Topic: Removing Lower Fork Hex / Cleaning Forks

[PrsCustom22j]

how do i get these guys out?  they looked like they were already stripped when i got the bike.   






what is the best way to clean these dirty forks?

[72500john]

penetrating oil, heat, valve grinding compound on a torques bit hat has to be hammerred into the already screwed up allen bolt. and paitence.
anyone else have a good idea?

[MCRider]

All manner of medieval devices will be called for. But I have to ask the question, why? They are not even shown as removable parts in the early microfishies.

If you must, the damper must be held from the inside of the tube, to keep the whole affair from spinning. Sometimes leaving them assembled with the spring pressure will hold the damper, If you've already pulled the spring etc, the trick is to use a broom handle, shortened usually. Insert it in the tube, set it on the floor and push down hard while hitting the allen with an air impact.

Others?

[grcamna2]

penetrating oil, heat, valve grinding compound on a torques bit hat has to be hammerred into the already screwed up allen bolt. and paitence.
anyone else have a good idea?

+1 on what John said &I've used an S.A.E. hex bit socket that was the next size bigger than the metric that was in there and used an impact gun on a medium strength setting,I had to hammer the S.A.E hex bit in to the old rounded metric hole.It's worked 95% of the time for me  .

[cmonSTART]

Normally I used the appropriate Allen bit on my impact gun, though when they get really stripped if the above tricks fail I just drill the head off and pull the fork apart.  Then you can just grab the remaining stud with vice grips and turn it out. 

[PrsCustom22j]

thanks for the responses.  i will definitely try what u all recommended this weekend.  the reason i'm trying to get these off is because i wanna clean them out, polish them, replace the fork seals, and install some new progressive springs and fork oil.  i have all the parts i need to get the job done, i just need to get these guys off.  any suggestions on cleaning the upper forks?  i have some new clip on headlight brackets that i want to install and those upper forks are pretty rusted.

thanks,
john