Fall away?

[ejjr]

OK, so I'm new at this triking game. When people refer to tightening up their fall away, what is it they are referring to? I'm assuming its a steering adjustment?

Thanks

 

[Maria]

It was explained to me by way of demonstration... put the lift under the front frame of a 2-wheeler, so that the front wheel is off the ground. Stand in front and push every so gently on the end of one handlebar. The bars will slowly turn that way, then at a certain point will "fall away" to the full turn position in that direction. That point is called the "fall away" point - or the action itself is the "fall away" - I'm not quite certain. The big difference between 2 and 3 wheels is that with 3 you want as little "fall away" as possible - so you tighten down the steering head/knuckle. If the fall-away is set like you would for 2 wheels, the front end wobbles all over the place and it is terrifying.

 

[1550vt]

You can go to You-Tube and find a demonstration of what it means and how to adjust it. As opposed to a certain torque applied to the star nut under the top tree, the term fall-away refers to how "loose" the front end is. The front bearings in the frame neck are timken/torrington tapered bearings. Older bikes, trailer's and auto's used these as wheel bearings also, but the move is on all over to replace these with a sealed bearing in the wheel. Since bike-handling can be greatly affected by how tight this connection point is...somebody invented "fall-away". The bike/trike is raised off the surface enough so the front wheel is free and the machine is level. Pull the handlebar all way to the left...and let her go. The wheel will stop after so many swings. On a 2-wheeler it's like 2 swings and the wheel should wind up close to straight...more-or-less. On a trike, it's tighter and should stop in the first swing...again..more-or-less. That adjustment is made by tightening/loosening that star nut under the top tree, which pulls the bearings closer against their races.

Old timers just tightened the bars up until they would not move and then backed off the adjustment nut until it felt right. The fall-away procedure simply means how far the front wheel "falls" back toward dead center and how many swings it takes to do that, which is an indication of how tight the neck bearings are. It is not necessarily an exact science and sometimes folks tighten them more than the book specifies to make them handle properly. If you have a "clunk" when you start/stop, or a wobbling issue at certain speeds...the fall-away adjustment is always one of the prime suspects.

If I stated this wrong...somebody will jump in here and correct me.

 

[1550vt]

Maria....you and I must have hit the send button about the same moment!

 

[John Luciano]

Guess who made the tooling for a lot of those bearings ... Hint see my address ..

 

[skuuter]

Guess who made the tooling for a lot of those bearings ... Hint see my address ..

GOOD STUFF...didn't know this John.....:wtg:

 

[ejjr]

Great info everyone.....Thanks!

 

[skuuter]

Yeah, we set my steering head bearings with everything laying off to the sides....:wtg:

 

[honest john]

I am new to the forum. I am impressed at the skill and mechanical ability of you folks.I hopeto install an EZ steering kit on my 04 fatboy DFT conversion. Would someone please tell me how to adjust the fall away? Thanks . honest john

 

[Lucky]

Sorry John I am not that mech. inclined,but they are those on the forum that are and will be glad to help I am sure.Welcome to the fourm you have come to the rite place.Hope you enjoy it as much as I have.RIDE SAFE

 

[Gorilla]

I am new to the forum. I am impressed at the skill and mechanical ability of you folks.I hopeto install an EZ steering kit on my 04 fatboy DFT conversion. Would someone please tell me how to adjust the fall away? Thanks . honest john

Welcome aboard John. Glad you found us.

I would suggest you get a service manual for you FAT-BOY the procedure is covered in there.

To give you an idea: You disassemble the triple trees down to the point where you have access to the Stem Bearing nut on top of the top triple tree. You have the front wheel raised slightly off the ground and make sure there is not any interference from anything when you swing the handlebars completely from side to side. You then hold the handlebars completely to the left and let go. You count the number of times the tire passes thru the straight on position before it comes to a halt. On a 2 wheel setup it should be 3 times. On a Trike it should be 1 and not quite back to center. You change this swing by tightening the nut per the manual. The tighter means less swing. Not all Harley triple trees are the same but they are similar so you need to refer to the manual.