wobble high speed wobble

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ripinanroarin

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Well I took my new 1985 Max for a fast rip down the highway. YAAHOOO,...weeble wobble at 85mph..yikes.Havent experienced that in years!!!!Well this sucks,..what to do?Where to begin, how much money and time is this gonna take? Hmmmm..GOOGLE Vmax wooble....boy these things are cursed!! Pages of quick fixes apear before my eyes. I got a new "Spit fire" rear tire "cheap ass tire" and a 40% worn dunlop on the front that looks like its getting old.Over the years Ive road on worse and didnt have any wobbles. So I pulled the front end down....no grease, and waaay out of adjustment"LOOSE" OK,...bearings and races still look not bad......cleaned them up and re inspected them....ya, definatly re-useable,..so I repacked them with RED RAM grease "really really snotty stuff" Tighten, loosen,tighten,loosen....sug em up just so the wheel doesnt flop hard against the stopper.Toss the rubber washer in the trash.."whats with that?" Put in a steel one,..grab the Blue lock tight,...squirt....bolt er all back up and go for a test ride. Wiser now....I bring the speed up CAREFULLY...I noticed the stearing wasnt so overly easy now,....it feelt more positive. P.S...I also brought the air pressure up in the front tire,..went from 28 to 35lbs. Sooo,..70mph....good..80mph..good..90mph, still stable..100mph..wind is rushing by me pretty hard but still stable....105mph....all is good. I kept it at that speed for a bit,....slowed it down and sped it up 5 more times.....couldnt make it wobble. What a drastic difference from earlier today! Now I can ride in confidence.
TOTAL COST TO REPAIR HIGH SPEED WOBBLE--grease "20 cents worth. 1 metal washer-25 cents. Air in front tire-FREE.[... TOTAL 45 cents. :eusa_dance:
I am pleased with the outcome, and am not going to press the bike any faster...the rear tire is not high speed rated and the front is getting worn.
Well thats my 2 cents worth.....shinny side up guys.
 
Awesome! Good for you.
Ive battled it, over came it. Others end up kicking their dogs over it. Once you get a grip of what does it, its easy to keep under control. As you found out, tire wear, air pressure and axle torque have a HUGE effect on it. I took the technical way over-involved-engineer-precise-anal-tedious approach with fish scales and the like, and others have started nudging the collar down till the bike steering started to stay turned or sway at low speeds, then backed it off a tad. Either way it can be fixed.
 
Once you get a grip of what does it, its easy to keep under control.

I beg to differ with this statement. I've had it so bad at 125mph a couple of times that I still very seriously think it was nothing short of a miracle that I'm still here. High-siding a Max at that kind of speed must be lethal, and I really was just a hair from it. Honest.

But yea, it can be fixed. After renewing my steering bearings (they were totally shot) it got a lot better. But it's most definitely sapped my confidence. I'll get her up there every now and then, but I don't think I'm ever going to find out how much faster than 130 she can go. With the venture pumpkin, it would take too much time at warp speed to find out, and that death wobble could just come back before I got there.. :confused2:
 
I beg to differ with this statement. I've had it so bad at 125mph a couple of times that I still very seriously think it was nothing short of a miracle that I'm still here. High-siding a Max at that kind of speed must be lethal, and I really was just a hair from it. Honest.

But yea, it can be fixed. After renewing my steering bearings (they were totally shot) it got a lot better. But it's most definitely sapped my confidence. I'll get her up there every now and then, but I don't think I'm ever going to find out how much faster than 130 she can go. With the venture pumpkin, it would take too much time at warp speed to find out, and that death wobble could just come back before I got there.. :confused2:


I don't mean getting the wobble under control as in fighting against it. I meant how and what causes it and working it out mechanically.
 
