| Author | Message | ||
     Babired |
Yesterday I was at the shop getting the quote on changing the triple clamps out for more turning radius on the ULy and it was suggested to go with the new forks as well to keep the rake at 0 degrees. Has any of you just changed out the clamps and kept the old forks? If so how does the ULY handle? I was told it would handle more like a sportster. K | ||
| Etennuly |
We just did that a couple of weeks ago on Orangulus' '06 Uly. He also opted for the spring update to the '07 progressive springs that help control brake dive. We reused the '06 fork tubes with no problem at all. It handles much the same as it did. To me the only real noticeable things are the zero speed turning ability, and the springs do control the brake dive when jambing them. It all fits up and works well. The hardest part is finding a happy fork oil level.  To make it handle like a Sporty you would likely have made a mistake, like putting the forks on the back of the bike! (Message edited by etennuly on June 07, 2009) (Message edited by etennuly on June 07, 2009) | ||
| Hughlysses |
Several people have done the triple clamp update without changing out the forks and report that it works fine. What you change by doing this is the trail, not the rake.  | ||
| Tootal |
I did it and notice no difference in handling but really enjoy the turning radius! Hey, etennuly, I take it the job went well on Orangulus's machine? I hope all the parts worked out ok! I got a report that one of the pins would not fit in the hole in the tree but ended up his hole was smaller than mine. He just drilled it out to 1/2" and all was good. I guess quality control was napping on that day! | ||
| Babired |
Thanks guys I'll go with the clamps only and upgrade the springs too K | ||
| Glenn |
Hi, I just changed my 2007 to use the 2008 trees and now have about 1,000 miles on it. I am very pleased with the results. Low speed "parking lot" turns and U turns are greatly improved. It is also MUCH easier maneuvering in and around the garage. I have driven in lots of twisties, high speed sweepers, long runs on the highway, gravel and rough roads in SC, NC and TN and don't notice any loss in stability. The slightly forward bar position is unnoticeable to me. I did have to rotate the bars up a bit from my pencil marks of the old position. It was a fair amount of work to change them but not difficult. I replaced my fork fluid at the same time. Dealing with all the wiring in my cowl which is stuffed with all my additions was the biggest hassle. I manged to re-break the steering head turn signal ground wire splice in the head bundle again. I soldered it the last time and went with two crimp connections and a little loop to provide some slack this time. I hope it is the last. The wire bundle is not as tight with the change so maybe this will help too. I'm real happy with the change and recommend it. | ||
| Glenn |
PS I also want to give a big thank you to Tootal for his great writeup on this and his kindness to help me and the group. | ||
| Etennuly |
You might need to see Tootal about a steering lock pin. The stock one will no longer reach. He made some nice ones. Greg, Orange's hole was just right for your pin!  It fit like it was made for it! The only two things we found missing from your excellent write up was; how to disassemble the lock assembly to install the pin. It was simple but, having never done one, we were afraid of breaking it or being unable to get the end to stay back in place. The other thing was that fork oil level. To get the correct measurement we had to add several more ounces of oil that we did not see in the post. If memory serves, I think we ended up with 23 oz per fork to reach the needed measurement with the '07 springs. Thank you so much for that thread and the lock pin. It saved us many hours of testing and research for sure. I don't know how to link it, but maybe you could put it here for Babired. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Glenn, My turn signals went kaput the day before heading off to Homecoming. On the morning of the day to leave I finally found that the steering head ground point had a wire floating and low and behold it was the turn signal ground. Problem fixed. I also checked for the problem described and photo'd many times by others where wires get worn through by the steering head. No wear on mine at all. Uly ran flawlessly the 500 miles to East Troy and got about 50 mpg. Ran without any problems all the way back to Nebraska. My a.ss did get pretty sore the last 250 miles or so on the way back. Didn't appear to burn a drop of oil. Over 18,000 miles now. Great bike. | ||
| Glenn |
Hi Electroglider, I wish mine would break at the ground screw location. The break that I've had is where they do a cold spice and then seal and shrink tube over the joint inside the wire bundle. I posted some pictures in this thread a while ago: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=142838&post=1401592#POST1401592 | ||
| Babired |
Glenn, what do you mean by slightly forward Bar position? were your arms stretched out a little more? K | ||
| Glenn |
Barired, Treadmarks mentioned that it was about 1/2" forward in his post about doing the change. completely unnoticeable to me. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=142838&post=1027301#POST1027301 | ||
| Babired |
Hummm it would probably effect me I sit up on the front part of the seat near the gas tank now to ride comfy on the ULY I can stretch out a little bit. Looks like before I do it I'm going to have to find somebody with one local to see if it will work for me. I got a cash bonus at work just waiting to be spent and a 50% off Race Tec coupon for suspension upgrade or parts waiting too. So I want to do something with my bike. K | ||
| Werewulf |
does it raise or lower the bike? i was looking at the 06 to 08 specs.. it looks like it only changes the rake 1.8 degrees.. is that really enough to make a noticable difference?.. an average sportster has about 29 degrees and about 4.6 trail... (Message edited by werewulf on June 08, 2009) | ||
| Babired |
I see American Sport bike has risers very good! K | ||
| Babired |
I don't think it would make the bike taller but I've been hearing nothing but good feedback on the turning. I'm gonna be taking Total Control Level 2 this Saturday and all I can think is if I had even more turning ability WOW what I could do with that bike! | ||
| Werewulf |
we grind the turning stops down on our harleys in police competition.. (Message edited by werewulf on June 08, 2009) | ||
