Trouble getting triple tree back on

[CantWin1]

Hi all,

 

Just lowered my front end, 2005 Venture. All was going fine until trying to get the triple tree back on. It's not quite centered on the middle bolt so when it get's down to the 'neck' of the bolt the triple tree is hanging up. Have tried pushing rearward on the front tire, and forward with the front brake on. Doesn't seem to change. Can't think of any way to get any leverage between both fork tops and the bolt to get it to 'lean' in.

 

Any suggestions? Looks like I'm about a half hour from being done if I can get past this.....

 

Thanks

John

[wrenchrob]

I have only lowered 2 of them and the triple tree lined right up with no problems. After tightening the lower clamps the top slid right over. Except on my 2003 which the upper tubes are bent slightly(looking for new forks). Did you have the front wheel on or off prior or after moving the forks?

[CantWin1]

Thanks....with that my kid and I went back out and jacked it back up a bit. Had dropped it off the jack to 'force' the forks up. Just lifted it not quite to the point the front tire was in the air and it dropped into place.

 

All is well!! Can't wait to go for a ride...I'm short, hoping this helps, and have the rear lowering kit on order.

[Owen]

Thanks....with that my kid and I went back out and jacked it back up a bit. Had dropped it off the jack to 'force' the forks up. Just lifted it not quite to the point the front tire was in the air and it dropped into place.

 

All is well!! Can't wait to go for a ride...I'm short, hoping this helps, and have the rear lowering kit on order.

 

Yep... gotta get the weight off the front tire... you found out before I could reply. Good job!

[CantWin1]

Yea, I'll bet it would have dropped alot easier with the weight off, too!

 

Just took a short ride from my work to my house. Definitely feels like a different bike! Feels lighter, easier on the turns, nice to have a bit more of my feet on the ground at stops. Been riding a GoldWing 1200 so I can manage pretty well on my tip-toes, but want to be flat footed before doing 2 up.

 

Thanks all!

[wes0778]

Yea, I'll bet it would have dropped alot easier with the weight off, too!

 

Just took a short ride from my work to my house. Definitely feels like a different bike! Feels lighter, easier on the turns, nice to have a bit more of my feet on the ground at stops. Been riding a GoldWing 1200 so I can manage pretty well on my tip-toes, but want to be flat footed before doing 2 up.

 

Thanks all!

 

Just my

It is my understanding once you drop the rear, the bike will be back at the same stance (just lower) as it was before you lowered the front and this means you will lose that "lighter" feeling...

[Mike G in SC]

And,,,,, you probably already found out,,,,,, adjust you mirrors! LOL, I found that out.

May need to raise the handlebars.

 

Yeah, when we did mine last month, had to drop the front tire to get the weigh off it.

 

Enjoy that new ride.

 

Mike G in SC

[wrenchrob]

just curious. how much did you lower the front? how much tube is sticking through the upper clamps?

[Mike G in SC]

just curious. how much did you lower the front? how much tube is sticking through the upper clamps?

 

Not steeling the post, but you can go exactly 1.5".

But you will also want to turn the schrader valves out 45 degrees and maybe add extension to that.

 

(Can only get 1/2 to 3/4" for RSTD)

 

Mike G in SC

[CantWin1]

Wes0778: I was afraid someone would say that dropping the rear will take away the 'lighter' feeling. I'll have to see how much the new angle effects the ride to and from work for a few days. Maybe instead of dropping the rear I'll have some work done on the seat to get my feet a bit closer to the ground. Saw a post from someone that is 5'2 w/ a 26" inseam, I'm 5'5 with a 30" inseam so I know there's hope for me!! I'll have to go out and measure how much I'm missing from flat footing it and get some advice on here before I drop the rear I reckon.

 

WrenchRob: I have right at 1" of fork sticking our of the top of the triple tree, don't know how you could get 1 1/2", my airlines are only about 1/8" from my handle bars, think they're worthless now. I didn't understand you could turn the fork tube (I think) and was afraid of breaking the seal if I turned the actual caps of the forks. When I got to thinking about it more we had just gotten the triple tree back on and wasn't about to tear it back down to try. My three hour mod turned into almost 5 with the problem putting it back together.

