I've aligned wheels and toe-in, it's better, but still pulls to the right strongly and turns hard to the left. In order of easiest to hardest, what 4 things will cause that and what can I do to fix it?datatek@email.com

 

Easiest ---- Air pressure in tires uneven
Medium---- Wheel bearings on the pulling side needing replaced
Medium---- Rotor bent on pulling side or other brake interference
Harder----- Bent a-arm or worn a-arm bushings <-----quite possible
Hardest---- Frame bent in which case your screwed!!!

 

Adding the good advice from TAKER80,

I know this sounds goofy but it turned out be the problem with mine.

Check your tire circumference. Better than checking the diameter.

I had a new set of tires installed and apparently bias ply tire dimensions will sometimes change over time.

The tires were fine for the first 300 miles or so but I jammed a stick into the left front tire between the rim and the tire bead so I had to defate the tire and break the bead to get all the crap out. I re-inflated the tire to max pressure (36 lbs as marked on the sidewall) and left it for a couple of days. (mistake)

Turns out it streched slightly and the left front tire circumference ended up being 2" bigger than the right.

To correct I inflated the right to 36 lbs and left it for a couple of days, checked the circumference agaist the left and it's the same now. No more pull. Use a tape measure, or better, a piece of rope marked with the larger tire dimension so you can get them even.

Tires are even now. No more pulling

Nor sure if that's your issue but it's worth a look as a few people I've spoken with have had the same issue

Hope this helps.

 

i had a suzuki four wheel drive that i serviced and it would almost do donuts without making it do them, and it was a bent frame........ check to see if something struck it in front of right a arm. its hard to tell sometimes so you need to really look

 

Thanks all for the good information. I will definitely check tire circumference. I'm in Costa Rica, and I can't find a gauge to check tire pressure down to 5 lbs, so I pretty much have to push on each tire with my foot and compare.

I re-aligned the tires and toe-in again and lessened the pull considerably, but, not completely, so it may have to do with that and tire pressure.

I do still have a slight wobble or wiggle which I hadn't mentioned before, at, say 20mph and more. I'll check stability at 40mph tomorrow on a better highway, but the wiggle worries me at those speeds. Would less toe-in help that?

More comments on all this would be very much appreciated, thanks.

 

What tires do you have? Stockers are crap!! If your testing the bike on pavement you must keep in mind the bias tires arent really intended for pavement use and any abnormal wear patters will alter the test significantly!! If you are running on stock tires then you should deff upgrade tires to a decent after market tire and retest it will be a whole new machine!!

 

Good point. They're definitely not stock, and you're right, they are not for the asphalt. Nice mags though. I believe there should be a picture in the "garage". Lime green with nice mag wheels and cruiser seat.

I use the highway to get to another town (usually about 40K away) where I go up into the mountains exploring. Once off the highway it works pretty good, lots of grip, 2/4 wheel drive and posi if I need it. But it's a big machine and must be careful in handling ruts and corners.

 

I had a Polaris once that did the same thing, the front differential was messed up and put all power to the right front, with no power to the left front wheel. It made it extremely difficult to steer.

 

That definitely would cause a hard steer one way or the other.

I took a flashlight and really gave it a good look. It looks brand new underneath, and I couldn't see anything bad. This ATV only had 800 miles on it when I got it (and I've only added about another 300), and just seemed to turn a little hard to the left then, though. That's when I decided to check toe-in and made it worse by following the factory guide. So now I used a straight stick and held it against the tires, making sure the steering was straight and got it back to better, but, still not good enough. I still have to check tire circumference for an indication of how much air is in the tires.

 

You might want to try jacking up the atv so that all 4 wheels are off the ground, then with the 4x4 engaged and the atv in gear, try spinning one of the front wheels, if the other wheel spins in the opposite direction, then you diff is fine, also try this with the 4x4 disengaged, and also in neutral to check for a locked up brake, or any grinding sounds you might hear. Hope something in here helps.