Front wheel wobble

[seabeetom]

Cruising down the beachfront Sunday at about 25mph. Let go of the left grip to button my jacket when we hit a very slight bump. The front wheel started slapping left&right. Got very severe as I got both hands on it and tried to steady it. It damned near tore my elbows outta their sockets before I could brake it to a near stop and regain control. It has done this very slightly several times before since I had the Hannigan w/rake kit put on. Front tire is fine, so is pressure. Never have this issue at speed and only a hint at a wobble when I have both hands firmly affixed. Other than keeping both hands on the grips at all times, any other suggestions?

[Carbon_One]

wow haven't had that happen to me before. Since your bike is raked and have a good tire and pressure I'm at a loss as to why this happened.

But there is one thing I think of now and that would be that the steering head bearings are set to light. When I installed my EZ Steer raked trees their recommendation was 25 ft lbs of torque on the bearings. Which is a lot more than what Ma Yamaha calls for. I do know that over time mine loosen up a bit and I can tell that the front end will want to wander a bit at low speeds so re tightening the steering head bearings takes that away again. It's the only thing I can think of to cause you this situation.

Larry

[ragtop69gs]

I had that wobble too. Correcting tire pressure and torquing the head bearing to 44ft/pd did the trick. Mine was at the Yamaha factory setting of 3# The 38-45 ft/pd was recommended by John at Hannigan.

Edited April 10, 2012 by ragtop69gs

[twigg]

I had that wobble too. Correcting tire pressure and torquing the head bearing to 44ft/pd did the trick. Mine was at the Yamaha factory setting of 3# The 38-45 ft/pd was recommended by John at Hannigan.

 

Just out of interest ....

 

Would a decent steering damper not be a better idea than over-torquing the bearings?

[ragtop69gs]

Just out of interest ....

 

Would a decent steering damper not be a better idea than over-torquing the bearings?

 

That's a good question. I would imagine that if a damper were the best option Hannigan would have one available for the RSV and push it's use over torquing the bearing.

 

I had thought about trying a damper but mounting one may be a problem. not much room up there on a 2nd gen.

[steamer]

Sounds like the steering head is loose. try tightening a little bit and see if that helps. I had the same problem when I had the venture kit on the silver 99.

[leo3wheel]

When we first got our Hannigan conversion, we had severe head shake on large bumps. Now have a rear tire up front, 40 psi in tire and 4 psi in front shocks. Touched nothing else. We have no more head shake. Of course, front is stiff.

[Cougar]

You know I think Leo just opened my mind a little on this, as it has been three

years since my conversion and this happened to me as well (ONE) time about a year after that it happen more when I was riding slow and hit a bump or something, and I had

a pretty worn Michelin commander reg front tire up front. when I changed out

to a rear for the front it all has been good since. I have never touch a thing as well.

 

Jeff

[steamer]

Has any of you installed progressive fork springs on your trikes? I just finished this install, had to replace leaky seal. All I can say is WOW. It really helped the handling and I couldn't get the front end to dive if I drop a 1000lb weight on it. Before the install I had bad front end dive. what little shake it had before is gone. The steering also feels lighter. And it tracks straighter on crowned roads. Has anyone else done this mod?

[Cougar]

Sounds interesting... how hard of a job is this mod?

what did it cost?

Jeff

[leo3wheel]

We do not have progressive fork springs on our trike. Have not noticed that our front end dives. Our front end is very stiff. As for steering, our front end is light with E-Z Steer. Between E-Z Steer and a rear tire up front, have not noticed any difficulties traveling crowned roads. I would dread cornering at highway speeds when we had a front tire at 35 psi and forks set at 0 psi. Now our front is stiff, and I can set cruise control at 70 mph and never worry about making turns. Rode to the Florida Keys and back and ride handled great, even in the mountains. Our rear tire up front also only lost 1/32" out of 11/32" in almost 4,000 miles. I will not change anything.