 

Mike G: Lol about the mirrors. I bought my bike used from a guy twice my size, guess those mirrors hadn't ever seen the angle I needed. Was quite a task to get them to move! So I got on it after dropping the front and couldn't see a darn thing...I started blaming my kid (in my head) for screwin up simple stuff, then realized what we had just done to the angle of the bike! And about the air valves...have to take a look to see if they have a 'slim fit' flexible line a couple inches long...that would solve my air issue.

[wes0778]

Wes0778: I was afraid someone would say that dropping the rear will take away the 'lighter' feeling. I'll have to see how much the new angle effects the ride to and from work for a few days. Maybe instead of dropping the rear I'll have some work done on the seat to get my feet a bit closer to the ground. Saw a post from someone that is 5'2 w/ a 26" inseam, I'm 5'5 with a 30" inseam so I know there's hope for me!! I'll have to go out and measure how much I'm missing from flat footing it and get some advice on here before I drop the rear I reckon.

 

I'm 5'6" with a 27" inseam. I have lowered the front of my RSV 1" and have cut about an inch off the seat. I also narrowed the front of the seat to allow me to put my legs straighter down. I also have thick sole shoes and boots. Yes, I have dropped the bike several times, but it has been a while since it last happened. At the time we lowered my bike, I didn't realize that I could go a inch and a half. Depending on how things go at MD the end of this month, I may try to get the other 1/2". Hey THOR!!! you gonna have the hammer there???

[wrenchrob]

I lowered my 2005 1 inch. It definately made a differeince in low speed handling. I have room to go further as I have the risers on my bars but was concerned about lowering further and possibly causing poor handling if I went to far or fender bottoming out over large bumps. i would like to loose as much top heavyness as possible.

[Mike G in SC]

Mike G: And about the air valves...have to take a look to see if they have a 'slim fit' flexible line a couple inches long...that would solve my air issue.

 

When everything is loose, you can turn the tubes the 45 degrees,,, but this is where we had to take the wheel off to get the weight off. It is a struggle untill you hit the perfect angle. This is a point where two people are needed.

 

Below are a couple of pictures of the right valve,,, turned 45 and also with an extension.

I thank Bill Little for the job but also for providing me the valve extensions. He already had those on hand cause he did the same on his.

 

EDIT: HEY SORRY ABOUT THE ANGLE OF THE PICTURES, MAY HAVE TO STAND ON YOUR HEAD AND LOOK LEFT!

 

Mike G

[CantWin1]

Thanks so much for the pics! Didn't realize there were extensions like that. I'm sure those would fit what little space I have since I didn't change the angle. I'll have to hunt some down at Autozone or someplace.

[CantWin1]

Just an update.

 

Went for a 2 hour ride Sunday, no twisty's around here, so I varied as much as possible. Quite a bit of in town stop & turns, few country roads with some curves, and a bit of 4 lane riding. I'm alot more comfortable on the bike now. Rode almost as agile as my kids Suzuki M50.

 

Rear lowering kit came in today. Still wasn't sure whether to do the seat first or drop the rear. The seat I'd probably send off, worse case do it myself, but would be tuff to undo if I wasn't happy. With the kit I figured I could put it on, see if the handling went back to feeling heavy, if so, I could just take it off and sell it.

 

So after work I started yanking things apart. Went pretty smoothly, jack stand and a bottle jack on the rear crash bars was enough to get it in the air. Just a note to anyone doing the lowering kit...READ the instructions. It says to bleed the caliper in an upright position BEFORE mounting. Spent like a half hour trying to bleed the darn caliper and couldn't get any pressure to stop the bike. Went back and looked at the instructions...duh. Took the caliper off, flipped it over, bled it, re-mounted...ah, how nice to be able to stop.

 

Don't know the physics or logic of it, but the lighter feeling and quicker turn response are still there. I guess if you look at it we've shortened the wheel base a tad, but now we're back to stock angles, maybe a bit more leverage involved...??? But for anyone thinking about doing both the front and back....I'm happy. I don't have any roads around here that I have to worry about scraping on turns. I am going to consider swapping the kickstand, it is a bit more upright at rest than I'm comfortable with, but still not as bad as my wing.

 

Thanks for all the info and help guys!! Been a wonderful couple weeks with the new-to-me bike!