Alignment

Wingedwheel

If it wasn’t broke before, let me try it…
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Not normally a bike posted here but the process was interesting to me.I will never, ever again complain about aligning the rear wheel on my XS. I noticed my Ultra was tracking a bit off the other day so looked into what it would take to align things. Well it’s not the same as I was used to as I’ve never had to do one on this bike. First off there is no adjustment on the rear wheel other than setting the belt tension. The wheel and axle are joined to a cam that puts equal pressure on the wheel as you turn it tightening both sides at the same time. Seems the engine, trans and swing arm are considered one unit that is adjusted at the top and bottom on the front of the engine. 9ECF2D0F-E54C-4DE4-B91A-333F7CCEDD03.jpeg02D92FFE-46D0-410D-A91A-1DF9B4D84395.jpeg I set up two jacks to level the frame and used some spacers to keep my level clear.C0D39691-C8A2-4FAA-8440-F44F6D6516EC.jpeg09C7DAC1-882A-4D12-BC86-C7443307224D.jpeg once the frame was leveled I zero’d my angle finder.09C7DAC1-882A-4D12-BC86-C7443307224D.jpeg15E18117-94B4-4459-85DD-F9D7A9700BA8.jpeg I placed it on the rear caliper to check the wheel against the frame and it showed almost half a degree off.C94878BE-91B8-4919-A788-3BA8E3275746.jpeg At that point I got out my fav, the dreaded crows foot!9ECF2D0F-E54C-4DE4-B91A-333F7CCEDD03.jpeg. Once the upper was adjusted I removed the reg/rec to get a better shot at the bottom. Now the fun begins. I had to rig up some kind of extension from the calipers to clear obstruction from front to back. By making sure the front wheel was at 90* to match the back74AF64F6-0A13-418C-ABFE-0E5596D03249.jpeg9236CC2B-38CD-49A2-83AD-595BDB324FE1.jpeg now by shooting a laser from the back and one from the front I adjusted until the lines were parallel. 57138351-28EB-4412-8A02-C8361BB1CD94.jpeg. Of course you can only get it close because you have to adjust the top again but after that everything was spot on. Tightened up the motor mounts and adjusters, pulled everything off the calipers and went for a test ride. 99.9% improvement!
 

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