[gbaldy]

I just got my trike on Friday. Took it down the street and had a few wobbles. Vern and Ruth told me not to try and control the wobble to much, you compound the wobble to where it seems worse then it is. They were wright. I went for another ride and when it did I just held the bars lightly and it went away. It tells in the manual that Hannigans sends with the kit, something to that extent.

[leo3wheel]

I have heard the same thing. Now that our front end is set up, we get no wobble, so it makes no difference how I hold the bars. It is important to stiffen up the front end. It will make negotiating highway ramps easier, and trike will not lean to the outside of high speed turns.

[seabeetom]

Great Feedback Gents. Sounds like the jury is unanimous on the steering head bearing. Now if I can just figure out how to do that... Off to the tech library I go.

Thank you all.

[wes0778]

Great Feedback Gents. Sounds like the jury is unanimous on the steering head bearing. Now if I can just figure out how to do that... Off to the tech library I go.

Thank you all.

Ride up here this week end and I'll get out my big hammer and punch....

[09RSTD]

Just curious as to what front tire you are currently using. I had a similiar problem with my Royal Star. Tried everything. I finally ended up replacing the front Avon Venom tire after reading some interesting reviews online. Problem solved.

[ragtop69gs]

Great Feedback Gents. Sounds like the jury is unanimous on the steering head bearing. Now if I can just figure out how to do that... Off to the tech library I go.

Thank you all.

 

You have to raise the top tree almost off to get the wrench on the lower ring. use a torque wrench. Dingy sells the neck wrench on the member vendor section. When you use it keep it at a 90* angle to the torque wrench to get a true reading. You'll need to remove the fairing to get to the top tree. Just follow the instructions in the tech section. RSV/ Hannigan should be 38-44 pd/ft

[bongobobny]

The condition of your front tire can make a huge difference! I too have been down that road. The stock front D404 wore out very fast and towards the end was very susceptible to front end oscillastions. Mounted an E3 rear tire backwards and it made a huge difference, and after one season it strill has lots of meat left...

[steamer]

Sounds interesting... how hard of a job is this mod?

what did it cost?

Jeff

 

Just off the top of my head, cost for all parts which include springs,rings and seals was about $150.00. I change everything while I was in there. as for how hard is it to do. Well, the worse part is reinstalling the fairing. Take lots of pictures from all angles and every step of the removal. Rebuilding the forks isn't to bad. The fairing was a B*#ch. I did find out the hard way that I didn't have to remove as much as I did. If you do this, PM me before you start.

[leo3wheel]

Another comment on the front wheel wobble of a trike. If the front end is raked, then a significant amount of weight is transferred to the rear wheels. This is why raked trikes are easier to steer. Someone on the trike forum reported that a GL1800 filled with fuel shifted 170 lbs to the rear wheels. This weight shift will change the front end dynamics of a trike.

[Cougar]

All I know is after everything was corrected -(front tire/air pressure diff in rear tires on both sides for the road crown and my trike will go straight as an arrow

with no hands on the bars now days !

[leo3wheel]

Me too........ Love it!

[seabeetom]

Ride up here this week end and I'll get out my big hammer and punch....

Intersting offer Wes... Will see how tomorrow's root canal goes and might be able to do that. Send me GPS coordinates and address and I'll try to make that happen. Tnx for the offer..

[seabeetom]

Just curious as to what front tire you are currently using. I had a similiar problem with my Royal Star. Tried everything. I finally ended up replacing the front Avon Venom tire after reading some interesting reviews online. Problem solved.

Got the same Avon Venom that was on it before the conversion. The wobble has been getting worse since the conversion w/easysteer last year. The tire is still in excellent condition.

[seabeetom]

Ok, went to the tech section and read Freebird's 8/22/06 article on 'Adjusting Steering Head Bearings'. I'm going to assume and hope the same technique will apply to the Easy Steer as it did to the stock.....