling a new hole. It will also require drilling the kickstand, but I can do that in the drill press and if I mess it up, re-welding and drilling will be much easier off the bike.

The ‘76 it has a unique, one year only stand. It uses a 10mm shoulder bolt with a 16mm shank and the threaded part is 8mm. Fortunately I can buy a 12mm shoulder bolt with a 16mm shank. The threaded section is 10mm. So all I need to do is enlarge 2 holes in the stand. One to 12mm and the other to 10mm.

Before I hack up the stand, does what I’m doing make sense or should I be trying to weld up the hole? I guess option 3 could be a bushing in the frame hole?

Note the new shoulder bolt has a 25mm shoulder, I need to buy the 16mm one.


57E5F883-5DCE-420E-89C9-6707E72742F5.jpeg
 
I think you could use that longer 12mm shoulder bolt you have and, in fact, it may be better. Drill both sides of the stand to accept the 12mm shoulder then fit washers under the bolt head, enough so the shoulder doesn't protrude out past the stand. In fact, I'd shim it so it doesn't quite come flush with it. That way, when you tighten the nut it will pinch the stand on the frame tab for a nice, snug fit. And if you cross-drill the new bolt for a cotter key, and find a castle nut for it, you can lock it where you want it, tight but not too tight.

And lengthening your stand a little by building up the foot with some plate is good practice for a rookie welder .....

Modded Side Stand.jpg


Test park the bike on some 1/4" plate, add another piece, etc., until you figure out how much you need. I added a good 1/2" to both of mine.

83Sidestand8.jpg


Grind it all smooth and it looks "factory", lol.
 
Might be a good plan 5T. The length of the shoulder (25mm) is almost the the exact thickness of the stand. As you suggest, shimming can pull it tight. I’ll have to pull out the drill press out of the corner of the garage. Thx.
 
Sounds like one washer under the head of the bolt will do it, keep the shoulder from coming out past the stand on the inside. Then you can tighten the bolt and "pinch" the stand on the frame tab. I'm a big fan of the later stands that mount on the big round post. I think it's a much better set-up than the clevis style you have.

I had to lengthen the stands because the bikes leaned too much after installing slightly longer than stock rear shocks.
 
My sidestand bolt always loosens during the season. This year im trying one of these nord lock rings. Got great experiences with these on other occasions
nordlock.jpg
 
Couldn’t find a readily available bushing so I installed a 12mm shoulder bolt with a 25mm shoulder. The threaded end was 10mm. All parts were drilled to 12mm. The hole in the tab on the frame needed very little material removal. Drilling the tab required exhaust removal and was tricky trying to keep the hole perpendicular to the tab face.I placed a 1.5mm washer under the head of the shoulder bolt. Once installed, a thin SS washer and nylock were added. I tightened the nut until most of the play was gone and made sure the stand would still move freely and would return to the up position with spring tension.

Worked well. The majority of “wobble” has been eliminated. I still may need to add a pad under the foot of the stand.

B4AC0DB0-BEB3-4208-A8E3-9598E983844D.jpeg
884D8899-9BDF-4370-BF50-4973C58BA823.jpeg
 
Keep it greased if possible. I don't know if it's possible to install a grease fitting on that type of stand but maybe you could, like right here .....

GreaseFitting.jpg
 
I think the bolt is captured in the stand itself and the shank only rotates in the frame tab. If it wasn’t a hardened bolt I could drill the end for a grease fitting and cross drill the shank for grease. Since I’m not really using the bolt as a shoulder bolt, maybe I’ll get a regular 12mm bolt and add a grease fitting. Let me see what I can come up with.
 
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