Front forks, again.

[bronko37]

Guys I know that rebuilding the front forks is a topic that comes up routinely. I have scoured the site and cannot find what I'm looking for so I'll just ask. When taking the tubes apart, above the snap ring that holds in the seal there is a Teflon washer and a "sponge" washer. The book recommends that they both be replaced. The sponge washer disintegrated when I took it out so that must be replaced. I could see reusing the Teflon washer as it seems to be in fine shape. Does anyone have a source or part number for that sponge ring?

Also, when removing the lower screw on the bottom of the slider so you can take the forks apart I am having the same issue as many of us have where the internal parts start to spin making the screw a real bastard to remove. I am currently working on a tool that would allow me to reach into the fork and grab the piston from the inside to prevent it from spinning. This will be the same idea that we used to remove the pistons on the brake calipers, just longer. Ill keep you posted on how it works.

 

[joedrum]

opcorn: i used a drywall screw gun ....if allowed to hammer or bounce its a super fast impact wrench ...so far ive never seen a fork it didnt instantly undo...ive done quite a few.....also my screw gun is the fastest spinner they make at 6000rpm a 4000 one would be fine also but a 2500 would probably not work as well or at all doing this not sure on that ...

 

[Denver]

Never thought of using a drywall screwgun, :good: think it would work most if not all the time. :yes: Impact gun zaps those bottom screws out, but always leave the springs in till after, if stripped in the socket, an EZ Out with a socket gets ANY problem ones out i've ever seen. :builder:

 

[tuna boy]

There was a post I saw somewhere where the guy made a tool that was inserted down the tube to keep the internals from rotating during tear down. Wish I could tell you where but I look at all Wing sites looking for good ideas.

 

[joedrum]

you can drill out head of allen screw

 

[julimike54]

The tool was a wood pole with a piece of leather? on it, standing up with tube over it, to hold internals. It was on this site, just not sure where

 

[joedrum]

yep it dont trake much to get it done somehow

 

[Denver]

Just remembered you asked about spung piece, :blush: throw away do not replace, they all fell apart & were done away with. :whistling:

 

[deanbw]

OK, again, the sponge was a few years then tossed. You don't need it. The spinning? get a pipe nipple extractor and tape it to a socket on an extension.

they come in lots of sizes. I just bought a full set and a couple larger ones and use them for forks, brake pistons, pipe nipples, super handy. EZ outs? I owned a machine shop and had to drill out many broken EZ outs people brought me. I told them I would do it but never use them again, if they needed a bolt or something removed bring it to me first before they broke another crappy EZ out and if they didn't listen, don't bring it to me because I told you not to use those sh&%$$y things.

 

[AApple]

julimike54 » Thu Oct 08, 2015 1:24 pm[/url]":1go1pavz]
The tool was a wood pole with a piece of leather? on it, standing up with tube over it, to hold internals. It was on this site, just not sure where

Here are two threads with caveman tools to help...

Fork Thread 1 (with the wood stick/leather)

Fork Thread 2

:BigGrin:

 

[bronko37]

All good ideas guys. I got the bolt out of the bottom with no problems in my shop. Dean PM'ed me and let me know that the sponge ring does not need to be replaced. Now Im just waiting on my guide bushings and I will be able to reassemble. I am also going to replace the outer boots on the TRAC system. All the internals look really good and pliable yet, so just the boots need to be replaced there.

Thanks as always.

 

[deanbw]

sweet....good you got them apart. Do we get pictures of the finished product?.......you know we like lookin at purty pictures

 

[bronko37]

She ain't too pretty right now...

 

[deanbw]

getting there,just stay focused, see the problem I have is while apart I look at the area around the head stock and think, "well, I can just clean this up while I'm here", bad part is, then the stuff under the shelter looks dirty.....and by then it's all over, literally. 7 months later the forks go back on. It's a sickness a sad, expensive sickness, don't fall into it's trap.

 

[Denver]

Good advise, :good: you can almost always tell what the latest work on my bike's was, :headscratch: its the only CLEAN area. :smilie_happy: