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Quick Rear Wheel Alignment

2.5K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  Pete  
#1 ·
"Necessity is the mother of invention but lazyness is the father of invention."


Alignment marks on the swing arms of motorcycles are well known for being quite a bit off from one side to the other. With the motorcycles I owned before the ZR-7 I corrected for this unfortunate fact by very carefully measuring and aligning the rear wheel with the marks on one ONE SIDE ONLY and then putting a punch mark on the other adjuster such that the new mark exactly lined up with the marks on the second side of the swing arm.

The ZR-7 has a rectangular plate with one edge bent over ( Kawasaki refers to it as the "outer chain adjuster") and a single alignment mark pressed into it. This plate is such a loose fit when the axle nut is not tightened that I never trust it to be in the same position relative to the axle twice. Because this plate floats so much my time tested put-a-second-mark-on-it technique is useless.

It is not that I cannot use the two strings tied to the front axle method or use a straight edge against the sprocket when adjusting the chain, I just don't care too. I want to be able to do it quicker w/o sacrificing accuracy of alignment. So, to finally get to the point, what procedure and tricks do you use when adjusting your ZR-7 chain?
 
#2 ·
I adjusted my chain slack for the first time this last weekend. Since my rear wheel was aligned just fine before I adjusted it, I just made sure to turn each alignment bolt by exactly the same amount (I did it by 1/4 turns). Went riding faster than I've ever ridden before the day after adjusting the chain this way, and the bike tracked through corners like I wouldn't beleive, so I guess I did it right. :)

I've also heard of zip-tying some kind of dowell rod or something to each side of the rear wheel, then seeing how they align with the front wheel.
 
#3 ·
G'day Dr Dirt

h'mmm

There is some commercial gadgetry for aligning the sprockets with a clipon chain straight edge.

However I use a single string tied around both sides of the rear wheel and then tied off at the front (around two bricks) the gap at the front have to be equal. It may take a little while first time, but is worth the effort......material string and 2 bricks

Once I have aligned the wheel by this method I measure the adusting screw extension, and always maintain the same difference in screw length when adjusting the chain.

In theory I would not have to check the alignment again, but do occasionally.

gg at bb, ava good day
 
#6 ·
Pete,

Good suggestion. Thanks

I will still have to move from side to side and back again but this will help quite a bit.



Doughboy & gg,

Do it right just once and and measure from that point every time there after. Good idea.



gg,

Trammel and trammel points. Wow, it has been a long time since I heard those terms.

Now to really make things easy I should remove both my rear axle and swing arm pivot bolts, take them to a machine shop and have small concave dimples centered in all ends. ( But you know I am not going to do that. Center punch and hammer, maybe hit it two or three times.) Then I can check alignment by "feel" instead of having to read a ruler or tape measure.

Do you have plans for a DIY trammel stick or am I on my own here? Of course I want it to be usable on every motorcycle in my and all my friend's garages and every machine we will buy in the future too!



Everybody -- Thanks. My future procedure will to match the turns of the adjusting screws side to side and then double check by measuring from the swingarm pivot with a trammel stick.


Dr. Dirt
 
#8 ·
Hi Dr Dirt

KTM the off road bike manufacturer use trammels for aligning the back wheel, you may get some info there.

Don't like your idea of hand centre punching the swingarm bolts, go the whole hog and remove the swing arm bolts and have them "centre drilled" ....say no more gg

gg at bb, ava good day
 
#11 ·
Quote: If I think you mean the markings on the swingarm, then they are near useless due to the slack in the moving indicator plate.

Graeme, is this another area where Jarel's machine shop contacts could assist in the manufacture of replacement indicator plates that are made to a decent tollerance so that they become useful?

It would certainly be an essential mod to undertake and the market is large enough to make scale savings possible, what do you think? :)

I'll have a pair in stainless steel please:D :D