handsfree tri-glide drifts

[eagle1]

note!! ext warrenty doesn't cover adjustments.
now the probles. '09 t/g 23k , 2k on new ft. tire (oem). tire pressures checked & adjusted.' when you are going in the rh. lane of a 4 lane hwy.
cruse on 60 mph. in the center right lane. level terrane. hands off handledars.
the trike will c rt. limb the crown of the road & drift into the lt. hand lane in 5-6 sec.'s and 3-4 sec's after that the lt. rear tire is on the rumble strip.
ALL T/G OWNERS UNDER WARRENTY. check out how your trike handles
on a newly paved 4-lane hwy. (do this safely). & if your trike drifts severely.
have your dealer check it out & tell us owners of (out of warrenty) guys
exactly what they did to correct your problem.
and post your info on a thread like (HANDSFREE TRI-GLIDE DRIFTS) so in the future we-all can FIND YOUR POSTING & see what THE-FIX-IS.
so when older t/g's who half to pay $80.00 hr. labor can suggest to the tech
where to start.THANKS GUYS.

 

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

If you want to check the alignment of your trike you can measure the distance from the front mounting hole of the floor board support to the front of rear axle housing.

You will have to either have your trike in a shop style motorcycle lift or lay on the floor with the back end of your trike jacked up in the air with the rear tires removed.

If your out more then a 1/4" in distance measured between each side then your trike rear is out of alignment.

 

[Tip Schwartzbeck]

To check the alignment on my trike I bungee 2 8' fluorescent tubes to my rear wheels -above the bulge.Set the front tire ( measure the rim frt and back)parallel to one of the tubes.Now measure from rim to each tube - if not the same your alignment is off.
Works for me,
Tip

 

[jcolson]

I'm glad someone else is having an issue with the trike drifting. Mine pulls to the right. It only takes 1-3 seconds to start drifting right. I finally got one dealership to check it out. They said they adjusted the panhard rod,the axle &foundthe nut that holds the forks in place was barely tight,which is suppose to be checked at services. It helped a bit. so I took it to where I bought it & finally got them to put on a new front tire. It also helped a bit. It still pulls to the right. They say there is nothing else to do. They need to take time to figure it out. Thats a hell of alot of money we dishout for something I use to take pride in owning. Just like everything else, once they get your money they don't seem to care about you anymore. Jim

 

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

Keep in mind that roads are paved with some kinda of crown in the middle of the road slopes to the outside for drainage. Interstate roads with 3 or more lanes will usually have the right and middle lane crowned to the right, with the fast lane sloping to the left

Roads with alot of traffic use, heavy truck use and age tend to have ruts worn in them causing the trike rear to follow it causing some additional pull.

I can tell you here in the south the roads that havent been repaved are bad in places with tires ruts worn into the asphalt. Sadly the state inspectors allow poor new paving to pass as well.

 

[rap47]

Trikes will follow the crown of the road. Thats why they have handlebars. Keep your hands on them!:Shrug:

 

[eagle1]

been haveing trouble with this site/or ie freezes up, but i checked my trike & its 34" from the front bolt of floorboard to the outboard part of the trike. can't measure straight back because there is a steel plate in the way. but now i know the trike is square with the frame. i'm assumeing the neck nut was torqued as a critical fasner at the 20k service,air pressures checked & upped the lt tire to 40 psi on the lt tire. ( still under the 44psi max on sidewall. no noticeable dfference in the drifting to the lt. thanks all. lb

 

[screwball]

Funny, if I let go of the steering wheel of my F-150 it drifts to the right. So does my Jeep and T-bird.

 

[americanbadass]

Funny, if I let go of the steering wheel of my F-150 it drifts to the right. So does my Jeep and T-bird.

...hope you have enuff for 3 alighnments-and I recomend you keep your hands on the wheel till then!

 

[msocko3]

...hope you have enuff for 3 alighnments-and I recomend you keep your hands on the wheel till then!

:laugh: My 2010 Triglide doesn't seem to pull to the right or left unless the grade of the road causes it. I've let go of the bars to see what happened and it kept going straight for a good 15 seconds then I put my hands back on the bars.

 

[bullet 10]

Same as M3

 

[jcolson]

I can't do that.Hell, if I could go 15secs I be going a mile. Must be nice. I was at the dealership where I bought it & both places said there is nothing else they can do. Guess I'll have put up with it or trade. Sad huh? Hey screwball, if all 3 vehicles go to the right there is something wrong. Both my trucks go straight on down the road. Let me tell you something most people don't know about Ford trucks. They have no camber adjustments. If you want the front-end aligned right you need to take it some place who can install the camber adjusters.

Been doing this for years.

Don't let ford aligne it.

 

[msocko3]

I can't do that.Hell, if I could go 15secs I be going a mile. Must be nice. I was at the dealership where I bought it & both places said there is nothing else they can do. Guess I'll have put up with it or trade. Sad huh? Hey screwball, if all 3 vehicles go to the right there is something wrong. Both my trucks go straight on down the road. Let me tell you something most people don't know about Ford trucks. They have no camber adjustments. If you want the front-end aligned right you need to take it some place who can install the camber adjusters.

Been doing this for years.

Don't let ford aligne it.

Have you called Harley Davidson customer service and kicked them around about the problem?

 

[jcolson]

Mike, no, haven't called customer service yet. That will be my next step. I went for a farely long ride yesterday(against doctors orders) & there is an improvement with the new tire. But when that tire wears down a little I'll be back where I was. It still pulls right. Just takes a sec or two longer.

