HarleyTechTalk

got a 2001 sodtail with a fatboy wheel on it, pulls hard to the right was told the wheel is a 1/2 inch smaller in diameter, has anyone put one on how did you space it so it don't pull? tried with out to much luck. thanks

What year bike is the wheel off?  In other words does it have tapered bearings or sealed bearings? 3/4 axle I assume?

Sorry, what is a sortail?
What kind of a bike do you have?

sortail - from spending long days in the seat   

Quote from: 98fxstc on April 12, 2015, 06:28:18 PM
sortail - from spending long days in the seat   

Or from out drinkin with the boys last night            Coff 06

Please answer above. Also - front or rear wheel? Someone told you it's a 15.5" wheel rather than a 16" Fatboy wheel?? Not possible!!!
How's the center spacing? How's the rotor alignment?

Not the front wheel that's causing a problem.  Rear alignment probably. 

sorry its a 2001 softail with a front wheel off a fatboy, yes a 3/4 tapered bearing

The front wheel overall wheel diameter of a 16" rim with fat tire and 21" narrow tire is about the same.  More of an issue if you had the old front wheel speedo pickup.

I owned a softail custom with a 16" fat tire, it's got a very different handling character compared to the 21".  The 16" wheel on the wide glide front end will feel floppy and a bit twitchy because of the added weight.  But it shouldn't pull to one side. 

If you are pulling to one side in particular check the rear tire alignment.  Measure from the center of the axle to the center of the swingarm pivot bolt.

If the front stock WG wheel offset a certain amount, the FB wheel may need the same offset.. I believe some of the front wheel offset is to correct a pull to one side..

Quote from: bobrk1 on April 13, 2015, 04:11:37 PM
sorry its a 2001 softail with a front wheel off a fatboy, yes a 3/4 tapered bearing

What kind of a 2001 softail?

Fairly certain the 21" rim has offset and if you put a straight edge along the rear tire, left side the tires should be in line.  Right side won't line up.     Fatboy and Heritage have the wheel offset (per the Service manual as noted in Harley_Cruisers post)  Always found that odd and assumed it was done to counter the weight of the primary.   With the 16" cast wheel there's no offset as far as I know.   Certainly in the evo era.   My bike wouldn't pull right or left with the change.

Quote from: rageglide on April 13, 2015, 04:44:40 PM
Fairly certain the 21" rim has offset and if you put a straight edge along the rear tire, left side the tires should be in line.  Right side won't line up.   Always found that odd and assumed it was done to counter the weight of the primary.   With the 16" cast wheel there's no offset as far as I know.   Certainly in the evo era.   My bike wouldn't pull right or left with the change.

I don't know for certain that fat tires need the same offset if there is one.. Maybe none or a percentage.. Wider tire may track a little difference.. Heck roads with a high crown will make the bike track one way.   I would start with basic alignment first for sure..

The fatboy is a mid glide, the 01 did not have tapered bearings.
Here is the alignment offset.


Here is how you align it, for the offset.



Let me see if I can find the spacer sizes.
.

Quote from: bobrk1 on April 13, 2015, 04:11:37 PM
sorry its a 2001 softail with a front wheel off a fatboy, yes a 3/4 tapered bearing

The tapered bearing indicates that the wheel is a 1999 or older. I suspect your problem is that you slid the (1999) rotor in line with the (2000 up) caliper. The 1999 and earlier brake calipers set at a slightly different position than the 2000 and later brake calipers so when you put a 1999 wheel on a 2000 up bike and line the brake rotor in the caliper the wheel is offset. The wheels hub where the brake rotor bolts on is either a little wider or narrower I can't remember which but you need either a pair of small spacers between the caliper and the fork leg or you need to grind (ok mill) a little off the fork leg caliper mount or off the caliper where the mounting boss is..
With the caliper off the fork leg, center the wheel in the forks. The try to mount the caliper to see which way it needs to move to fit over the rotor. That will tell what you need to do.

