Topic: dumb fork question

[playinsafe44]

i have the forks taken out of my triple trees, tripples taken off, and bearings and races taken out. i can figure out how to get the fork tubes taken apart. is there a trick to getting the lower fork bolt taken out? do i need to assemble the frontend to get that bolt out? i took everything apart to clean it up, paint, and install tapered stearing bearings, new fork seals and new fork oil. i also had to take off my fork ears, and take the rust off of the upper fork tubes. normally i would just use an impact gun. but im limited to hand tools right now.

[mattcb350f]

What model of bike are ya' workin on?

Do you have a vise handy? I removed my bottom bolt by flipping the fork upside down and clamping the bottom (non-round part) gently in a vise. Put a rag in the vise first to protect finish.
 Matt.

[playinsafe44]

ill give that a shot tomorrow. its a 72 cb500 four. i worked on the bike for 4 hours today.....my wife didnt complain once. it was a great day

[enforcer]

You need to stick a wooden shovel handle down in from the top to keep the parts (I can't remember the correct term) from spinning when you are turning the bottom bolt.

[754]

If fork is assembled have someone push on it to make the damper more spin resistant.. usually an impact will spin it off if that fails.

 I am thinking though on 72, you may be able to leave it in and still get tube out.

[playinsafe44]

so i can put the top fork bolt in a vise while i undo the lower bolt OR shove a shovel handle into the fork tube? i unscrewed the top fork bolt, it let the spring slide up, and fork out out, but the fork cap that i unscrewed didnt come off. is it just stuck or am i missing something? and i dont have an impact to use

[754]

Dont ever hold the fork or cap in the vise, fork maybe with padding.

A better idea with the lower tree off is clanp the stem in the vise with a piece of wood on either side then simply slide fork into tree & clamp.. no damage.

But give it a few hours (will get more input soon), 72 and earlier may come apart w/o removing damper.. you have to with spring removed, pull fork up and down till it pushes the seal out.. of couse that is with seal clip removed..

[mystic_1]

i unscrewed the top fork bolt, it let the spring slide up, and fork out out

Put the spring and cap back on.  The pressure from the spring will keep the damper rod from spinning while you break loose the allen bolt at the bottom of the lower leg.

but the fork cap that i unscrewed didnt come off. is it just stuck or am i missing something?

It may be hung up by the o-ring.  If it's fully unscrewed, it should pull right off.  In fact in my experience once you've got them unscrewed they tend to leave the top of the fork at high velocity due to spring pressure.


mystic_1

[playinsafe44]

so i got the forks apart, cleaned all the rust off of them (fork ear area). pulled out those damn fork seals, cleaned all the scale and rust off of the lowers, and now im ready to spray bomb them. im just going to paint the lowers a rustoleum silver, and paint the fork ear area with flat black. im still using fork gaitors to hide most of the forks too. i have everything i need, like fork seals, tapered stearing bearings, wheel bearing grease, gaitors, cafe style fork ears, chrome emgo headlight, and the primer and paint. but i ran into another snag. one of my fork caps was cross threaded. it wasnt easy to take off, and when i looked at the threads they were all torn up. can i get a tap and die that big? or is there a place or person i can get new fork caps from? they are a little pitted, so i was going to have to paint them anyways. oh yea i got the forks apart by leaving the top fork clamp on, putting the upper tree on them, holding them against the floor and used an allen wrench with a cheater bar. came off easily after they broke loose. thanks for the help

[edbikerii]

Any chance you might measure the length of the fork tubes while you have them disassembled?  I'm trying to figure out a good match for replacements.

Thank you,

Ed

[playinsafe44]

edbikerii, you want just the length of the chrome tube from the top cap to the bottom of the chrome tube? i might not be able to measure it for a couple of days because my weekend is over, but i could measure it of you want

[Jinxracing]

That's a bummer about the threads in the top of the tube being buggered. You're not going to be able to find a tap that big, those threads are screwcut on a lathe.

My guess is that you're best off trying to find a single used tube and cap from some kind soul here on the forum.

I'm having nightmare visions of you threading the cap back into its damaged hole, only to have it eject itself with great force into your face as you're riding around a bumpy corner. 

[754]

You could rethread and make a new cap on the lathe, or if they are long enough.. cut them down and rethread.. if you cant find another tube..

[hymodyne]

I'm switching from a set of stock 500K1 forks to 550K forks for a twin disc set up. my 500K forks are in good working order and available. PM me about shipping and a price for them

hym

[edbikerii]

edbikerii, you want just the length of the chrome tube from the top cap to the bottom of the chrome tube? i might not be able to measure it for a couple of days because my weekend is over, but i could measure it of you want

Yeah, the length of the chrome tube is what I need.  If you can't get the cap off, then include that too, and I'll subtract it myself (I can measure my own cap!).

Thank you very much for this.

Ed

[playinsafe44]

ill get those measured for you when i get a chance. im going to try to clean the threads up with a file or something. i got one cap screwed on correctly, but the other one is pretty trashed. can a maching shop clean the threads up? or a hardware store maybe? i already put a bunch of time into these cleaning them up and now it sounds like i need to replace them 

[754]

Its hard to rethread on a lathe, because setting the tool can be hard. Sometimes I just whip up a temporary tap.

But all that would be expensive..try this.

For the nut try to find a thread file, they work well.

For the fork, try to find a metric tap of the same pitch, then drill a hole in a piece of wood and jam it on as a handle. Mount the fork in a vise or something with padding and work the tap around trying to cut the damaged areas out and clean it up.

[playinsafe44]

i measured those fork tubes. the chrome tube by itself (out of the fork lowers) is 22 1/4 inches.