My Drifter has developed a healthy head shake at any speed below 55 during deceleration. All it takes is a small bump or rough road and it develops if you let go of the bars. Both hands on the bars, it's not noticeable. One hand on, it sometimes can be felt and is controllable, but DON'T let go with both hands! I know tires can cause this or a loose steering stem nut. Project fix won't be put off since it seems to be getting worse every week. The tires seem fine with no excessive or abnormal wear or cupping, so a loose nut seems the most obvious culprit.
My question is; Are Drifter front ends more prone to wobble due to the oversize, heavier fenders? Seems all that mass up there could exacerbate the oscillations. Thoughts?
Don't think it is any more susceptible. The steering neck bearings and BOTH tires usually end up being the source. You can't always 'see' a problem in the tires. I had a moderately heavy wobble, replaced tires and it went away. Neck bearing maintenance in also important.
Quote from: redfish on December 14, 2015, 21:49:05 PM
My question is; Are Drifter front ends more prone to wobble due to the oversize, heavier fenders? Seems all that mass up there could exacerbate the oscillations. Thoughts?
Seriously doubt it. The fenders are plastic and really aren't that heavy at all. Especially not compared to every other component on the front end. If the parts on the front end are loose/worn, the problem would still be just as bad with no fender at all.
It was the neck bearings on mine. Replaced those and no more shakey jakes.
I've had the problem of the shakes due to both tires, and neck bearings, and at different times. In the past, tires have been the culprit. Change the tires, no more problem. Right now I have fairly new tires, but the neck bearings are going (one of my winter projects).
Quote from: redfish on December 14, 2015, 21:49:05 PM
My Drifter has developed a healthy head shake at any speed below 55. All it takes is a small bump or rough road and it develops. Both hands on the bars, it's controllable. One hand on, it's iffy, but DON'T let go with both hands even for a second. I know tires can cause this or a loose steering stem nut. Project fix won't be put off since it is getting worse every week. The tires seem fine with no excessive or abnormal wear or cupping, so a loose nut seems the most obvious culprit.
My question is; Are Drifter front ends more prone to wobble due to the oversize, heavier fenders? Seems all that mass up there could exacerbate the oscillations. Thoughts?
How many miles on your scoot? Most call for servicing the head bearings between 15 & 20 thousand miles and almost no one thinks to do it. Kawasaki's head bearings look like something out of a 30 pound bicycle. A Voyager I purchased with 21,000 on it had the same symptoms and the head bearing looked like a hand full of rust in a plastic cage.
The bike is an 02 with 23k miles. I've owned for only about 5 months and the head shake was first noticed about a month ago, but is steadily getting more noticeable. It only occurs during deceleration with no hands on the bars. At first I noticed a shake could develop decelerating down from about 30mph, now a shake can develop decelerating down from around 55. The front end feels looser than before, but that could just be my imagination, and as long as at least one hand is on the bars, there's no issue. I'd not like to replace the rubber since the tires have good tread, although the front Shinko is older and more worn than the rear Dunlop.
And Tinker, your remark; "Kawasaki's head bearings look like something out of a 30 pound bicycle. A Voyager I purchased with 21,000 on it had the same symptoms and the head bearing looked like a hand full of rust in a plastic cage." That's not good news!
Get the "Allballs" set and use wheel bearing grease instead of the factory recommendation. I put my new ones in at 40,000 miles and just inspected them and repacked them at 102,000....I put a grease fitting in the neck when I did the bearings, and I pump the neck full of waterproof trailer bearing grease about every 5,000 miles, or twice a season. Just had to peek at them, just to be sure! :P
Will do, Troll.
Now about that grease fitting. Sounds like a great idea, but doesn't that grease eventually work its way out and create a mess, much like an outboard motor neck always does? Easy cleanup on an outboard motor, but would crud a bike up bad in all the nooks & crannies.
I lived in Mobile for a while and if you had a carport it was a very high rent district. Forget about a full garage. I'm with Troll on the tapered bearings. That is the way I went. I had to replace the front tire as well the damage had already been done form the bad bearings.
Quote from: redfish on December 16, 2015, 18:49:57 PM
Will do, Troll.
Now about that grease fitting. Sounds like a great idea, but doesn't that grease eventually work its way out and create a mess, much like an outboard motor neck always does? Easy cleanup on an outboard motor, but would crud a bike up bad in all the nooks & crannies.
Haven't had a problem on mine since I did it. I would imagine the type of grease makes all the difference. The waterproof boat trailer grease stays put. Clean up is a minor issue, considering how much of a PITA replacing bearings is....
