Front wheel alignment off- wrong spacer?

Hi guys, I have a 550 max and noticed after rebuilding it that my front wheel is pointed a small bit to the left. I took the front end apart and put it back together to make sure nothing was pinched in the wrong position or anything, and it made no difference. Upon close inspection I noticed that the wheel seems to be a bit too far to the left, which would explain the misalignment. The PO had a bunch of wrong spacers on the rear axle so it wouldnt surprise me if he had messed something else up on the front too- does anyone have measurements for how wide the spacer on the front axle is? Or any other ideas?

 

Anyone have any ideas why the front wheel would be misaligned with the fender/forks?

 

Do the front axle slide straight through the fork, wheel hub and other fork without difficulty?

Gary H.

 

1981 550 max

Also the wheel might be out of line with the forks, anchor the wheel with your legs & twist the bars.

 

Just got back from the garage.

I tried anchoring the wheel and trying to straighten out the bars- nothing. The axle slides through smoothly.

I also took the wheel off to make sure the axle fit properly. Any other ideas?

 

Take the fender off and realign it again . You may have a twisted fender.

 

How about the triple trees? Does one clamp on top expose more fork slider than the other?

 

if you didn't loosen the triple clamps, the wheel will go right back where it was no matter how hard you twist.
loosen everything, snug everything, make the wheel straight, snug it some more, check the wheel, fender, then start at the top and work your way down.
don't break no bolts

 

This is the wrong time to do this -
but rolling the fork tubes on a plate of glass will reveal any bends.

-but-

laying a piece of plate-glass from a 9X7 picture frame against the fork tubes will reveal any irregularity, then maybe you can address it.

Hope this helps.