My front wheel is not sitting central and the disc rivets are hitting the right fork.

I had the wheel off and forks removed, the wheel span fine (I think) before this. I bought it as a project so haven't ridden it.

I followed the procedure in the haynes manual, including the spacers in the correct sides, orientation and bolt torque.

I have included pictures, can anyone help?

Thanks

Is the spindle a tight fit in the right hand fork leg?  It could be binding in there and pulling the leg inwards as you tighten the spindle.

If the spindle and the inside of the leg are clean and things are moving freely, the forks need bouncing before tightening the pinch bolts in order to align the legs.  If you haven't fitted the brakes, perhaps you could push the wheel against a wall and bounce the forks that way.

On one K I had the tyre garage didn't do this when they re-fitted the wheel (I do my own usually, this was a lazy day), which made the brakes bind.

Callipers must be installed, then apply the brakes and then compress the suspension a couple of times before you tighten first the axle and then the clamp bolts (the r/h fork is floating and must be tightened last). This helps to align the forks both axialy and radialy. I like to rotate the axle a ¼ turn 2 or 3 times to make sure the forks are seated and located correctly on the axle before tightening the fork clamp bolts. I can see in your last photo that the r/h fork is pushed slightly in towards the wheel along the axle.

When you go to fit the callipers, you'll find the forks (particularly the right one) will probably need rotating very slightly to get the disc into the caliper. Before the clamp bolts are tightened there is enough play between the forks and the axle for them to do this.

Do you have the wheel on the right way?  Please don't ask me why I mention it.  How about your spacers?

half brick wrote:
I followed the procedure in the haynes manual, including the spacers in the correct sides, orientation and bolt torque.

You don't have the brake calipers fitted so it will be impossible to properly align the forks. The Haynes assumes that the calipers are already inplace as its not necessary to remove them to take the front wheel off, but does say to "refit the calipers where applicable".


The r/h fork has clearly not been positioned properly.

if you have painted any of the parts there could be binding of the axel to the fork drawing it closer to the centre ...as you tightened up the bolt at the left hand end of the axel ?

possibly try cleaning the axel at the right hand end ...and if any paint has coagulated inside the fork leg where the axel passes .

or try spreading the lower clamping mechanism of the right hand fork so it slides well over the axel, almost freely ? it should be a nice fit ...not a too tight fit

I would undo the whole lot and dry fit the axel only to the forks to get a feel to how it all feels without the weight of the wheel ... it all should go together without too much binding anywhere .

just some thoughts

On my current K the spindle was binding in the right hand fork leg due to slight corrosion.  It was OK after a good clean up.

Had a look in the axle holes in the forks, there is some paint there from previous owner so will remove it.

Didn't realise about the calipers, I'll need to wait till I get my brake lines made to align the front then, thanks for all replies.

As an aside, how does the front mudguard go in and out without scraping the sides on the forks?

I have tried it sideways ect. but it always touches the forks.

It doesn't, but BMW paint seems to be pretty tough stuff as even some serious abuse with a fist on the mudguard failed to scrape it. If you're worried about scrapes then try putting a thin piece of cloth between the mudguard and the forklegs when replacing it.

+1 for Chaz suggestion ref trial fit tent of axle only after clean up. Try fitting the large diameter end of the axle to the right hand fork leg only for starters - I.e axle reversed as this removes any issue of alignment of the two fork axle bores while undertaking this trial fittment

I removed the paint from the fork legs, axle now slides as it should.

I'll use tape for putting the mudguard in, thought I was missing a trick, thanks.