Stearing shake at speeds over 52 mph?

justlucky

justlucky

New member
Feb 14, 2018
30
10
northridgeville, OHIO, USA
Hello , I have a kawasaki vn900c 2008 lehman trike from 2008, I have a shake in the handle bars at speeds over 52 mph and increasses at higher speeds . and yes i had the front tire replace and balanced, witch helped a little bit, and the foward pulley replaced witch also helped a little bit? but the shake is still their? Not a wobble... ? The shake is like a jake hammer. if that helps the tire is at 41 psi. Just wondering if anybody else had that problem and the cure?:D
 
I suggest you adjust the rear tire pressure to 20psi and if that doesn't help, check the rear wheels for balance. Rear wheels that are out of balance shake the whole trike, not just the back end. Wheel imbalance usually manifests itself at speed above 50mph.

Check the radial runout of the front tire. You could have an out-of-round tire too.
 
I had the same problem, but the symptoms occurred at even lower speeds. Turns out the my brand new front tire was out of round. I was surprised because I'd gotten exceptional service out of the brand in the past, but I guess these things happen on occasion. If you suspect the front tire, remove it have it run on a spin balancer at your bike shop. If there's a problem, it'll show in just a few revolutions.

And like Jim says, tire pressure is critical. I run 36 psi in the front and 25 in the rears.

PEACE and ride safe! :Dorag:
 
justlucky said:
Hello , I have a kawasaki vn900c 2008 lehman trike from 2008, I have a shake in the handle bars at speeds over 52 mph and increasses at higher speeds . and yes i had the front tire replace and balanced, witch helped a little bit, and the foward pulley replaced witch also helped a little bit? but the shake is still their? Not a wobble... ? The shake is like a jake hammer. if that helps the tire is at 41 psi. Just wondering if anybody else had that problem and the cure?:D
Click to expand...

One question and a suggestion:

Was the tire recently replaced? And my suggestion is or was the tire mounted correctly, as I have noticed a number of shop technicians putting front tires on back wards. Reason I say this is, is several weeks ago I had a chance to test drive a Razer IRS Motor Trike and during the ride experienced the same issue thing you indicated. Once I got back to the shop, noticed the front tire directional arrows were backwards. The owner has an “Oh S*#t” moment and wondered why his trike shook since installing a new tire and balance. Just a thought:)
 
anything been changed recently has this been coming on a little at a time or just all of a sudden??

doubt the pulley had anything to do with it

generally headset bearings cause a low speed wobble but it is a possibility

back wards mounted tire shouldnt matter...basic difference in front and back tire is for the way the plies are laid .... back tire is pushin and front is stoppin

at speed i dont think the tire pressure or front tire balance or out of round would make a "jack hammer" shake

fist guess would be a rear tire out of round or out of balance.... they can be perfectly balanced but out of round
 
2008 kawasaki 900 vulcon, storm kit rear end nag, 2008

trying to take off the rear end of the kit to repair? already removed the side bolts, seat, sissy bar, side molding, inner bolts, The only thing is cannot slide the body off? or is their a trick to it? As always thank you for your time in advance.
 
justlucky said:
trying to take off the rear end of the kit to repair? already removed the side bolts, seat, sissy bar, side molding, inner bolts, The only thing is cannot slide the body off? or is their a trick to it? As always thank you for your time in advance.
Click to expand...

Did you remove the air bag ?
 
justlucky said:
Yes but when the exchaust was welded together thy made it to long have to disconnect it to swing the body off my problem as always is no one is around when you need them aw well. should do the trick? I well let you know?
Click to expand...

The body needs to be dropped down below the struts so I guess the exhaust has to go. If you don't mind me asking, why are you taking the rear axle out (for what repair) ?
 
the aliegnment ?

Lee H. Mann said:
The body needs to be dropped down below the struts so I guess the exhaust has to go. If you don't mind me asking, why are you taking the rear axle out (for what repair) ?
Click to expand...

the wheel are not linning up even? the measurement are right , the trike was hit apperantly was told the trike was pushed but that was it? the right tire is ? it is foward about 2 1/4 inches the left is right on , thank you it just accured to me i might be looking at this in reverse? = I will let you know - wish i had a camera to show you? or to post? let see what happens? let you know tommorow;)
 
justlucky said:
the wheel are not linning up even? the measurement are right , the trike was hit apperantly was told the trike was pushed but that was it? the right tire is ? it is foward about 2 1/4 inches the left is right on , thank you it just accured to me i might be looking at this in reverse? = I will let you know - wish i had a camera to show you? or to post? let see what happens? let you know tommorow;)
Click to expand...

