Well, after 4 years of putting up with the dreaded Harley left lean, (TWO pounds of pressure on the handle-bars is within specs MY ASS!!! I'd love to see Willie G hold a two pound weight at arms length for a thousand miles!!!)
I finally went out and bought three digital levels and two laser pointers!
I then welded up some standoffs....don't laugh when ya'll see 'em I used a few scrap pieces of metal and some aircraft landing gear bushings that were perfect as spacers!!! And believe it or not....they are PRECISE!!! NO un-parallel-ness....Is that a word??? I needed to move the lasers out from the rotors about 3.5" so the beams would clear everything.
Then I bolted them to the brake rotors and snapped (magnetic) the levels to the rotors and went to leveling the seat.....Damn... couldn't find a frame jack....what to do...AH-HA!!! Jack the bike up with my Sears Red Jack....just enough to lift the rear tire and jam two pieces of angle I had laying around in between the lift arms! DONE!!! (The jack was too low to engage the lock pin and kept leaking down.) The angle locked the jack perfectly and at the right height!!!
Then I leveled the frame by rolling the bike around the un-even floor till I found the sweet spot and VOILA!!!! The frame is level!!!! 0.0 degrees!!!
On to the rear wheel.....Static base-line check was 89.7 degrees. Loosened the front engine mount and the Heim adjusters and leveled the rear..... doesn't sound like much, but believe me .3 degrees was a LOT!!!, it was probably 5-6 turns on the Heim joint! That equates to (guesstimating) 1.5 inches at the top of the engine!
The front wheel takes some practice to get to 90 degrees, but in a short while, I was able to get it dead on and REPEATABLE!!!
Time to switch on the lasers.......WOW!!! The MOCO was having a BAD day when they "Aligned" my bike!!! The laser beams met at the transmission!!!!
The engine had to move WAY left to get the beams parallel, but in the end, I got the beams parallel and at a spacing of .310" over a distance of ~3.5 feet!
Tightened everything down, shook it out, and tested again....REPEATABLE readings!!! I just LOVE when things do what they are supposed to and I can repeat an adjustment!!! I made sure as I was going along to be fairly aggressive with shaking and moving the engine around as I was adjusting since the rear bushings were still tight....(I'm still waiting on the Glide-Pro Stability kit to come in!)
I also brought the adjusters back from the "loaded" position, maybe a half turn or so to the "Unloaded" position. I figured this would put it in the sweet spot... This was after all, just kind of a test to see if I had the stuff to get good results while waiting for the "Good Stuff"....
Then time to ride! OMG!!! I feel like I have a new bike!!! Now the front and rear work together not against each other! Curves.....it feels like it's on rails! NO wobble! And the "Two Pounds"???? If any mechanic or service advisor tries to sell you on that BS, tell him he's full of it and you're gonna take your business ELSEWHERE!!!
There is absolutely NO reason other than they just don't give a shit to not get your bike riding like mine! My dealer told me the same bullshit...."Two pounds of pressure is within spec" BULLSHIT and I have the PROOF!!! And ask him when the last time was he held a two lb. bag of BULLSHIT out at arms' length for a nice Sunday ride through the twisties.....
Sorry for going off on a rant, but I HATE negligent mechanics/dealers/service advisors!!!!!
I finally went out and bought three digital levels and two laser pointers!
I then welded up some standoffs....don't laugh when ya'll see 'em I used a few scrap pieces of metal and some aircraft landing gear bushings that were perfect as spacers!!! And believe it or not....they are PRECISE!!! NO un-parallel-ness....Is that a word??? I needed to move the lasers out from the rotors about 3.5" so the beams would clear everything.
Then I bolted them to the brake rotors and snapped (magnetic) the levels to the rotors and went to leveling the seat.....Damn... couldn't find a frame jack....what to do...AH-HA!!! Jack the bike up with my Sears Red Jack....just enough to lift the rear tire and jam two pieces of angle I had laying around in between the lift arms! DONE!!! (The jack was too low to engage the lock pin and kept leaking down.) The angle locked the jack perfectly and at the right height!!!
Then I leveled the frame by rolling the bike around the un-even floor till I found the sweet spot and VOILA!!!! The frame is level!!!! 0.0 degrees!!!
On to the rear wheel.....Static base-line check was 89.7 degrees. Loosened the front engine mount and the Heim adjusters and leveled the rear..... doesn't sound like much, but believe me .3 degrees was a LOT!!!, it was probably 5-6 turns on the Heim joint! That equates to (guesstimating) 1.5 inches at the top of the engine!
The front wheel takes some practice to get to 90 degrees, but in a short while, I was able to get it dead on and REPEATABLE!!!
Time to switch on the lasers.......WOW!!! The MOCO was having a BAD day when they "Aligned" my bike!!! The laser beams met at the transmission!!!!
The engine had to move WAY left to get the beams parallel, but in the end, I got the beams parallel and at a spacing of .310" over a distance of ~3.5 feet!
Tightened everything down, shook it out, and tested again....REPEATABLE readings!!! I just LOVE when things do what they are supposed to and I can repeat an adjustment!!! I made sure as I was going along to be fairly aggressive with shaking and moving the engine around as I was adjusting since the rear bushings were still tight....(I'm still waiting on the Glide-Pro Stability kit to come in!)
I also brought the adjusters back from the "loaded" position, maybe a half turn or so to the "Unloaded" position. I figured this would put it in the sweet spot... This was after all, just kind of a test to see if I had the stuff to get good results while waiting for the "Good Stuff"....
Then time to ride! OMG!!! I feel like I have a new bike!!! Now the front and rear work together not against each other! Curves.....it feels like it's on rails! NO wobble! And the "Two Pounds"???? If any mechanic or service advisor tries to sell you on that BS, tell him he's full of it and you're gonna take your business ELSEWHERE!!!
There is absolutely NO reason other than they just don't give a shit to not get your bike riding like mine! My dealer told me the same bullshit...."Two pounds of pressure is within spec" BULLSHIT and I have the PROOF!!! And ask him when the last time was he held a two lb. bag of BULLSHIT out at arms' length for a nice Sunday ride through the twisties.....
Sorry for going off on a rant, but I HATE negligent mechanics/dealers/service advisors!!!!!