front end wobble

[Anonymous]

hey all. i've recently developed a front end wobble when decelerating OR when i sit up and take my hands off the bars (to stretch and sit up!- which i don't do often! ) while decelerating. it'll wobble quite a bit. the bars move back and forth alot. i can calm it with a bit of brake, or just putting my hands back on he bars with minimal pressure- or acclerate out of it and its okay. its VERY stable thru corners and wide sweeping turns. it just seems to be when i roll off the throttle. i can live with it, but really would like to figure out what is going on.

also, if i am behind a large vehicle going highway speeds- over 60, and get in thewind turbulence i can get some wobbling too. that i don't like.

i've checked tire pressure. the wheel weight is still there. i've re torqued the front end. i took the fork brace of f thinking this may cause the wobble. its not as bad with the brace off but still there. i have newly replaced steering head bearings. so that shoudln't be the problem but i'm honestly not sure waht they got torqued down to. i know there is a preload number ( i didn't torque it down exactly due to ignorance and lack of tools) but the bike was put together last year and was fine till about a month ago. any ideas where i should look into? this bike was as stable as can be when we put im together. i wa s actually surprised how stable the front end was. so i'm racking my pea brain trying to figure this out. any input is greatly appreciated..

[Anonymous]

Check your front tire for cupping.My bike was doing exactly the same thing until I replaced my front tire.HTH!
Steve

[Anonymous]

hhhmmm. i will check it tomorrow. but the dang thing can't be over a year old with less than 2800 miles. but thanks, and i will check it.

[redliner1973]

2 Things come to mind right off. Loose/worn steering stem bearings, and uneven fluid levels/damaged forks.

[Don Lobacz]

3 major areas come to mind:

1) Front fork dampening - as Tim said, perhaps unbalanced fluid levels (or dissimilar viscosities) but correct and balanced air pressures are also very critical.

2) Irregular tire tracking - as Steve said, could be cupping, but also could be a bent rim, an unseated tire, a bent front axle, an unbalanced tire or bent forks. I often find that a wobble comes from the back of the bike, so be sure to check the back tire.

3) Rear suspension - as stated above, I find that a wobble often comes from the back of the bike. This would include the tire (above) but also the swingarm play/tightness and the shock condition/setup. Softening the shock setting down to 1 is a quick way to see if you are on the right track.

[Anonymous]

or a possibly separated belt in the tire

[earlfor]

Since it happens on deacceleration, I would suspect unequal amounts of fluid in the right and left fork tubes or possibly sticking or worn front brake pads.

Earl

[lhanscom]

You'll want to check your head bearings, they can 'bed in' causing them to loosen, and need to be retorqued.

[Anonymous]

thanks all. this weekend i'm going to hunker down and check everything out. u've given me lots of things to check so hopefully i'll find something out. i'll keep u posted.

[jimcor]

The wobbble you describe on decelaration is identical to one I had on my Concours when I bought it. Problem was loose steering stem bearings. So even tho' those are new bearings have they been adjusted correctly? and as Don said check the rear suspention too! You wouldn't be the first GS rider with rusted needle bearings and bushings in the swingarm...(yep I did.)

[Sweaburg]

A few months ago I experienced the same problem as you. I found the steering stem nut was very loose and I also had unequal amounts of fluid in the front forks. I fixed both of these problems and I can now take my hands off the bars and experience no head shake. Unfortunately I did both things at once so I don't know which solved the problem but I suspect they were both at fault!

Good Luck,
Randy

[Anonymous]

front end wobble

As already stated in here I believe your new bearings might be the culprit.
They need to be retorqued after installation especially since they were not torqued during installation. When you roll off the throttle the weight bias moves forward there may be a moment when the bearing hits the loose point. When braking the weight transfer is huge so this would bind the bearing effectively tightening it, this is the same but not as much force upon acceleration. Also take a wrench to the motor mount bolts and check the swing arm torque. Remember that the frames in these bikes will twist and once they start to oscillate it can get pretty intense. I had a fork seal blow at 120kph and went into a tank slapper. Good luck!

[joe.d]

My front end wobble was due to a lose swingin arm pivet bolt