Upper / Lower Steering head mis-alignment?

Steve in ATL

New Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
17
Location
Atlanta, GA USA
Hi Guys. Question: I had a low - speed get off in the rain, afdter which the bike slid front wheel-first into a curb at maybe 10 MPH if that (it was raining, and in a traffic circle. Gotta love diesel!). Anyway, ever since, the steering has seemed "off". The bars seem turned to the left a bit. They are not bent (after much careful measurement) and the forks are not bent. So, is it possible for the upper / lower steering heads to be mis-aligned, causing the forks to be ever-so-slightly twisted? If so, thoughts on how to check / fix?

Thanks!

Steve
 

taskmaster86

Active Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2015
Messages
331
Location
South Eastern, CT
Yes, that is exactly what it is. I dropped my S-10 in a parking lot trying to make too short of a turn and the fall knocked the alignment off. To make the bike track straight down the road, I had to hold the handlebars slightly to the right, or with the right handgrip slightly closer to the tank than the left. This is a very common issue with motorcycles and is easy to fix.

To straighten it out, park the bike on level ground and put it on the centerstand. Force about 1 inch of board or other flat material under the front tire. Now loosen all of your triple clamp bolts. The top ones take a 6mm Allen head and the 4 lower bolts take a 10mm wrench or socket. Loosen all the bolts, stand in front of the bike with your feet straddling the front tire. Now clamp down on the front tire tightly with your knees and thighs. Reach up and grab the handlebars and twist them back in the direction that will make them straight with the front wheel. This may take some wiggling or even some good pops with some force but the triple clamp will lose its grips on the forks and allow you to straighten them back out. Once you have the adjustment straight, go to the seat of the bike, very carefully climb on and make sure the handlebars feel straight and aligned with the front wheel. Now check that the top of the fork clamp has exactly the same amount of fork showing on both sides and snug up all the bolts. Take the machine for a short ride on paved roads and confirm that the handlebar alignment is correct. Once you are sure you have everything lined up, make sure there is an even amount of fork sticking up from the top of the fork clamps on both sides and torque all the bolts down properly. Test ride one final time to make sure everything is aligned the way you want it and you are done. Note- just torque all the bolts on the triple clamp firmly. Do not use loctite, anti-seize or anything else on the threads. Also- You may bring the forks up in the fork clamps up to 10mm or so. Do not go much higher than that and the fork caps at very least need to be flush with the top of the fork clamp. I slid my forks up about 7mm above the top of the fork clamp just because that is where they happened to align themselves when I was done. Sliding the forks up the clamps on a very large, tall bike like the S-10 seems to help the low speed handling without affecting anything else so I say go for it!

Good luck and I hope this helps!
 

sander

Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2014
Messages
30
Location
Australia
There is an easier way.

Loosen the pinch bolts of the front axle. Grab the front brake and pump the forks a couple of time. Tighten the pinch bolts. 9 times out of 10 this will do the trick
 

Steve in ATL

New Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
17
Location
Atlanta, GA USA
Took loose all the pinch bolts. Then twisted the bars so that the bottom steering head was against the stop, then twisted a bit more until the two steering heads (upper / lower) were aligned. Then tightened everything back up.
 
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