Fork removal / reconditioning

[richhemmings]

All,

My forks have got a little tatty - stone chips and the like.
I've manages to sand them down using some scotch bright and polish them up using some autoglym metal polish (shiny!), but had to do this in situe as I dont have any paddock stands.
Which has ment that there's an area on the inside still painted

Any advice?
I'm thinking car jack to lift the bike up by the sump and remove the forks and get them sandblasted - will this harm the forks?
I noticed that the dust seal is starting to crumble a little on one side to, so I might as well replace this at the same time? Difficult job?

As you all know, my knowledge of the heftier tasks is some what limited!


Cheers in advance.

[Drunkn Munky]

ABBA stands are the best for maintenence work although this does raise the front unless you get the additional front lift for it but its no hard to knock somthing else yourslf to raise the front when its on the abba stand, ive used bricks and wood in the past or a jack under the sump.
im guessing your bike is a nc30, ive only removed nc35 forks but id imagine the process is the same and its not a hard job. If you feel confident enough then strip them down yourself, clean them up and reasemble with new seals and oil, bushes may need replacing while your at it and fork upgrade kits are available from rick oliver for under £100 and are well worth it.
The haynes manual details the strip down of the forks really well.

[Freekazoid]

i referbed the seals on my nc30 couple of months ago, i jacked the front of the bike using axle stands & rebar, PM me with ur email & i send u the pics how we did it, job is pretty easy, hardest part is figuring out how to jack it up & the time it takes to loosen everything. just remember to loosen all the parts first befor jacking the bike. otherwise u risk droping the bike.

[richhemmings]

Hey guys,
Think this job is at hand... Seem to have a small leak (could be a spring onion) coming from the RHS fork. Concidering the Rick Oliver upgrade, but as I'll need to get a new ABBA stand etc to do the job, just wonderin if the extra £80-£100 is gonna be worth it?? Is the upgrade a stiffness enhancement or what?? Only road riding at the month, although I intend to track it next season.

[hardnutdvd]

PM me with ur email & i send u the pics how we did it.

do you mean pics of the refurb or just the jacking of the front end?
If its pics of the refurb, could you mail them to me at alloveruk2005@yahoo.co.uk

[porndoguk]

i used two rachet straps under my bottom yoke, axle stands under the rear foot pegs, and trolly jack under the sump and removed the forks and front end problem free!

[Johnny Wishbone]

Here's my bike minus it's forks. It's on an Abba stand with a milk crate supporting the front under the engine!

[Mananon]

I used a thin webbing sling under the frame at the head stock and another off the shock mount then winched the the whole bike up with a (6 tonne) riggers hoist hanging from a garage roof beam.. Slight over-kill but you can't be too carefull. I stripped the entire bike like that till I just had the engine and frame then lowered the engine onto a trolley, unbolted the frame and lifted it away. Worked well as I could adjust to a good working height.
I'f I'd had someone to help I could have done the same just with some rope but the winch made it very easy.

[richhemmings]

hey guys and girls,

got my shiny new ABBA stand last week... RE: lifting the front of the bike - trolley jacks etc under sump - presumably i'll need to remove the exhaust first? as the pipes run under the sump and any jacking here may distort them?

Cheers,

Rich

[HondaSan]

Hi Mate,

No need to remove the exhausts - just knock something up out of timber to support the bike either side of the exhausts as one of the other guys suggested.

I took a short length of flat wood (like a piece of old skirting board) and then screwed a couple of pieces of 3x2 to it at each end to form a U-shaped piece of wood. If you position the pieces of 3x2 correctly they will be on the sump and the exhausts will sit in the U and you can then put the jack underneath.

I've got an ABBA stand myself and I wasn't sure if the bike could somehow be pivoted about the stand so that the back wheel was on the ground and the front in the air (sand bag through the back wheel maybe?) - using the wooden blocks seemed more sure-fire so I went that route!