Usual suspects on every bike:
Steering head bearings/nut tension
Tires, front & rear
Wheel bearings, front & rear
Swingarm bearings
Loose fairing/windsceen on bikes with them
You're the second or third poster mentioning a rear tire as a possible culprit. That just doesn't seem possible, plausible, or in any way conceivable. I know you guys didn't just make that up, and I don't think you had experience with head shake and just couldn't wait to yank your rear off and replace it. I also believe you guys know your stuff, and if I had heard that anywhere else I'd be inclined to call it a "rumor". :o
redfish:
On my ride home from Drift In I notice a bit of a issue with steering? wheel bearings? Seemed that at times I had to fight with the bars to corner and turn. I checked everything while on the road in the parking lot and could not find anything wrong. Once I got home I checked the steering bearings and the steering bolt, nope it was tight no loose movement.
Checked the wheels and nothing there no movement that was not supposed to be there.....now no excuse but I am a nice guy but do not like to lay down in the driveway, someone might harpoon my large behind thinking it was a walrus on the loose, but I managed to get down there and the first time everything looked fine could not feel anything wrong with the tire.
Had company went for a ride and man was the (term I used was squirrely ) on a few tight turns I had to hang on, but on the straights it was ok but not comfortable to let the bars go.
After company left I took the rear fender off.....yup the rear tire was the cause. It was worn right out....
Wow! You got every last mile out of that tire!
Funny part is that I really checked them over closely prior to the trip, if you remember I had the funny noise issue just prior to leaving and so I had the rear fender off and was working on the chain, so I was sitting right there on the tire almost and saw nothing of a warning about it, so something that could happen quickly.....if I did the math correctly......
I bought the bike in Aug, parked it end of Oct that year, and put the new tires on and when I parked it the mileage was 24188 km and when I got home from Drift In it was 46535 km so I put 22,347 km or 13,886 miles on those Metz 880's.............
Quote from: CDNRatMan on December 17, 2015, 22:53:38 PM
redfish:
On my ride home from Drift In I notice a bit of a issue with steering? wheel bearings? Seemed that at times I had to fight with the bars to corner and turn. I checked everything while on the road in the parking lot and could not find anything wrong. Once I got home I checked the steering bearings and the steering bolt, nope it was tight no loose movement.
Checked the wheels and nothing there no movement that was not supposed to be there.....now no excuse but I am a nice guy but do not like to lay down in the driveway, someone might harpoon my large behind thinking it was a walrus on the loose, but I managed to get down there and the first time everything looked fine could not feel anything wrong with the tire.
Had company went for a ride and man was the (term I used was squirrely ) on a few tight turns I had to hang on, but on the straights it was ok but not comfortable to let the bars go.
After company left I took the rear fender off.....yup the rear tire was the cause. It was worn right out....
RatMan, you should take your chances with that Harpoon more often! Yeah, I know worn out tires can cause issues, especially in cornering. I had to re-learn how to corner all over again after replacing worn tires.
And it's easy to overlook checking tires on a long trip. After all, we don't check em' daily at home, so why would another day be any different away from home? But looks like you got your money's worth out of yours! :o
But head shake from a bad rear tire? I dunno, I guess anything's possible.
I had a Metzler 880 on the rear that I let get a couple of pounds low and before I caught it, it was cupped. From that point on, until I replaced it, I had a weird vibration in my seat.
Quote from: pcarrell on December 18, 2015, 00:43:30 AM
Wow! You got every last mile out of that tire!
I stopped at a convenience store for coffee on one of my rides the other day. Then a bunch of sport bikes pulled up and parked next to me. Those guys were a real hyper bunch, but friendly. Anyway, they checked out my bike and I checked out theirs too. Anyway, one of the guy's back tires was just cord showing through the center of the whole thing where there should be tread. I told the guy he really was getting his money's worth out of those tires. He said he wasn't going to replace it until it actually blew. Oh well. Live and learn. . . . . or not.
Quote from: DC on December 18, 2015, 10:58:26 AM
He said he wasn't going to replace it until it actually blew. Oh well. Live and learn. . . . . or not.
Even when the wolf isn't even around, sometimes the herd thins itself out all by itself. ::)
!
We can nominate him for a Darwin Award.......
Seriously. I really should have taken a pic of that tire. I have never seen any kind of tire worn that thin, with so much of the cord showing, and still holding air. My guess is that he wants it to blow out at high speed so he can have a crash and brag to his buddies that he survived (if he does). This group was the out-there, daredevil type. A lot of their conversations were yelling and screaming at one another. :o ???