Roadholder wheel/slider gap

It looks ok to me. What you should do is leave the pinchbolt loose while you tighten the main axle nut. Then take the bike off the stand and bounce the forks up and down so that the side with the pinchbolt finds it's natural position. Then tighten the pinchbolt but be careful as over tightening it can snap the casting.

Ian

No gap on mine so something is wrong. Is it a std axle and what year is the bike.

There should be a gap. Something is wrong if there isn't.

Ian

The gap looks fine to me as well. I prefer a stud and nut with spring washer to the bolt as the fork leg is vulnerable and frequent slackening / retightening of the bolt into the alloy thread wears it.

Just been out in garage to look at mine. Its a 1959 Model 99 dominator. There is a gap between what you term the 'dust' cap and the fork but that appears only sufficient to allow the wheel to turn so thus not as large as what seems to appear in the photograph. Hugh

Hello Yes there should be NO gap and the dust cap should right up to the fork stanchion and sixty pounds per square inch is over kill and you should fit a rubber wash in between the pinch bolt gap 10 pounds per square inch is all that's needed to stop the spindle shaft from turning you all really need to take care of old vintage norton parts there over 50 years old I just had one pinch bolt side welded up as it broke , will fit it tomorrow, so take care out there yours anna j

Makes me wonder if you have the correct fork leg on the other side. What is the bike? and the year. On Both my wide and narrow fork Nortons the bearing cover has only just enough room to fit between hub and leg. Could the mudguard or a fork brace be holding the forks appart?.Is this a commando?. If so I can't help as i know bug all about them, and anyway I don't think they will catch on.!!.

Iâm no expert here but is it possible to use 7â sliders in 71/4â yokes? Would that make the difference?

Dan

Thats my thinking too. Or a stainless axle thats not exactly right.

Yes you can use 7" sliders on wider yokes but the wheel will be out of alignment. If you make up a spacer for the brake side to centralize the wheel you must also make an adapter for the brake plate torque bolt as it will be too short to safetly locate in the slider. Don't do one without the other!! There will be a wider gap between the dust cap and r/h slider. Best to find 7" yokes or later sliders if you can! Andy Sochanik wrote on the subject in August Roadholder but mis-understood what mod I'd done.

If all the parts are correct then 60ftlbs sounds ok .I would be wary about 15 for the pinch, 10 would be plenty. You should have 7 and 3/8 yokes with the wider fork legs.

The pinch bolt doesn't really do a lot. I use a spring washer under the nut and tighten till it flattens out (similar for carb securing nuts).

One of the reasons for a tight pinchbolt cracking the fork casting can be excessive clearance between the axle hole and the fork spindle. (I read this somewhere!) You need to check the precise diameter of your spindle and the precise internal diameter of the fork stanchion hole. You could do this with a calliper gauge or internal & external micrometers. You wouldn't want the clearance to be much more than about 15 thou - maybe 20 thou. (I'm open to suggestions on this) If it is more you need to shim it with shim washers. The pinch bolt is only to stop the shaft rotating so don't lube it there. Ideally a rough surface is better.

From the photo this is clearly wrong. Probably the wrong fork yokes for the hub.

Previously stefan_koop wrote:

Hello,

is the space between the dustcap and the fork slider technically in order? The spindle nut has a torque of 60 ft lb.

many thanks in advance

I'm a bit paranoid about breaking the fork lug, and my PO fitted stainless socket head screw. With a 2.5" Allen key I've found it difficult to stop the fork from being able to move sideways when I pull it against the spindle. Have others found this? I've use Loctite and I hope a tommy bar in the hole will let me break the seal next time!

It should not move sideways (the pinchbolt leg), this suggests to me that something is wrong. Either something is spacing the assembly, wrong yokes, slider, mudguard, or a badly machined axle ,bearings spacer,etc. I would get someone else (fresh eyes) to look it over. If used like that you will wear out the fork bushes or staunchions, and have sticky forks.

Thanks for the scary advice Robert!

I don't think it's that bad. With vernier calipers I can't measure any difference in diameter. Certainly not 20thou. I'm probably just being limp wristed! It's stuck now so it'll stay like that until I change something. I do wish there was an easy way to measure it all for parallel though. If you rely on bouncing it when free, you also rely on the mudguard bridge having an exact fit even though it just bent metal.

Perhaps getting the end of the spindle double or triple plated will help take up some of the excess clearance.

The stainless axle on my norton was too big and I had to open out the leg. The stainless axle for the Ducati was wrongly machined and entered too far allowing the tommybar to jam against the leg. Do you see what I mean about new parts?.