The rear might be out of alignment bit it sounds more like a body issue.

Check to see if the rear axle is centered with the front end first.

square up trike.png
 
justlucky said:
Hello , I have a kawasaki vn900c 2008 lehman trike from 2008, I have a shake in the handle bars at speeds over 52 mph and increasses at higher speeds . and yes i had the front tire replace and balanced, witch helped a little bit, and the foward pulley replaced witch also helped a little bit? but the shake is still their? Not a wobble... ? The shake is like a jake hammer. if that helps the tire is at 41 psi. Just wondering if anybody else had that problem and the cure?:D
Click to expand...

I had the same problem with my 2002 GoldWing Lehman trike. I thought it was coming from the front tire. It was the rear tires getting out of balance. They need to be meticulously balanced. Solved all my problems.
 
justlucky said:
the wheel are not linning up even? the measurement are right , the trike was hit apperantly was told the trike was pushed but that was it? the right tire is ? it is foward about 2 1/4 inches the left is right on , thank you it just accured to me i might be looking at this in reverse? = I will let you know - wish i had a camera to show you? or to post? let see what happens? let you know tommorow;)
Click to expand...

Jack each rear tire off ground, one at a time, and rotate. Not knowing if it was hit, maybe a bent axle or rear wheel. Front wheel could have been damaged if rear hit on one side only.

While measuring stuff, check rear tires / wheels for toe in / out condition (parallelism?).

Sounds like all three ain't pointing same direction at times, maybe in three directions?

Most side car rigs have either bikes rear tire or the side car's tire a bit forward or behind the other, but as long as they are generally parallel, the'le do OK.
 
I chased a head shake like that and found two problems that I fixed at the same time, so I don't know which fixed it. I had a sway bar bushing fail, and while finding that, I also found two loose frame bolts. After replacing the bushing and tightening the bolts (I went over all of them) the problem was gone. I hope your fix is that simple.
 
u now that might be it? I will let you know.

rodekyll said:
I chased a head shake like that and found two problems that I fixed at the same time, so I don't know which fixed it. I had a sway bar bushing fail, and while finding that, I also found two loose frame bolts. After replacing the bushing and tightening the bolts (I went over all of them) the problem was gone. I hope your fix is that simple.
Click to expand...

How did you know it was the bushing?
 
B25bsaboy said:
One question and a suggestion:

Was the tire recently replaced? And my suggestion is or was the tire mounted correctly, as I have noticed a number of shop technicians putting front tires on back wards. Reason I say this is, is several weeks ago I had a chance to test drive a Razer IRS Motor Trike and during the ride experienced the same issue thing you indicated. Once I got back to the shop, noticed the front tire directional arrows were backwards. The owner has an “Oh S*#t” moment and wondered why his trike shook since installing a new tire and balance. Just a thought:)
Click to expand...

I'm riding a 2005 VTX 1300 with BT 45 on front, running in reverse. 26,000 miles and counting.
 
swing arm on kawasaki vn 900--c storm

Hellow and thank's in advance

did thy alter the swing arm in the 2008 kawasaki storm kit ?. ( nag) rear end.

And if thy did how to git a rebuild kit for the swing arm bushing? if any ??? like i said the trike seems to ride right then it seem to be leaning to the left right giving me the feeling of out of alignment?

Lee H. Mann said:
The rear might be out of alignment bit it sounds more like a body issue.

Check to see if the rear axle is centered with the front end first.

View attachment 60360
Click to expand...
 
justlucky said:
How did you know it was the bushing?
Click to expand...

Because when I went to poking at them it came apart. It was an uppermost bushing on one of the end bolts. It had softened as though a chemical had gotten to it. Not unlikely with my rig.

The result was extra motion on one side that got the tail wagging the dog. The harmonic would get the front end flapping uncontrollably. I could compensate for it some with the adjustable steering damper and tweaking tire pressures and airbag pressure, but stability was a moving target. A cold chassis and cold tires needed a different combination than when hot. Up until that time it was rock steady and tracked so true I could toggle the cruise control at 60 and take both hands off the bars.

When I get to my winter stop I'll replace all 10 of them.
 
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