Fork / Damper Rod Removal

[Mickly]

I need to strip apart the forks on the Trophy, apparently this requires a 30mm external AF drive on the end of a long bar to remove the damping rod.

I do not possess such a thing or do I possess anything with a 30mm external hex.

Anyone got any ( sensible) ideas?

Ta.

[mikestrivens]

Take a trip to Machine Mart, they do large spanners at sensible prices.

[onesea]

If your on Facebook these guys are your friends... I have same job ahead of me.

m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=140049276016772&ref=content_filter

The wealth of knowledge is impressive in that group.

[Mickly]

If your on Facebook these guys are your friends... I have same job ahead of me.

m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=140049276016772&ref=content_filter

The wealth of knowledge is impressive in that group.

 

I’m not on FB for various reasons.

Could you ask on my behalf?

Ta

[Mickly]

Take a trip to Machine Mart, they do large spanners at sensible prices.

 

Hi, already looked there, no 30mm EXTERNAL AF drives

[JRH]

Get a M20 nut and weld it to a bar. M20 is 30mm across the flats.

Edit found this

http://trimotorevival.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-tool-to-help-strip-trophy-trident-and.html

[Tango]

Stripped the forks on my old Trophy 900 a few years back with no fancy tools at all.......I think the socket is to stop the damper rod from turning while you undo the Allen bolt in the bottom of the slider......Both mine came undone without the need for the tool.....and I got them tightened back up without it too.......and the Trophy was still running around with no issues several years later.

The hardest part of replacing the fork seals was getting the old ones out......

[Stu]

Is it to hold the Damper rod while you remove the bottom screw or is the damper rod screwed in to the fork leg?

If it's the first then most of the time you can get away with screwing the preload right up and using a impact gun on the bottom bolt before you strip the forks

[Mickly]

Stripped the forks on my old Trophy 900 a few years back with no fancy tools at all.......I think the socket is to stop the damper rod from turning while you undo the Allen bolt in the bottom of the slider......Both mine came undone without the need for the tool.....and I got them tightened back up without it too.......and the Trophy was still running around with no issues several years later.

The hardest part of replacing the fork seals was getting the old ones out......

Thanks

I’ll give it a whirl

[megawatt]

Normally when the fork is complete, you can undo the lower 8mm damper rod bolt by undoing from bottom of leg. An impact gun usually works. If the bolt won't undo because the damper is turning, you need to stop it turning with a special tool, a hex bolt or nut on the end of a tee bar or a wooden dowel hammered into the bihex on top of the damper rod.

[fastbob]

Stripped the forks on my old Trophy 900 a few years back with no fancy tools at all.......I think the socket is to stop the damper rod from turning while you undo the Allen bolt in the bottom of the slider......Both mine came undone without the need for the tool.....and I got them tightened back up without it too.......and the Trophy was still running around with no issues several years later.

The hardest part of replacing the fork seals was getting the old ones out......

Exactly the same thing happened when I did the seals on my ER5. The bolts just came out and tightened up again without any special tools to hold the damper rods . Guess I was just lucky but I did have a broom handle on hand just in case .

[fastbob]

If you are replacing fork seals for goodness sake replace the top and bottom bushes while you're at it .

[Mickly]

If you are replacing fork seals for goodness sake replace the top and bottom bushes while you're at it .

 

It’s gonna be a complete strip down as I’m having the fork lowers powder coated, good tip though.

[JRH]

Exactly the same thing happened when I did the seals on my ER5. The bolts just came out and tightened up again without any special tools to hold the damper rods . Guess I was just lucky but I did have a broom handle on hand just in case .

 

When I did the seals on the GPX I needed the Broom handle.

[onesea]

If you are replacing fork seals for goodness sake replace the top and bottom bushes while you're at it .

 

Yup I should of done that when the seals where changed last year :/

Hopefully this year strip down change bushes and seals 3000 grit wetand dry maybe a bit of plastic metal type filler might save me getting new fork stanchions...

[fastbob]

If you are replacing fork seals for goodness sake replace the top and bottom bushes while you're at it .

 

Yup I should of done that when the seals where changed last year :/

Hopefully this year strip down change bushes and seals 3000 grit wetand dry maybe a bit of plastic metal type filler might save me getting new fork stanchions...

 

False economy http://www.amphardchrome.co.uk/

[Mickly]

Stripped the forks on my old Trophy 900 a few years back with no fancy tools at all.......I think the socket is to stop the damper rod from turning while you undo the Allen bolt in the bottom of the slider......Both mine came undone without the need for the tool.....and I got them tightened back up without it too.......and the Trophy was still running around with no issues several years later.

The hardest part of replacing the fork seals was getting the old ones out......

Thanks

I’ll give it a whirl

 

Bollox, the first one I tried and the damper rod is turning, so I’m gonna go down the route of locking a couple of M20 nuts onto some threaded bar and giving that a try.

[Mickly]

Help / advice needed again.

Having managed to remove the damper rod with my home made tool £14 delivered / had to buy 10 nuts and 1M of threade bar.

