Hi, I'm new to the club but a long term Norton owner. I am currently rebuilding my 1959 Atlas cafe racer. I bought it when I was a teenager as a 650 Triton with a Norton wideline frame, short roadholder forks and (I believe) Rickman tank, seat & fairing. The Triumph engine was knackered so I picked up a 750 Atlas engine that was tuned for racing. I rebuilt the bike but was not happy with the result and took it off the road for some further work. Some thirty years later, with family all grown up, I am now starting over again!
I'm carrying out the refurb in stages and am currently rebuilding the roadholder forks using a genuine Norton refurb kit with new bushes, fork stanchions and seals. My problem at the moment is that one of the alloy fork legs is too tight at the bottom when I insert the new stanchion with its new bush. I don't really want to ease the bush to fit the fork leg as this defeats the object of fitting the new bush. However, without access to some sort of boring equipment I am unable to think of a way to ease the bore of the fork leg at the bottom so that the bush is a nice fit all the way down.
The only thing I can think of is to stick some wet and dry to the old stanchion with the bottom bush removed and use it to rub down the bore where it is tight. Has anyone any other suggestions?
Attachments Norton001.JPGObvious question - were yo…
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I had the same problem a c…
I had the same problem a couple of years ago when I rebuilt forks for my '99'. The problem turned out to be that the axle was not letting the forks return to parallel when I tightened up the axle nut. When the forks were loose or the wheel was not in place they worked fine. It was only a small amount but when the fork compressed the whole lot stuck!
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I had the same problem a c…
I had the same problem a couple of years ago when I rebuilt forks for my '99'. The problem turned out to be that the axle was not letting the forks return to parallel when I tightened up the axle nut. When the forks were loose or the wheel was not in place they worked fine. It was only a small amount but when the fork compressed the whole lot stuck!
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Thanks for the replies. Da…
Thanks for the replies.
David, the old bushes (steel ones on the stanchions) didn't look particularly worn but the fork legs must be because the bushes move freely until they get a couple of inches from the end of their travel.
Don, I can see how this would happen but I haven't even put the fork legs back into the yokes.
I will try the old ones in again but they have some strange "butchering" marks on them where I think somebody had trouble getting the circlips off. Failing that its out with the wet & dry and a heap of elbow grease.
Does anyone know how you can set up your dashboard to show replies to your posts without having to search?
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I treated my Commando to a…
I treated my Commando to a new set of Aerco bushes last week in preparation for an MoT. The front end had started to flap around when cruising at 70 mph and also, when on its stand, the forks clicked when pushed and pulled.
The old bushes fell off the forks when the seal holders and circlips were removed.
The new bushes were a huge surprise when it came to fitting, as in all the times I have serviced a set of Roadholders, I have never previously had to hammer all the bushes into place. On replacing the wheel and spindle it was equally no great surprise to find the forks compressed and then went totally rock solid after the front brake was applied.
I dismantled the whole lot and then gave all the bushes a buffing using rotary mops. This helped a great deal after refitting all the bits but I still had to ride the bike a few miles with the front spindle nut a little slack until the bushes had bedded in.
On previous fork refurbishment occasions, I have found new bushes to be so badly machined that they had more side play in them than the ones they were supposed to be replacing. More worrying......they came in packets marked with a GREEN blob label plus these are genuine Norton parts message.
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Been away from the forum f…
Been away from the forum for a while. Rebuild took a back seat when I got a trials bike at the beginning of last year.
Thanks for all the helpful replies. It turned out that one of the forks had been repaired after an accident where the fork leg had worn through completely and had been welded up. The bush was sticking on the small piece of weld on the inside of the fork leg. I ground one of the old bushes to form a sharp edge and used it to "chisel" the excess weld off. It's much better now.
Must get back to the rebuild before I forget how to put the engine back together.
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Obvious question - were your old bushes worn out? I had the same problem when I changed slightly leaky seals - and the new bushes were too tight - but actually the old ones were good anyway - I just thought I'd change them since I'd bought a refurbishment kit. The old ones went back in...