Oil for the R80 ?

[Sameagle]

Thanks, I'll take a look tomorrow, but I think that it's a bit different to the drawing.

There are two yokes, but then the upper part of the leg extends up and beyond the top yoke, and terminates with the fork nut clamping the leg to a thin steel plate.

I was trying to avoid having to dismantle the leg itself, my plan is to draw each leg out, as a complete unit.

I have to go out now, been invited to the local am dram play, been given a ticket, so not got much choice.

John

[Tango]

You should be able to remove each fork leg from the yokes without having to dismantle them......done it many times on different bikes (but never on the Beemer when I had it). You should just have to slacken the pinch bolts on each side and slide the fork legs down through the yokes. Don't forget to measure or mark where they are before you remove them.....just so that you can get them back in the same place......

[Sameagle]

I'll post a pic, then you will see the problem.

The lower yoke isn't actually a yoke in the usual sense of that word, it's a"bridge", which is bolted between two lugs, one on each slider, and held in place by capped Allen screws.

The upper yoke is a conventional yoke, with pinch bolts, clamped around the stanchions.

The stanchions go straight through the upper yoke, and the top ends are a few inches above the yokes.

The metal plate is laid flat on the ends of the stanchions, and obviously has two holes, two coincide with the stanchion tops, the fork nuts pass down through the holes, and are screwed into the stanchion tops.

A third hole, in the centre, carries a dome nut, and presumably, below that are the steering head bearings.

I have to say that each fork nut also has a hex hole in it, but it would take a very large Allen key to fill each hole, certainly bigger than any I've got!

This afternoon, I tried my biggest spanner on a fork nut, it's a King Dick 15/16, Imperial, so that's not the size of the spanner gape, the spanner gape is 40.5mm, which is just too small.

The only thing I have to fit it, is a Stilson wrench - I tried that, but nothing doing, (or undoing!), and if I smack it with a lump hammer, the steering would have to be against the stop to prevent it from turning, not good practice, of course.

If I get a socket to fit, I will still have the problem of preventing the steering from flopping about, whilst I am turning the socket, with an extremely long lever!

I think that I may have to dismantle each leg, and take the sliders off, the gaiters need to be above the bridge, but below the yoke.

John

[Sameagle]

Looking around the web this morning, it seems that the method is to take each slider off.

The bike hasn't been on the road for six years, and during the 30 months that it was in the hands of the previous owner, I've found a bill for new forks and seals.

From this, I expect to find the interiors in fairly good condition, at worst, if I'm lucky, the only thing that might need replacing, is the seals.

When I get home, I'll take photo's anyway, so that those on here, more knowledgeable than I, can make a judgement.

John

[Sameagle]

Here are some photo's, one, [slightly out of focus, like me], showing the fork bridge, or brace.

The other, taken from the top, inside the fairing, shows the left side "plug" together with it's 17mm A/F [!] hex hole, below it, is the fork yoke, so these forks don't have two yokes, but a brace, a yoke, and a 4mm thick plate at the top.

I'd prefer to pull each leg out, to save disturbing the slider seals, and I'm happy to buy a 41mm socket, to do the job, but I only have 1/2" drive capability, and a bloody long piece of steel tube.

I wonder about doing everything to get the bike ready for the road, except this job, and then take it for a MOT - if I can get it through, I can then ride it to a place that can slack the plugs for me - are there any MOT testers on here, that know if fork gaiters, or the total absence of them, is an MOT failure?...............

.............A few minutes later - it seems that I have too many pixels, approximately three times as many - rather unhelpfully, the message that I've been given, doesn't mention how I can reduce my pixels.

That's strange, most of my life, quite a few women, including both my former wives, always seemed to think that my pixel wasn't very big at all, and left "helpful" magazine articles on the settee, in an effort to enlarge my pixel.

At least, I think it was my pixel, it was certainly a five lettered word that started with a "p"!

John