Setting the Front Axle 2011

[RonW]

The steps to set the front axle, per manual, is with the axle shaft inserted....tighten the left pinch bolts, next tighten the axle-bolt on the right side, then hop on the bike and pogo stick the forks up and down to set the axle. Finish up by tightening down the right side pinch bolts.

Specifically, tightening the left pinch bolts is Step A, and tightening the axle-bolt is Step B in that particular order. The way I have been doing it, is to insert the axle shaft then immediately screw on and torque the axle-bolt on the right side. This is to pull the axle head all the way into the recess in the left fork making sure it bottoms out. This means Step B is done temporarily out of sequence ahead of Step A and introduced an error that I only realized recently to my dismay. This is how it went....since I already tightened the axle-bolt as mentioned, I didn't feel it absolutely necessary to untighten it before tightening the left pinch bolts which should have been done first, only to have to retighten the same axle-bolt again. Double job. I mean, looking at the assembled parts, does it really matter an iota which was torqued first and which was torqued next. Unfortunately, this is one of those situations where Step A cannot be transposed with Step B. Tightening the four pumpkin bolts comes to mind. After re-doing the axle thing, the ride was smooth as silk. And, it's not as if I was having rickety rides previously, either, where anything would be an instant improvement. Granted, this fix may work for my Valk while not for others. Not to mention that it simply restores things back to how things should have been.

[Warlock]

The steps to set the front axle, per manual, is with the axle shaft inserted....tighten the left pinch bolts, next tighten the axle-bolt on the right side, then hop on the bike and pogo stick the forks up and down to set the axle. Finish up by tightening down the right side pinch bolts.

Specifically, tightening the left pinch bolts is Step A, and tightening the axle-bolt is Step B in that particular order. The way I have been doing it, is to insert the axle shaft then immediately screw on and torque the axle-bolt on the right side. This is to pull the axle head all the way into the recess in the left fork making sure it bottoms out. This means Step B is done temporarily out of sequence ahead of Step A and introduced an error that I only realized recently to my dismay. This is how it went....since I already tightened the axle-bolt as mentioned, I didn't feel it absolutely necessary to untighten it before tightening the left pinch bolts which should have been done first, only to have to retighten the same axle-bolt again. Double job. I mean, looking at the assembled parts, does it really matter an iota which was torqued first and which was torqued next. Unfortunately, this is one of those situations where Step A cannot be transposed with Step B. Tightening the four pumpkin bolts comes to mind. After re-doing the axle thing, the ride was smooth as silk. And, it's not as if I was having rickety rides previously, either, where anything would be an instant improvement. Granted, this fix may work for my Valk while not for others. Not to mention that it simply restores things back to how things should have been.

Make sure your axle is flush on the left side, tighten the pinch bolts. Tighten the axle nut and then do the bounch with the brake pulled. Then tighten the right pinch bolts. The reason behind this is to set your forks on the rotors correctly. David

[Chrisj CMA]

You are making way too much out of the tightening sequence for the front axel.  The only reason for tightening the clutch side pinch bolts before the axel nut is so the axel doesnt spin.  If you feel like torqing the axel first to insure a full seat and then the pinch bolts that will not hurt anything....you may have to "hold" the axel with a big hex head but it wont mess up any alignment like the 4 nuts on the final drive.  Also be careful of the speedometer housing......if you allow the axel to rotate and this this goes with the axel you will break the housing that attaches it to the hub.  These other things all just are no worries when you tighten the left pinch bolts first.  However, you must make darn sure the axel is in all the way or the rotor rivets will grind on the caliper.........wonder how I know that..... 

[RonW]

Chrisj

You are making way too much out of the tightening sequence for the front axel.  The only reason for tightening the clutch side pinch bolts before the axel nut is so the axel doesnt spin.

If I hadn't experienced a smoother ride for myself, and somebody had told me the same thing that I posted, I would have had the same reaction that this is making too big a deal out of a Step A and a Step B. To begin with, 99 out of a 100 people don't use the axle-bolt to draw the axle head into its recess on the left fork. They simply use a rubber mallet to pound the axle shaft flush on the left fork and call it a day. So, the odds are this glitch is rarely a problem. However, that's not my story. I'm thinking that the forks were somewhat misaligned with each other at the moment I torqued the axle-bolt thus locking in the misalignment. My point is that the level of improvement in the ride makes it worth the minor hassle of unbolting the kaboodle and reassembling it back in sequence. I kid you not.

[Tx Bohemian]

...After re-doing the axle thing, the ride was smooth as silk. And, it's not as if I was having rickety rides previously, either, where anything would be an instant improvement...

Ok, it's a Monday for me today, I'm not understanding this.

You have a smoother ride now but what was the issue before re-doing the axle sequence?

[RonW]

Ok, it's a Monday for me today, I'm not understanding this.

You have a smoother ride now but what was the issue before re-doing the axle sequence?

Over a year ago I installed a Metzeler front tire, and at 40-psi, my front signal light bulbs fell out of their sockets. I attributed this to a bumpy stretch of freeway that I commute over on a regular basis in conjunction with possible fatigue in the stock front springs, etc. I deflated the front tire to 38-psi, however, the overall ride was still stiffer. Perhaps breaking in the new tire was all it took but after logging a thousand miles the stiffness was still there. Since then, to relieve any possible binding in the axle/fork, I had reset the front axle 4 times, but solely by loosening the right side pinch bolts and bouncing the forks up and down. All to no avail. After a while, I surmised the stiffer ride was due to the handling characteristics of Metzeler over the Bridgestones, my previous front tire brand. Last week, on a 5th attempt to re-set my front axle, on a whim, I not only loosened the right pinch bolts, but took the extra steps to loosen the axle-bolt and left pinch bolts as well, torquing them down in proper sequence, only then bouncing the forks up and down, and lastly torquing down the right pinch bolts in the conventional order. The sequence might seem subtle but it paid dividends in a smoother ride. You'll have to take my word on this.

By "smoother," I mean the bike tracks noticeably straighter. And since the bike tracks straighter, the bike tacks less left-to-right, right-to-left, exerting pressure less frequently on the corresponding side's fork producing a smoother ride. It gives the sensation of a flatter ride in contrast to a "plusher" ride. But a straighter ride yields the same smoother effect. The improvement is more pronounced at slower speeds at city riding, while always an added bonus when rolling off the throttle to decelerate behind slowing traffic or accelerating gradually from a stop. You can feel the gyroscopic effect of the spinning wheel kick in and hold. It's smooth enough to read the morning newspaper if I liked. Tomorrow, I weld the entire assembly permanently together.

[Ricky-D]

A new front tire is always an enlightenment!

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[RonW]

A new front tire is always an enlightenment!

Ah, if not for working on my bike, what else would I be doing. Construction workers are 60-percent unemployed in Hawaii.