Front end shake ???

[sandrooney]

Hi to all, I am new to the site and have a question. My wife has an 05 Road King with the Motor Trike conversion. I put an EZ Steer kit on it and it has a little shake between 70 and 80 MPH. I was reading about the steering damper and was wondering if this would help. Other than that it steers easy and has no wobble at any other speeds. It is the Trog kit, I run 40# in front Tire and 24# in rear tires and 20# in the air bags.

She loves the trike and to my suprise so do I. It was way underpowered with the stock 88 inch motor so I installed an S&S 111 motor in it and cured that problem, awesome power.

I am still on 2 wheels for now but I sneak hers out every now and then and I love it.

This looks like a great sit and I am excited to find it.
Thanks for your help,
SR

 

[spiritdream]

I can't help with your problem, but someone on here will that's for sure!! Just wanted to say Welcome!!

 

[Papa Zook]

Hi to all, I am new to the site and have a question. My wife has an 05 Road King with the Motor Trike conversion. I put an EZ Steer kit on it and it has a little shake between 70 and 80 MPH. I was reading about the steering damper and was wondering if this would help. Other than that it steers easy and has no wobble at any other speeds. It is the Trog kit, I run 40# in front Tire and 24# in rear tires and 20# in the air bags.

She loves the trike and to my suprise so do I. It was way underpowered with the stock 88 inch motor so I installed an S&S 111 motor in it and cured that problem, awesome power.

I am still on 2 wheels for now but I sneak hers out every now and then and I love it.

This looks like a great sit and I am excited to find it.
Thanks for your help,
SR

Check the balance of your tires. Theres really no reason for "headshake" at 70-80 MPH so I suspect it is a out of round or out of balance tire.

 

[sandrooney]

Thanks for the reply's.

I put a new tire on and balanced it and still the same.

Thanks again,
SR

 

[Nana]

Hi there sandrooney. Welcome to TrikeTalk to both you and your wife
Glad you found our great site.

 

[trike lady]

You may want to tighten the steering nut a little bit more, this sometimes helps remedy the problem by adding a little resistance.

 

[meredog]

Another thing you could do is crank the throttle full tilt at about 67 MPH and don't let off till you get over 80 !!

 

[ThirdWheel]

I am curious about this problem. Is it definitely the front wheel shake or possibly engine vibration at a certain rpm level? Have you tried running it the same rpm range in a lower gear.

 

[sandrooney]

Thanks for all the reply's.
It is speed related and not rpm related. I tried it all gears at the same rpm's.

I thought about tightening the stem nut but wouldn't the dampner add resistance as well.

Full throttle sounds like the fun way to go.

I am gald I found this great site as well. Thanks

Thanks again,
SR

 

[Tonyd]

so you know theres only 1 damper that fits the road king and thats on ebay for $99....but it wont fit without mods to the ez steer... the bolt that mounts the piston hits the bottom of the lower tree...ASK ME HOW I KNOW..Im not gonna grind into the tree

Tony

 

[sandrooney]

Tony,
Lehman makes on that say's it will fit and I thought the HD one would fit. Am I wrong about this.
Thanks,
SR

 

[ultraboy]

Unfortunately, the TG damper won't fit the RK. (Tony tried this)
First, do the 'fall-away' test and see where you are at. loose stem nut may be part of the problem. As it only occurs at the one speed, the damper may not help. I'd be looking at the tires (rears too) You might bump up the air bags to 30 as well. What does your installer think?

 

[1550vt]

I side with Bazooka and Ultraboy on this one. Just odd for it to shake at that speed, normally where it ought to run the smoothest.

Must be "something" the trike does not like at that particular speed....a harmonic of some sort, or maybe even the front wheel itself. (Not just the tire).

Like some others have said here....check the fall-away for sure. I have had some pretty weird things happen and just took things all apart and put them all back together....sometimes it even works. Anything felt from anywhere on the trike will be felt in your butt, or the bars.

 

[Tonyd]

I forgot about this..... check your rear tire air pressure....I run mine at: right side (low side of road) at 28lbs ...the left side : high side of the road at 24lbs....these are car tires and dont need that much air for a trike....the faster you go the tire grows..or gets taller...this could affect your front end


Tony

 

[trike lady]

Are the rear wheels balanced? If you don't see weights on the rears have them balanced. Trust me I've had this done on a few client's trikes and it has helped.

 

[Gorilla]

welcome aboard sr. One of those things sould work. My money is on the steering head nut not being tight enough. the swing goes from 3 sweeps to one or less when you trike it.

 

[trike lady]

tmigala,
That's exactly what I stated in post#6, the steering being ok for two wheels but needing a little tightening on the trike. Add a little more resistance. Rear wheels I always send them out to be balanced, most people never do it.

 

[sandrooney]

Thanks Guy's
I will keep you posted
SR

 

[sandrooney]

The front end shake is fixed thanks to you guy's.
I decided to take the wheels off and have them rebalanced just to eliminate any question there, and what do you know that was it. The trike is smooth as glass now and I am happy, more important my wife is happy.

Thanks for all the help and I hope to return the favor.
Now I think I will see if I can go sneak it out for an afternoon ride.
Thanks again ,
SR: