Harley Wobble Question?

The thing you HAVEN'T checked yet are what NEED to be checked.

What do you mean by "wide tires"? 130/90-16 on front and rear? Are they they same brand and model? You don't have a rear tire on the front, do you? Are the tires mounted in the proper direction of rotation?

First thing....did you TORQUE the front axle to spec...50-55 ft/lbs.

Next..."I tightend all the wheel spokes".....you never tighten spokes unless you have a wheel trueing stand, this is to make sure that you didn't didn't make the wheel come out of true, the wheel MUST be true to within .020' (my spec is .010") laterally and radially ( wobble and hop).

Next thing is to check wheel bearing end-play, spec is .002-.006 with DRY bearings and wheel fully torqued. (Specialized, modified tools are needed for this.) I always set mine as close to .002 as possible

Next, check that your front wheel is DEAD CENTERED between the fork tubes.

Next thing is to check the neck bearings....these should be inspected and adjusted every 10k miles. ANY pitting, corrosion, notching, etc of the bearing or races and they need replaced. Proper adjustment is done by a "fall-away" test.

Front-end, built from a box....did you fill the forks with 20 or 30 wt fork oil ( i would use 30wt for the weight of that bike).....FX and FL forks are different and require different amounts.

Use quality grease on the wheel and neck bearings....Lucas Red & Tacky grease is about the best, the only grease I use.

If you don't have the tools to do these checks, I STRONGLY advise you to take the bike, or at least the wheel, to a shop and have them check it out.

Also, if you don't have a FACTORY service manual, you NEED one. Stay away from Clymer and Haynes, they are CRAP that leave out alot of critical info only HD puts in their books. If Clymer and Hayne were any good, HD would use them instead of printing their own.

While I can't stand, to agree with ninebadthings on anything. My first thought would be the tires also. I wide tire will feel wobbly, a lot more than a narrow one. A wide tire will flex a lot more than a narrow one, causing it to feel less stable. Also, make sure you have the right tire on the front. The construction of a front tire, is not the same as a rear. Fronts tires are more rigid, less flex, because they don't have to handle that much weight. Less flex also means the front is more stable, thus less wobble. Make sure your tires are not under inflated. Under inflated tires, will feel like your all over the road.

The wheel spokes will cause a wobble, but the fork oil, neck bearings, and tire alignment, will not. The fork oil and neck bearings, will cause a vibration, as will a thrown wheel weight. Wheel alignment, will cause tire wear, as well as chain and sprocket wear. Wheel bearings will cause a wobble, but only if they get really bad. My front wheel bearing went bad on me last year, never felt a wobble.

I developed the dreaded Harley wobble when I had the wide tire kit installed on my FXDC. The front end wobble actually comes from a real tire problem.

check the neck bearings,tire alignment,wheel bearings. :)

Dial gauge the front rotor(s).

Check the balance on the front tire.

Ensure the front tire isn't already cupped.

Put a straight edge on both the upper and lower triple to see how straight(parallel) they are.

If you don't find something in all this, then put it back in the box and sell it. :)

Is that high speed on a harley? My 400 dual sport is rock solid at that speed on knobbies. My guess is the wide tires are your culprit. Like the bike itself they are for looking at, not actually riding.