| Etennuly |
If you grind the stops on a Uly you will be using the fork tubes for stops! They are so close with the stock stuff. Having ridden Mark's(Orangulius'), I would say it is hard to see any difference in the bar location. There is no reason for it to be higher. Also, the bars can roll back towards you anytime you want a more relaxed reach. I rolled my bars back to within 3/4" of the air box at full turn.(I have not done the '08 fork mod on mine yet). | ||
| Tootal |
Glenn, Vern and Mark, you guys are quite welcome and I'm glad it all went reasonably smooth. As for as making any more pins, I'm afraid that this is the really busy part of the year for me so getting any government work done is rather tough. Maybe this fall when things slow down. Here's the instructions for the switch. Glenn e-mailed me for these, I guess I should locate the original thread and install this: You will need to take the two screws out of the switch and remove it. Once removed you can take a small screwdriver and lift on the end cap. There are small indentations along the edge where you can pry. Just put the screwdriver in and twist it. Keep doing this a little at a time while you move around the outside. It will eventually pop off. Once off, lift the rectangular keeper off the pin. The part behind the pin has a little spring pressure on it so push on the center rod to take the spring pressure off and the pin will pull out the side. Insert the new pin and release the rod. Install the rectangular keeper and the end cap. Put the switch back on and install the two screws and your ready to go. I had one of the guys say the pin would not fit in the tree. He had to run a 1/2" drill down the hole to open it up. I did not have this problem but if you do that is what you will need to do. A reamer would be better than a drill if you need to do that. | ||
| Glenn |
... and here are a couple of pics to go along with Tootal's instructions   | ||
| Tootal |
Thanks Glenn, that should help. Here's the one I sent showing the two screws you need to remove to pull the switch off:  | ||
| Etennuly |
That is the one! We were a little hesitant about prying the end cap off, until we figured it was the only way. Being in the automotive business, I have seen too many mechanical gadgets that had one way covers like that. After a bit of study we said "what the heck, I have some really good epoxy!" But it went well as described above. Just as a matter of knowing, how many total ounces of fork oil did you guys use? We ended up with 23 in each fork to reach the measurement on our home made dipstick. | ||
| Orangeulius |
Ditto on the great write up Tootal. The oil amount still has me confused but so far so good. We took a 300 mile ride through the Smoky Mtns and Blue Ridge Parkway on saturday. I can't say I noticed any real difference on the road due to the change in rake. Turning in a tight spot though, priceless. | ||
| Glenn |
Hi Mark, I used 14oz of fluid in my 2007 forks. The measurement down from the top with the forks fully compressed and no spring inserted I set at 172mm per the "Anonymous" posting. The shop manual lists the setting at 192mm. I hope Anonymous didn't make a typo! http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=142838&post=741654#POST741654 I just checked Tootal's writeup and see that he set it the same way, which I was glad to see. I don't know if the 2006 forks with 2007 springs should be set to the 2007 settings or not. I guess if you have the time and inclination you could remove the forks, open it up, measure down with the 2007 (or 2006) spring installed then swap the spring and measure the fluid height difference. I'd rig something to let the spring drip back into the tube before I put the other year in since the spring holds a fair bit of fluid on it. | ||
| Babired |
well I rode in today on the uly and I can do the 1/2 inch forward. I'm changing the clamps out and getting the fork oil changed out. And because of Dave " Thank you Dave!" I think I will change the primary gears out too but next year. That's cool you all used to grind the stops down to make the bikes turn tighter! | ||
| Werewulf |
ms K, i think you will find its the best bang for the buck going... i went chaffed wire hunting last night and my bike is running great... i took it to st marks and back this morning (200 miles) and got 42 mpg.. thats about the same as stock at 70 mph... i need to leave things alone, as im thinking about putting a sportster cam in it to emphasize the low end and smooth it out.. i still want to find someone with an S that will swap suspensions... the lowness on my scg was nice.. | ||
| Tootal |
OK, here's the reason I didn't include a total oil amount in the forks. First off the 07 had a different level than the 06 since the springs are different. Reading anonymous's reasons will explain. My problem was that I, well, trying to use common sense, a subject that must elude me, thought that the springs should be in there for an accurate reading. This was all before I double checked on this here website. Well I had to pull the springs back out and, well, I lost some oil doing that, and then I had to start over again, and well, I fU**ed UP! Ok, I admit it! By the time I got it right I had to go get more oil!!  Therefore, I was unable to accurately say exactly how much oil was in each fork! Needless to say, as much as I have worked on motorcycles over the years, I have never changed fork oil. Most of my bikes were such a pain to do I just let the dealer do it. The only maintenance procedure I would let them have. It was mainly because I didn't want to spend the money on the tools but the Uly forced me into it and then I found out it wasn't that bad and I could make the tools myself. Oh well, I guess if anybody actually has figured out how much oil goes into the fork tube please let us know and I'll update my thread! | ||
| Glenn |
Hi Tootal, I used 2oz short of the pint or 14oz. I did it very carefully, slooow strokes (like an old experienced guy knows how to do) and let it settle a bit. See my response above. This was for 2007 tubes and springs. Glenn | ||
| Treadmarks |
I'm still riding my 06 with the original 08 tree mod and tootal's lock pin. I kept the 06 springs as they seem to be a bit softer and with mobil 1 atf in the forks .5" low I still get lots of travel without too much dive. The bike still feel more solid at high speed than the 08 I rode through alaska. Thanks for the new pin Greg! |