Quote from: twincam8888 on April 13, 2015, 05:21:07 PM

Quote from: bobrk1 on April 13, 2015, 04:11:37 PM
sorry its a 2001 softail with a front wheel off a fatboy, yes a 3/4 tapered bearing

The wheels hub where the brake rotor bolts on is either a little wider or narrower I can't remember which but you need either a pair of small spacers between the caliper and the fork leg or you need to grind (ok mill) a little off the fork leg caliper mount or off the caliper where the mounting boss is..
With the caliper off the fork leg, center the wheel in the forks. The try to mount the caliper to see which way it needs to move to fit over the rotor. That will tell what you need to do.

I  cant get an acurate mesurement on my 01 fat with the fender on but it is offset in the forks, looks like 1/8 inch or more. The wide spacer goes on the brake side (left) narrow spacer on the right. The offset is wider on the brake side.

Ah, ok, i had it backwards side to side from memory was thinking it was on the front brake side.  21 is centered, fatboy/heritage offset.  I thought it was possible to put tapered bearings in the sealed wheels and vice verse.  Maybe not.  Never done it.

Quote from: rageglide on April 13, 2015, 07:20:06 PM
Ah, ok, i had it backwards side to side from memory was thinking it was on the front brake side.  21 is centered, fatboy/heritage offset.  I thought it was possible to put tapered bearings in the sealed wheels and vice verse.  Maybe not.  Never done it.

According to my softail parts manual there are 5 different wheel spacers for the right side, and two for the left side, depending on bikes, FL vs FX then there are several wheel combinations.
The fat does not share spacers with any other ST.
So we still do not know what Softail he has, so good possibility he has the wrong wheel spacers for the FB.

Maybe so.  But if the brake disc is centered in the caliper he's probably got the correct left side spacer.  Depends on how different the spacer is and it might be off center and working fine...

But, yeah we have no idea.  Heritage, Standard or Deuce but who would put a 16" on a deuce.   

rageglide, Max, with all that being said, I never align my 01 fat to factory specs, if I do it pulls really bad (dont remember which way,) the tire cups, and the belt rides to the outside so bad that it squeals.
I align it almost straight with the straight edge, get ten percent better tire mileage (no cupping), the belt tracts to the outside going forward and in backing up, and I can let my hands off the handle bars if I shift my weight half an inch to one side.
In all honesty I always though that the FM was a miss print.

Also The deuce is a FX, so is the standard so I am not even sure the FL tire would fit, if it did the the spacers would be way off, but still would be nice to know.

Quote from: harley_cruiser on April 14, 2015, 03:55:50 AM
rageglide, Max, with all that being said, I never align my 01 fat to factory specs, if I do it pulls really bad (dont remember which way,) the tire cups, and the belt rides to the outside so bad that it squeals.
I align it almost straight with the straight edge, get ten percent better tire mileage (no cupping), the belt tracts to the outside going forward and in backing up, and I can let my hands off the handle bars if I shift my weight half an inch to one side.
In all honesty I always though that the FM was a miss print.

Also The deuce is a FX, so is the standard so I am not even sure the FL tire would fit, if it did the the spacers would be way off, but still would be nice to know.

I've not owned a FB but a couple of EVO softails.. I always adjust the rear wheel so the belt tracks slightly to the left when rolling forward.. No issues as far as bike tracking..

IIRC all softails have wide forks so you should be able to fit a 130x16 tire.. May not be a simple bolt on tho..

I've owned both FX and FL.  The *only* alignment I have ever had to do is as Max does, square up the belt so it tracks straight.  On my bikes aligning the axle to the swing arm pivot has worked perfectly.   I have checked alignment with a straight edge and it was fine.  Never had a problem with any pull.

I owned an FXST with a 16" as mentioned in my previous posts.  Fits up no problem.  Have to use a special fatboy fender on an FX (or use spacers with the oem fatboy fender), the FL forks are narrower than the FX by about 3/4" as I recall.  My FX existed before the Fatboy, it had a Rear wheel on the front, reversed (stem on left) to accomodate the brake disc.

Rageglide

When describing your "softail" you must be specific on the model.

Fatboy
Heritage softail
standard
deuce
deluxe
nightrain
maybe one or two others........

Just calling it a softail does not mean much other than it is a softail frame and B motor.

Just and FYI

Not my bike that has a problem... ;-)  I also listed FXST in the post above.   

The original poster hasn't ever come back with any more info...

sorry again its a softail standard