Buck Buck #1, Left Front Fork Overhaul

lomita

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Such a good feeling to bust down the first fork for overhaul. Thanks for all the tips which I read and U tube links. I was nervous about removing that little bolt in the bottom of the lower leg.

I used a longer L shaped Allen wrench to remove the bolt. Clamped the leg in the vise. Pulled the dust seal and the underlying seal retainer clip.

Then I put a quarter inch deep socket with a six inch extension on the short arm of the Allen wrench to use as a handle. Like on the u tube video, inserted the long end of the hex into the socket head cap bolt. The deep socket and extension make for great leverage, that with a quick snap, it broke loose immediately. No slipping of the tool out of the fastener and complete control can be maintained. It made a nice crisp cracking sound as it let go. The smell of napalm, I mean the sound of victory
In the quiet of an evening in the garage. So Murphy, eat sheete and die.

Afterwards, the whole mechanism turned, so used a broom stick handle stuffed into the assembly to prevent further rotation, and allowed full removal of the bolt.

Ok, back to the skunkworks. This bike project is a hoot since I quit weeping over it several months ago. I've never worked on an onion this big.
 
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lomita

lomita

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PS, the 16 year old 25000 mile fork oil was jet black. Uggh.
 

ToddC

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Such a good feeling to bust down the first fork for overhaul. Thanks for all the tips which I read and U tube links. I was nervous about removing that little bolt in the bottom of the lower leg.

I used a longer L shaped Allen wrench to remove the bolt. Clamped the leg in the vise. Pulled the dust seal and the underlying seal retainer clip.

Then I put a quarter inch deep socket with a six inch extension on the short arm of the Allen wrench to use as a handle. Like on the u tube video, inserted the long end of the hex into the socket head cap bolt. The deep socket and extension make for great leverage, that with a quick snap, it broke loose immediately. No slipping of the tool out of the fastener and complete control can be maintained. It made a nice crisp cracking sound as it let go. The smell of napalm, I mean the sound of victory
In the quiet of an evening in the garage. So Murphy, eat sheete and die.

Afterwards, the whole mechanism turned, so used a broom stick handle stuffed into the assembly to prevent further rotation, and allowed full removal of the bolt.

Ok, back to the skunkworks. This bike project is a hoot since I quit weeping over it several months ago. I've never worked on an onion this big.
You are lucky...I had to put some good heat on my 05 to get that bottom Allen bolt out!

ToddC
 
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I'll be doing my fork in the next few days if weather doesn't interfere.
I saw that socket/extension trick a few months back and used it on a friends bike. worked like a charm. Will be using it again very soon.
 

John OoSTerhuis

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For those getting ready to do ST1100 fork seals, here's something from the ST1100 Archives Of Wisdom:
ST1100 FORK SEAL R&R TIPS (ST1100)
http://www.st-riders.net/index.php?topic=907.0
I haven't tried it, but the trick mentioned there of soaking the lower part of the fork slider in very hot water sounds good.
There's also a link there to borrow the STOC fork seals R&R tool kit. FWIW

John
 
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I saw that socket/extension trick a few months back and used it on a friends bike. worked like a charm. Will be using it again very soon.
another option is to make your own long hex driver by cutting the long leg off an allen wrench and drive it with the same size socket.
 
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For those getting ready to do ST1100 fork seals, here's something from the ST1100 Archives Of Wisdom:
ST1100 FORK SEAL R&R TIPS (ST1100)
http://www.st-riders.net/index.php?topic=907.0
I haven't tried it, but the trick mentioned there of soaking the lower part of the fork slider in very hot water sounds good.
There's also a link there to borrow the STOC fork seals R&R tool kit. FWIW

John
Awesome info John, thanks for posting it up (again).
 

Uncle Phil

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Air impact wrench is the ticket for the ST1100. You just have a rig up an extension long enough to reach in there and then mate it to an air impact wrench. It usually takes a little welding to get it fabricated.
 

Bigmak96

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I took a standard socket of the correct size, and replaced the short hex section with a longer bit that I cut from a typical metrics Allen wrench set.
 
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lomita

lomita

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Thanks for the tips everybody. I went the extra mile to install the Racetech Gold Valve Kit and a set of their fork springs.

Can't wait to feel the way she'll handle when I get done. She was a pig before.
 
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Thanks for the tips everybody. I went the extra mile to install the Racetech Gold Valve Kit and a set of their fork springs.

Can't wait to feel the way she'll handle when I get done. She was a pig before.
My bolt head has rounded off. Any ideas on removal?

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk
 
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My bolt head has rounded off. Any ideas on removal?

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk
never had to do it, but I'd guess drilling the head off of the bolt is your only option at this point.

There's so little accessibility into that hole where the bolt sits that there aren't really any other alternatives that I can think of, perhaps someone else has some ideas.
 
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never had to do it, but I'd guess drilling the head off of the bolt is your only option at this point.

There's so little accessibility into that hole where the bolt sits that there aren't really any other alternatives that I can think of, perhaps someone else has some ideas.
If you have a machinist's supply house nearby, you might see if you can get a reverse twist drill - it drills when turned clockwise (looking at it from the hole). It has the reverse twist compared to a regular drill. If it sticks, it might unscrew the bolt.

I'd try to get a similar sized bolt so I could get the right sized drill so you can remove the head but not enlarge the hole in the lower fork tube.

Or, take the whole shebang to a machine shop as someone else here has done and let them do it for a few bucks.
 
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I was gonna suggest an easy out, but that would require an extension plus it might not work if its torqued on there...
 
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