 

[captdanwh]

my trike always drifted until I put a radial tire on the front and now it makes the world of difference. I am telling you to try it as the bias ply tires suck and the radials do everything so much better. I got about 18,000 miles on my bias tire and after 7000 miles on the radial it still looks new.

 

[TheBobs]

Funny, if I let go of the steering wheel of my F-150 it drifts to the right. So does my Jeep and T-bird.

My '74 F-250 drifts to the left and right :Shrug:

 

[rhino 2]

My Tri-Glide stopped drifting as soon as I learned to keep my hands on the bars! :xszpv::Shrug:

 

[BinIdaho]

Same as M3 on my 2013

 

[rwhgme]

Pulls to the right...must be a Republican trike!....sorry

 

[PCMike]

After accounting for the crown in the road, mine pulls to the right. Something is wrong, in my opinion.

 

[Sloufoot]

M3's Trike is a longer wheel base, & a lot wider than the Tri Glide also. Will make a lot of difference in the balance in the steering !
Also if you are trying to compare the Trike to a 2 wheeler,,,,,,, Don't ! You correct the 2 wheel with the leaning balance of your body. If you could see the 2 wheel bikes going down the road with the crown, you are leaning to the left. You can't do that on three wheels. Not saying you don't have a pulling problem, but consider all the reasons.

 

[joeblow]

my 2012t/g drifts a little but not enough to worry about, another thing you trike owners need to worry about is the compensator. mine went bad at 18000 miles and the dealer told me that harley has had alot of problems with the compensator. they upgrade it with the screaming eagle compensator to correct the problem. when one starts or is already bad it sounds like a bunch of marbels are rolling around in the gas tank. hear it different speeds, differeant gears.

 

[msocko3]

M3's Trike is a longer wheel base, & a lot wider than the Tri Glide also. Will make a lot of difference in the balance in the steering !
Also if you are trying to compare the Trike to a 2 wheeler,,,,,,, Don't ! You correct the 2 wheel with the leaning balance of your body. If you could see the 2 wheel bikes going down the road with the crown, you are leaning to the left. You can't do that on three wheels. Not saying you don't have a pulling problem, but consider all the reasons.

When I wrote that post I still had my 2010 Triglide, I hadn't bought my Goldwing at that time yet. My 2010 would go down the road pretty straight, I never felt I had to correct it very much.

 

[bluesman]

note!! ext warrenty doesn't cover adjustments.
now the probles. '09 t/g 23k , 2k on new ft. tire (oem). tire pressures checked & adjusted.' when you are going in the rh. lane of a 4 lane hwy.
cruse on 60 mph. in the center right lane. level terrane. hands off handledars.
the trike will c rt. limb the crown of the road & drift into the lt. hand lane in 5-6 sec.'s and 3-4 sec's after that the lt. rear tire is on the rumble strip.
ALL T/G OWNERS UNDER WARRENTY. check out how your trike handles
on a newly paved 4-lane hwy. (do this safely). & if your trike drifts severely.
have your dealer check it out & tell us owners of (out of warrenty) guys
exactly what they did to correct your problem.
and post your info on a thread like (HANDSFREE TRI-GLIDE DRIFTS) so in the future we-all can FIND YOUR POSTING & see what THE-FIX-IS.
so when older t/g's who half to pay $80.00 hr. labor can suggest to the tech
where to start.THANKS GUYS.

It's the road dude!

 

[tom w]

if its slight that's o.k. that's a drift. most cars and trucks have alignment settings that compensate for road crown but still will have a rt. drift so that if you fall asleep (as I did reading this) you go slowly off the road and not into head on traffic.
a pull is a altogether different feeling. take your hand off the wheel and your in the ditch, that's a pull and should be fixed.
some tires will give you what is known as a radial pull. more than once while working as an alignment mechanic (198? something) I would put a new set of tires on a car with perfect alignment settings and get a pull. first thing to do was to switch sides with the front tires. 9 out of 10 times this would fix it.

 

[tom w]

I can't do that.Hell, if I could go 15secs I be going a mile. Must be nice. I was at the dealership where I bought it & both places said there is nothing else they can do. Guess I'll have put up with it or trade. Sad huh? Hey screwball, if all 3 vehicles go to the right there is something wrong. Both my trucks go straight on down the road. Let me tell you something most people don't know about Ford trucks. They have no camber adjustments. If you want the front-end aligned right you need to take it some place who can install the camber adjusters. Been doing this for years. Don't let ford aligne it.

well, on a bike the camber you want would be 0. the caster would have to give you the leed angle. and as a guess the rake and front bearing would provide for that. as for ford trucks. on twin I beams you had to bend the I beam to provide camber adjustment. most times it was a king pin problem. newer stuff I don't know a lot about . I quit getting so darn dirty every day for very little pay.

 

[Sloufoot]

When I wrote that post I still had my 2010 Triglide, I hadn't bought my Goldwing at that time yet. My 2010 would go down the road pretty straight, I never felt I had to correct it very much.

Yeah I caught that after I posted.... How does that GW track? It should be pretty tight still. My TG will drift either way depending on what road i'm on. Everything is wearing even. But I keep my hand on the grip, Always have, I don't trust machinery or nature!

 

[msocko3]

Yeah I caught that after I posted.... How does that GW track? It should be pretty tight still. My TG will drift either way depending on what road i'm on. Everything is wearing even. But I keep my hand on the grip, Always have, I don't trust machinery or nature!

The GW tracks straight as a string.

 

[boots]

I have found that if you do not have a mechanical issue with your ride and ride mostly right crowned road you might a a pound or to of air pressure in the right tire.