front end wobble-more info

[diante]

want to clarify some things .. i have a 1983 gs850 gld it has 20,000 miles on it ,it has been out of storage for about 6 weeks after being stored for 5months. i had this same feeling on bike last year and it was being rode regularly. all else on bike works great.

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. diante,

It could be several things. How old are the tires? Are they properly inflated? One of the fork tubes could be twisted. The forks could have uneven levels of fork oil in them. Do they have oil in them? Are the fork seals leaking? Is there play in the wheel bearings? Check front and back. How about the swing arm bearings? Is there play in the swing arm?


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[diante]

hmmm

i was supposed to get 1 easy answer ..lol..but you have guven alot to check on,i dont have all answers right now so i guess i will have to check and get back to you. tires,oil in tubes, air in tubes,ok rest i will look..thanks for your time

[SqDancerLynn1]

Raise the front of the bike off the ground, tighten the big steering stem nut about 1/16-1/8 turn. Check for free movement from lock to lock. see if that fixes the problem
+ all the things mentioned

[Gimpdiggity]

My other bike had some wobble on the front end.

I went and got a new tire (it needed one anyways) and the guy at the bike shop said that there was no way the tire was balanced when I brought it in. He mounted and balanced the new tire, and I've never felt a wobble on the bike again.

[doctorgonzo]

i was supposed to get 1 easy answer ..lol..but you have guven alot to check on,i dont have all answers right now so i guess i will have to check and get back to you. tires,oil in tubes, air in tubes,ok rest i will look..thanks for your time

Much asw with any kind of "diagnosis", it's a process of elimination, and sometimes the problem is a result of many small problems combined.

[C.V.]

In my case the front end wobble when turning (per your first thread) was caused by unequal air pressure in the forks (not sure if this is an issue in an '83, mine is a '79) This also caused some other issues before I figured it out, like severe cupping on the front tire. I was also getting a little twisting of the forks when cornering. A new front tire, some new progressive springs (no more air!), and a fork brace have cured all my issues. Hope this helps.

[bonanzadave]

Raise the front of the bike off the ground, tighten the big steering stem nut about 1/16-1/8 turn. Check for free movement from lock to lock. see if that fixes the problem
+ all the things mentioned

Lynn, one thing to remember about adjusting the steering stem nut is that the forks have to be loose in the fork trees otherwise the adjustment wont do much. Can any of you front end, fork / steering gurus expound on this theory ?

[SqDancerLynn1]

True you would probably need to loosen the lower pinch bolts

[doctorgonzo]

I'm sure hoping for solid as a rock when I get this thing back on it's wheels. New upper and lower steering stem bearing, fork brace, frame bracing, new wheel bearings. It should be stiff as a board.

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. diante,

Since this thread seems to be getting more replies, how about putting all of your information in this thread? No need to start another thread to add more info. Just reply to your own thread. I do it all the time, kind of like talking to myself.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[LarryA_Texas]

flop test

I'm sure hoping for solid as a rock when I get this thing back on it's wheels. New upper and lower steering stem bearing, fork brace, frame bracing, new wheel bearings. It should be stiff as a board.

I'm going to add one more, because i just went through this with a GS1100GK. The steering had an irregular wobble or a shimmy in it. The bike would change it's line at random. The problem was the bearings were TOO TIGHT. At first I thought they needed to be tighter, so I gave it a solid turn to the right. It made it worse.

With the front wheel off the ground grab the forks and pull back and forth. You should not feel any movement. The try to turn the handlebars. The wheel should flop to one side or the other with nice little bounce. If it doesn't move to the stops on it's own, or if there is any grinding, you should start with cleaning and greasing the fork bearings. If you can shake the forks or hear a rattle, tighten the bearing lock nut. If you have to push the handlebars to get it to the stop, or if there's no bounce at the stop, loosen the bearing nut.

The idea behind this is that the forks should be free to move a bit as you ride to correct slight balance issues. If they can't move then you have to push it to make minor corrections and the affect is an irregular wobble or shimmy.

If you want to get technical, the mounting procedures call for a torque on that bolt, and then once everything is tightened up you loosen it to an lower torque setting.

All of this adjusting should be done with both top mounts of the fork tubes lose so everything can adjust to the new settings.

However...If the handlebar flop test checks out ok go back to the top and check all that other stuff others have mentioned.

Good luck.

[Steve]

No need to start another thread to add more info. Just reply to your own thread. I do it all the time, kind of like talking to myself.

It's OK to talk to yourself.

It's OK to ask yourself questions.

It's even OK to answer those questions.

But, ... when you get into an argument with yourself and lose, ... you need help.

.

[woodman]

A guy I know raced the first 80 GS1100 16 valve at Bonneville for Suzuki before they were even released here. He told me that they found out the steering heads were welded on the bikes crooked and they had to put the frames in a jig, cut the head off & reweld it straight. The wheels were not true either and had to be put in a lathe and trued up. After all that they finally got the speed wobble out of it. The early Z1s had the same problem which was that the rear wheel was not tracking in the same spot as the front. The roughness of the salt made it all even worse at speed to the point that they were afraid to ride it any more until it was fixed. This is no run of the mill racer but a mulit time record holder both on bikes and in cars. Im not saying this is your problem, just something to think about and a situation you may never see on the street. Pushing yourself forward on the bike will put more weight on the front and help control the wobble before it gets too far gone