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Headlamp bracket problem

Submitted by robert_tuck on Mon, 18/05/2015
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Nortons - General

A simple job has turned into a teaser, I'm attempting to put the headlamp brackets back on with new top rubbers, and the hammers are now in action. I'm missing something as its a no go.My suspicion is that the rubbers are of the wrong stuff, far too grippy, Soap, silicone ,grease ,not working.Pinch bolts loose , Got to be a knack to it,what am i missing ? been fiddling for days.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 18/05/2015

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Robert,

My apologies. For the first time, I have retitled a message board posting.

Your original title of Roadholder Hold Up might have suggested that the June issue of the Club magazine was going to be delayed.

Webmaster

Submitted by robert_tuck on Mon, 18/05/2015

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Sokay Chris, I'm getting a bit desperate, having to resort to riding a classic Ducati, may get to like it.

Submitted by patrick_mullen on Mon, 18/05/2015

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Hi Robert,

I've just done the same job on the Roadholder forks on my Navigator and it all screwed back together fairly easily but I did notice that there is a lip on the bottom edge of the headlight brackets which locates into the lower shroud and holds everything in position. This sometimes takes a little bit of wriggling to locate properly. I also made sure that the pinch bolts and the crown bolt were slack and that the stanchions were sliding freely through the bottom yokes.

Patrick

Submitted by patrick_mullen on Mon, 18/05/2015

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Hi Robert,

Yes I fitted new rubbers. They came from an unknown trader at Stafford in April. {they were the cheapest ones I could find) but they do fit without problems.

Patrick

Submitted by robert_tuck on Tue, 19/05/2015

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NOOOO--- That means taking the forks right off ---again. Is the felt an owners modification ?. Still if it works. At the moment the rubber gets extruded out sideways at the last bit of tightenning.Wish I had not dumped the old ones.I'm under pressure to get three bikes ready for a trip and the only one reliable is a 50 year old Ducati single,Where's the logic in that?.I had planned on fitting a new cam,overhauling the forks and rebuilding the TT carb , think i'd better just give it a polish !.

Submitted by patrick_mullen on Tue, 19/05/2015

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Hi Robert,

Definitely no felt spacer in mine but that's no guarantee as to what was original - possible it differed in different models or years. Here's a quick picture of the top end of my forks. I had them apart to repaint the headlight brackets and the paint does match - that's sunshine and shadows you see.

Attachments p2120002-jpg

Submitted by david_cooper on Tue, 19/05/2015

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No felt spacer here either. I stripped the forks a couple of weeks ago (and the rubbers haven't gone back as well as they came out). They have a groove around underneath where the lamp shroud goes into them. I assume your new ones are the same? It sounds like the groove in yours might be too shallow? But the lamp shrouds squeeze down inside the tops of the fork shrouds and if they don't fit into them then the rubbers must suffer. One of my fork shrouds is not square relative its inside flange plate, possibly because the lamp shroud was once forced down against the fork shroud instead of inside it.Elsewhere on this site it is reported that taper roller head bearings are thicker and raise the top crown by about 3mm, leading to loose shrouds. Maybe that explains Dan's felt spacer washers?

Submitted by robert_tuck on Tue, 19/05/2015

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Looks like a good job Patrick, whats that i see in the background a Midget?,I had the ex Rally supercharged Frogeye (YLU1 pictured in the Olyslager manual) for many years and a few Midgets. I think I'm going to have to remove the brackets and measure them carefully ,also the distance between yokes and check the recesses in the shroud tops. Also ensure the bracket tops are fully circular, Then hit it with a big hammer.A spacer washer under the top yoke may work.

Submitted by robert_tuck on Tue, 19/05/2015

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Found the cause of the problem, One shroud sits higher than the other,and despite lots of fiddling I cant resolve this ,so for the time being will just put up with a crumpled rubber.All this faffing around stems from my boys insisting on a lower (out of the breeze) riding position so I've fitted Norton straights . I think they are rubbish causing poor cable runs and stiff controls . What would help would be some clamp adaptors to lift the bar fixes a half inch.

Submitted by patrick_mullen on Tue, 19/05/2015

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Hi Robert

Well at least you know the cause of the problem so you're half way to sorting it out.

It sounds as if we have a very similar background- I rallied a supercharged frogeye -YYM286- way back in 1960 . Fantastic fun car and very competitive on tarmac until the Cooper S came along. Then I got into MGBs. I still have two Mk1s -a 1963 rally car in the background and a concours 1965 road car which I have owned for the last 45 years. At least they were all BMCs -now part of history. One day I will grow up (but not just yet)

Best of luck on getting sorted for your trip.

 


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