Stuck fork bolt story

I bought a bike for the engine...now the bike is stripped and getting cleaned for reassembly with new seals and parts. How could I see if the engine is good without riding the bike first!

So when I get to the forks, the bottom bolt is stuck. the one with the copper sealing washer buried under the axle clamp studs. I tried all my other tricks but only succeeded in stripping out the hex so I had to drill the bolt to get the head off. Took a bunch of time and brill bits but I got it out.

So when I got to the other side and was faced with the same problem I knew there must be another way. This is the story of the other way.

ive had the same deal happen to me ...ok looks like a cavman impact wrench

Once I knew the hex was still good in the hex head cap bolt (say that fast 3 times!) I knew I needed a way to keep the interior parts from spinning (the parts fiche calls it a pipe,seat lol)

I used this before, but added the strip of rubber taped to the end to increase friction. It is a broomstick clamped in a drill press vise sitting on the floor. The stick is long enough to reach the inside end of the fork tube and hold the whole mess at a comfy height to work on.

The next problem was getting my impact driver to accept a 6mm hex wrench. Solved that by wrapping copper art foil around the hex stock until it fit snug.

Then I just put the hex key in the bolt and wailed on it with my big persuader

kool kind of thought it went down the tube to hold that ...the last one i did iwas right where you were at ..and used a drywall screw gun ...witch if i remember right ..the bit shaft was just bit bigger than hex head got it to fit ... and using it like high speed impact it broke loose and the inside didnt slip anymore ...cant remember if i use wood handle in tube ..so wont claim i did ..but for sure knew it had slip ...great work ....

Cool! Whatever works!!!

+1

Good stuff Kerry!

Necessity is, the mother of invention. Good use of what you have laying around, W C Fields referred to it as BOONDOUGLING in The Bank Dick, :yes: we do a lot of that around here. :good:

this is worth taking Notes , so if I ever need it , . . . if I don't write it down I can't remember Nothing . opcorn: