Front end alignment...

[Philly_Chris]

I had some new seals put into a set of forks I bought on Ebay. Put them on the bike yesterday and when I went to put the 2nd caliper back on I had no clearance between the rotor and the fork. In fact they were nearly touching on that side. After some cursing about buying bent forks, I loosened the axle nut and holder nuts, let everything rest on the ground flat(on centerstand, but no block under engine) and retightened.

Now I have enough room for both brakes, but- The sides do not seem symmetrical. There is less clearance one one side, maybe 1/4-1/2".

I'm assuming this is not good. I did take it for a quick ride and it felt OK.

BTW- I think my initial mis-alignment problems were due to having trouble blocking the engine correctly because my 4-1 exhaust obstructs the right side of the engine...

Maybe a floor jack would be good?

I guess my questions are does this sound dangerous, and what is the best way to make sure I've got everything lined up(after which I guess I'd know if I bought bent forks..)?

Thanks to all

Chris
82 850G

[shaftzuki]

You need to make sure that all of the spacers for the front axle are there and in their correct position (including the speedo drive). If you don't have manual with a diagram you can go to bikebandit.com and find one - it should show you the correct lineup. Make sure you have the frontend off of the ground and the forks, brakes etc. should all fall into place if the parts are assembled correctly. 8)

[Anonymous]

You can tell if the forks are bent by simply rotating them in the triple clamp or - better yet - on a bench. Before the seals were put in would have been a good time to do this.

If the axle spacers are in correctly, then as shaftzuki said, everything falls into place with the forks unloaded.

[Billy Ricks]

And once the wheel is mounted right and you are ready to start tightening everything up, start with the axle and work your way up the fork. You probably had to tighten up the triple clamp to reassemble. Go back and loosen up all the pinch bolts on the triple to the point where the tubes will drop if you go any looser. Then start tighteneing it all up from the bottom up.