OK gents I know from searching the forum that the fork damper bolts can be a PITA to remove!

I've removed both forks from my bike today and I notice that the bolt on one fork is pretty rounded, the other looks in better shape.

Looking at the Haynes manual these things should only be torqued up to 20Nm (plus Loctite) so it shouldn't be this difficult !

I've had a crack at the "better" of the two bolts but it won't budge and the allen socket was starting to slip round in the bolt - rather than push ahead and risk rounding the bolt (like the other one) I stopped.

Presumably it is corrosion from dis-similar metals that causes them to seize?

The Haynes manual advises compressing the fork whilst trying to slacken the damper bolt. I did this but do I need to fully compress the fork or is it sufficient to simply take the load off? (I'm wondering if I need a bit more weight behind this).

I also noticed that, looking at the two forks side-by-side, one damper bolt looks to be in deeper that the other - is this normal?

Given that the good bolt is proving difficult I am preparing for the worst with the bad bolt which looks pretty rounded. If I drill the head off the bolt does anyone know if the damper can then be removed so that I can atleast tackle the stuck bolt on the bench?

Cheers!

They can be very difficult yes,

Try taking a slightly oversized torx bit and hammer it into the allen bolt, the bolt and bit will be toast but it works 8/10 times.

Failing that, you can drill the bolt head of and disassemble the fork leg regardless, there should be a good 15-20mm of bolt left to work on when they come apart.

Personally I don't use locktite on those bolts, the copper washer will crush a bit helping to lock the bolt and the front axle keeps the bolts from falling out while riding..

Ronni

I had to drill one out last year... Wasnt to bad.. make sure you clamp it and get it right in the middle.

We had no luck whatsoever in removing the bolt on either fork so had to resort to drilling them out

It was reassuring to know that after drilling the head off the bolt there would still be some exposed bolt to get hold off! Your responses made me feel more confident that drilling them out could at least solve the problem.

What had us absolutely gobsmacked was that after drilling the head off the bolt and removing the damper via the top of the forks, the two "studs" that were left of the damper bolts could be removed by hand

Still - it was all a learning experience which we wouldn't have had if we had decided to let someone else tackle it ! It saved us a few quid and there's the feeling of satisfaction of having done the job -- all part of the joys of ownership

It has revealed some other "problems" which need addressing but I'll start another thread about that (re-chroming, grinding stanchions).

Thanks for the responses guys !