Front end out of alignment

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brademan76
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Front end out of alignment

Post by brademan76 »

93 KDX with stock front end/USD forks- it has been out of alignment since I became owner. Bars are turned left while riding straight.
I've tried putting the wheel in between uprights and trying to "torque" back into alignment without success. Have tried loosening up axle nut and triple clamps and pumping to try and align. Have taken forks off to service, checked and regreased stem bearings and after reassembly still out of whack. The upper triple is stamped kx125, but looking at parts diagrams the kx125 upper around the same year, has same design/part number as the oem kdx triple. I considered there may be something to that but doesn't make any sense really.

Does this pretty much mean the forks are bent? Any other suggestions on how I might straighten it out?

Thanks
Last edited by brademan76 on 05:06 pm May 29 2022, edited 1 time in total.
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Slick_Nick
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Re: Front end out of alignment

Post by Slick_Nick »

If forks are bent they'll bind. How are the bar clamps? One piece with the top triple on that bike? They could be tweaked.
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brademan76
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Re: Front end out of alignment

Post by brademan76 »

Yeah the top is just a one piece. Hard to tell if tweaked just looking at it I guess.
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brademan76
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Re: Front end out of alignment

Post by brademan76 »

Hmmm, looking at it head on it looks like the head pipe may be twisted... top of it being slightly left of the center. Not seeing any indication of impact/damage around the welds or material around it.

Maybe I'm seeing things.
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Re: Front end out of alignment

Post by KDXGarage »

That left steering stop on the clamp sure took a whack. The steering stop looks bent up a little.

I would just loosen it all up and lightly tighten it to check for squareness.
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brademan76
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Re: Front end out of alignment

Post by brademan76 »

Yeah that stop sure did maybe whatever caused that is what threw it out of whack. Maybe I'll try adding some aluminum with the welder, or drill a hole and put a short screw in it. Just that 1/4" allows it to turn too far to the right where the right fork almost impacts the gas tank and radiator before hitting that stop.

I've loosened everything up, pumped forks etc a couple of different times now with no effect. Thinking next I'll try to loosen everything, brace the wheel, torque the bars to the right (and hold in that position) then tighten up the axle and clamps and see what that does.

The amount that it is off is distracting.
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Re: Front end out of alignment

Post by SS109 »

brademan76 wrote: 08:10 pm May 29 2022 I've loosened everything up...
Did that include the axle and pinch bolts? I loosen those along with three of the four triple clamp positions to get the front back in to alignment. If that doesn't do it, something is definitely bent.
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brademan76
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Re: Front end out of alignment

Post by brademan76 »

SS109 wrote: 10:37 pm May 29 2022
brademan76 wrote: 08:10 pm May 29 2022 I've loosened everything up...
Did that include the axle and pinch bolts? I loosen those along with three of the four triple clamp positions to get the front back in to alignment. If that doesn't do it, something is definitely bent.
Yes, axle bolt included very loose (no pinch bolts on my forks), only thing approaching spec torque being the top triple positions.
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Re: Front end out of alignment

Post by Slick_Nick »

Loosen the top clamp nut and don’t torque it until after the tubes are in and torqued on the lowers. Then torque the steering nut, then the upper clamp pinch bolts.
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