Strange fork thing goin' on...

[Justin B.]

I pulled off the Dawg's fork sliders, cleaned them out, and reinstalled and noticed that the l/h side was about 3/32", or so, "lower" than the r/h side causing the axle to bind.  Loosening the triple tree clamps and raising the tube a bit allowed the axle to slide all the way home with finger pressure.

I need to take some measurements...

[not-so-fast-ed]

Justin,  Anything to do with the rain you've been getting?

 

Ed

[Justin B.]

No, it's in the shop BUT we did get a purty good turd-floater a bit ago...

[Bengt_Phorqs]

What's the prognosis on that? Sounds like one of the springs may have "compressed" a little bit.  Do springs do that?  I would think something mechanical would cause it to bind and not expand.  Is there a metallurgist in the House?

[Justin B.]

No, I don't think a spring could cause this issue.  It's almost like one assembled tube/slider assembly as a bit longer than the other!

[nhmaf]

Maybe a spring is broken, or- something which is preventing one  side from extending all the way?  Or, maybe, one side was replaced with a new fork tube that wasn't cut right?   Did you get pictures of the top of the forks prior to disassembly?   This is an odd one..

[Justin B.]

No, but when I serviced the head bearings I didn't loosen the lower tree bolts so there shouldn't have been any change there and when I put the top tree back on the tops of both tubes were at the same spot.  This is indeed strange...

[Barry]

Topping out bushes could be different heights ?  maybe one slightly perished.

[Justin B.]

Hmmm, are they a fiber or plastic thing?  I did have some chunks of the "mystery crud" on that side that seems to wind up in the sliders...

If it is some sort of bump-stop bushing then I think I'll probably ride it as-is for a while and if it proves reliable then dive into the forks a bit deeper...

[Barry]

Originals on mine were black rubber.  Motobins replacements seem to be polyurethane.

[Justin B.]

Hmmm...  Did you take tons of pictures when you rebuilt the forks?  There is little to nothing concerning this on the web, that I can find, and it would be nice to have fork overhaul in the Wiki.

[Barry]

The only thing I did was take accurate dimensions so that I could make new shims and valve washers. The attached diagram is all I had to go on. Item 24 is the topping out bush.

Maybe the next rainy day I'll  pull one leg apart and take some pictures but it'll have to wait a while until after my holiday.

[nhmaf]

I think that is that part that I've seen disintegrate on an airhead fork before (that, and the "buffers" that were at the top of the fork legs on the older airheads).   My LS's legs didn't seem to have a problem with part #24 at the time I had them apart, but I am sure that time, temperature, and fork oil additives all play a part.

[Justin B.]

I've never had the need (or was never curious enough) to completely disassemble a fork leg before, maybe I'll do that at the next fluid change...