Thanks for the tips and link

I managed to drift out the nylon damping rod seat ( lying Haynes manual said it would drop out )

There now seems to be another captive seal within the tube

This turns within the tube and had what I think is a hard plastic retainer, there is no mention of this in the Haynes Manual - should it be removed before going off for rechroming? Is so, how does it come out?

Cheers.

Edited July 9, 2018 by Mickly

[Mickly]

According to the Sprint manufacturing site :

You can buy a new tube for £99 and grind the end off the old one to get the parts out to swap over or pay £135 for one with the parts already in there.

Neither option sounds great, so could I get these rechromed with out having to remove these parts ?

[Mickly]

I’ve inquired with Philpotts ( another great link

) who say they can re- chrome with the shuttle valves in place

Gonna cost £185 for the 2 ... ouch.

Add on new bushes and seals, oil, powder coating the lower legs, this ain’t a cheap job !!

[fastbob]

Help / advice needed again.

Having managed to remove the damper rod with my home made tool £14 delivered / had to buy 10 nuts and 1M of threade bar.

67CD9DCC-1409-46A3-ACA2-AD43B78FEFE7.jpeg

Thanks for the tips and link

I managed to drift out the nylon damping rod seat ( lying Haynes manual said it would drop out )

There now seems to be another captive seal within the tube3A224BC7-1579-40BD-B1F1-DF1490026C29.jpeg

This turns within the tube and had what I think is a hard plastic retainer, there is no mention of this in the Haynes Manual - should it be removed before going off for rechroming? Is so, how does it come out?

Cheers.

That's the upper bush which is usually teflon coated copper . If its still there then the lower bush must have been so worn that it has passed right through it . What should happen is when you free the damper rod you yank on the fork and the lower bush hits the upper bush which drives the fork seal out all in one go . If you are replacing everything, you can now prize the seal up and out and mangle the bush by curling it inwards until it comes free.

[Mickly]

That's the upper bush which is usually teflon coated copper . If its still there then the lower bush must have been so worn that it has passed right through it . What should happen is when you free the damper rod you yank on the fork and the lower bush hits the upper bush which drives the fork seal out all in one go . If you are replacing everything, you can now prize the seal up and out and mangle the bush by curling it inwards until it comes free.

I used to lower bush to drive out the upper one no problem.

This is inside the tube, where the damper rod seat is. Apparently it’s a shuttle valve, that can’t be removed without grinding the old tubes.

All the other bushes and seals have come out ok.

[fastbob]

That's the upper bush which is usually teflon coated copper . If its still there then the lower bush must have been so worn that it has passed right through it . What should happen is when you free the damper rod you yank on the fork and the lower bush hits the upper bush which drives the fork seal out all in one go . If you are replacing everything, you can now prize the seal up and out and mangle the bush by curling it inwards until it comes free.

I used to lower bush to drive out the upper one no problem.

This is inside the tube, where the damper rod seat is. Apparently it’s a shuttle valve, that can’t be removed without grinding the old tubes.

All the other bushes and seals have come out ok.

Oh , ok, I see it now . So that's not the fork seal , its something internal . Sorry.

[Mickly]

So having got the fork sliders powder coated, the tubes rechromed and new seals and bushes procured it was time for reassembly.

All the parts

 

 

Rebound spring on to the damper rod

 

 

New lower bush fitted to fork tube with smear of fork oil to lubricate.

 

 

Damper rod inserted into the fork tube and the nylon seat fitted the right way up ( coz it’s tapered )

 

 

Tube inserted into the slider - carefully so the seat doesn’t keep falling off !!

Then bolt into bottom of slider and into damper rod tightened to 60NM using same technique as disassembly.

 

 

New upper bush fitted with smear of fork oil - this needs a bush / seal driver which you can pay much ££ for.

 

 

I used an old breakfast bar leg - cut a few slots in it and with a bit of vice work got it to the right diameter.

A large washer underneath to prevent damage and a bit of wood on the top and a bash with a hammer gets it nicely in place.

 

 

Next the washer was fitted then a new seal with smear of red grease using the same method followed by the seal retaining clip.

 

 

New dust cap fitted with smear of red grease

 

 

Rubber bung refitted into the bottom of the slider.

 

 

Fill with fork oil to a depth of 117mm from the top

Here’s the measuring stick

 

This took 550ml of sae15 fork oil out of my 1litre bottle - so there won’t be enough for the other leg - typical!!

Spring fitted right way up followed by the collar and spacer

 

A bit of Mickly muscle got the spring compressed and the top nut done up, It can’t be torqued up until clamped in the yolks at the tube keeps spinning- hope I remember!!

 

 

Just the other side to do now.

[fastbob]

Love it , a breakfast bar leg . When I did my ER5 forks I found that a plastic pipe coupler from Wicks was a good fit on the stanchion . Not having a workshop I just used the bike as a vice and the lowers themselves as my slide hammer . Improvisation is extremely satisfying , good job ! By the way I see that you have found an alternative use for a wine rack as well !