here's the deal. went riding this past sunday and had a blast. covered about 30 miles but of some real rough and knarly terrain. alright, first mile wasn't bad at all, smooth stuff and then we hit the road for a couple of miles. I was following a buddy on his honda dirt bike so I tried to keep up. I did top mine out (speedo goes to 60 and I had the needle buried). we hit another trail and it was a little rougher, few hills and some mud holes. we had to hit the road again but this time my handlebars would wooble like crazy when I hit about 40 mph and up. it was nerve racking to say the least. I checked the nuts and bolts when I got home and all seemed well so I figured it was all the mud caked up on the rims. I finally got around to washing it today (dont yell at me, I've had a very busy week, lol). its spotless now but still has the wooble but not as bad. any ideas?

 

I heard that the slime treatment(leaks) in the quad tires may cause this at higher speeds............Any of this in yours??........Just a idea............If not I would lift the quad off the ground and check each tire and wheel..............You may have a bad bearning!!!..........Caper................

 

mmmm.....i don't have the "slime" per se but I did put in some yellow stuff like it that is suppose to re-seal if puntured. I've rode it about 70 miles with the stuff in it with no problems. possible that I lost a balance weight on one of the wheels? hadn't really noticed it before but the right side front has 3 weights on it. should I have them rebalanced? I will check the bearings tommorrow. any certain way to do it?

 

To check the bearings just grab the tire at 12 O'Clock and push and pull you will feel the play if there bad, feels like the rim lug bolts are loose.

 

well usually you can (with the wheel up off the ground)........grap the wheel side to side with both hands and see how much play is there, or just give it a good spin and listen for some grinding noise....................................Usually if the bearnings are getting bad you know!!!!.........Caper............

You can check to see if the seals are still in place also!!!......This helps kepp water and debris out of the bearnings!!!

 

gotcha. I will check them out. are the tires suppose to be balanced? are the back wheels the same? I noticed some play in them before when I had to replaced a broken bolt.

 

some play is normal-- it is inherit to the chinese bearings used in the wheels. compare the suspect wheel to the other three for comparison.

 

Sounds like bent rim,Do u have whell balencers on rim still? if not get em balanced. I hit stuff all the time at speed and need rebalance often

 

checked the bearings and such and all is well. rims aren't bent as far as I can tell. my right side rim has 3 weights on it and the left side has none. I don't recall seeing any on it before but who knows. can a regular tire shop balance them for me?

 

yes they should be able too. i know i had wheel weights on my 06' 800 to balance them so it might be that there out of balance or worse maybe broke a band in the tire. im not sure if its the same way in a car but did break a band once from hitting some bumbs hard and then it did as you desribed. there again my big truck has a steering wheek shake right now w/ brand newe tires on it becasue they didnt balance the wheels.