My 1994 had the same issue, actualy what MaAx hasn't, at any rate my tires were shot. So I went ahead with the Metzelers front and rear, tightened the bearings up. I am now alot better than I was before. I have to believe that my bearings need to be repacked, but I'm still debating on takeing it into the shop so it can be done correctly. Can I repack the upper and lower bearings without messing with the races?
At any rate, my good buddy went from a Kawasaki 900 Ninja, that was piped and jetted and blah-blah-blah, but he had to get rid of it because he could no longer deal with the riding position. Now he wants to compare everything his Ninja did to his 1995 Vmax, and just ends up disappointed every time he rides. I have tried explaing to him they are two totaly differant machines, he understands the geomatry differance, he just can not get over the fact that Yamaha made a bike with the potential to go 150-160mph but didn't design the suspension, the rake and trail or anything else to match the power. I just keep telling him over and over again, if it was full blown speed he wanted, he should have bought the 1000cc........
For me, I would rather ride 100 days every summer, than ride 100mph only one day in the summer and end up with a high-over then die or something.
 
Repacking the bearings with fresh grease and torquing the castle nuts properly using the bounce test is very easy and will help a lot as long as your head bearings are still in good condition.

If your races look like mine, OR if you can feel ANY roughness at all in the steering movement (must take off front wheel, fender etc as it's impossible to feel the roughness while all that weight is there), then repacking is a waste of time - you MUST renew the bearings and races to be safe.

I can only speak from experience..
 

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Is this pic of a good race or a bad race?

This is a COMPLETELY SHOT bearing race. Photographed last year, it an '86 race that was probably original.

Bearing races in good condition (or new) should be 100% smooth, showing no markings whatsoever. Also, to the touch my shot race still felt smooth, but it sure was not when you add all the forces that combine when doing 120+mph on a bike as heavy as the Max.

Please note that it felt totally smooth while the bike was complete. :confused2: Once I took off the wheel, brace and fender though, I could easily feel the roughness in the bearings while going lock to lock without all that weight attached.

Here's a picture of a good (brand new) one for comparison.
 

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I have never experienced the wobble that people talk about. I have owned my bike going on three years even before I rode it I went though everything. Every winter I take most of the bike down to grease, lube, oil, torque, and inspect the parts to get ready for next season. Any signs of wear that part has to go including tires I will never skimp on them. I expect My V max to preform with out any question in my mind as to what it will do. I am very anal retentive about my bike and will never change the way I do my maintenance with it. Its just my opinion but tires make or break a vehicle no matter what mods you make if your tires suck your vehicle is bound for disaster :bang head:
just my two cents
 
Absolutely. I think that a lot of max riders experience the wobble, dive into the muck of what it is and start tearing down the neck bearings before going over the basics, tires, pressure etc...but, then there's people like NaughtyG and myself that find rusted grooved lower bearings. Its not a fun removal on that lower race, or the upper for that matter. And as for the rubber washer...I had both the metal and or the stock one in and when I completely rebuilt my neck I put the rubber one back with no issues.
 
The wobble analyzed completely!!

There are two basic wobbles...low speed de-cel wobble which shows up around 45mph or so on decelleration....and the high speed wobble which, I guess, can show up anytime over prolly 100mph.

Some max's have one or both of these wobbles, some max's don't!

There are a multitude of areas that may be responsible for the wobbles...including, but not limited to....motor mounts, swing arm bearings, bad front or rear tires, brand of front or rear tires, front wheel bearings, steering head bearing condition or adjustment....the list goes on & on.

The wobbles can be fixed altho sometimes it seems like grabbing a handful of smoke!

This is one individuals (me) battle with a low speed wobble which was resolved successfully. http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=11619
 
I beg to differ with this statement. I've had it so bad at 125mph a couple of times that I still very seriously think it was nothing short of a miracle that I'm still here. High-siding a Max at that kind of speed must be lethal, and I really was just a hair from it. Honest.

But yea, it can be fixed. After renewing my steering bearings (they were totally shot) it got a lot better. But it's most definitely sapped my confidence. I'll get her up there every now and then, but I don't think I'm ever going to find out how much faster than 130 she can go. With the venture pumpkin, it would take too much time at warp speed to find out, and that death wobble could just come back before I got there.. :confused2:

Yeah... I hear you too. Bout the same experiences here, except mine I think started at 115. My max is now speed governed at 100 by me. Any faster is playing a game of chance....
 

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