Springer fork pain in the arse to work on today!
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Tourer
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 349
Likes: 1
From: Poconos, PA
Springer fork pain in the **** to work on today!
Well...just got out of the garage tonight from working on the rockers on my springer fork. First, I had to take off the brake caliper and front wheel. Then the manual says to take off the front fender. No problem...the manual gives step by step directions to take off the fender EXCEPT for one important thing.....I have a springer classic which has the little light on the fender. A light on the fender means there is a wire that runs from the wiring harness to the fender to power the light. No where in the fender removal instructions does it address how to disconnect the light from the fender. I looked all over and there is absolutely no quick disconnect anywhere in the wire. So I took apart the light thinking I could disconnect the wires in there and pull the wire out so I could seperate the fender so it could be removed. NO SIR!! My conclusion....it is impossible to remove the front fender without removing the gas tank to access the wiring harness so you can unplug that wire. Unwilling to remove my gas tank, (which I had just put back on the bike this morning) I used about 7 zip ties to hold the fender up and out of my way. I guess I could have cut the wire and installed my own quick disconnect but did not feel like it today.
Once the fender was "out of my way" I could start to take apart the rockers for cleaning and inspection. The jam nut on the rocker pivot adjusting collar is 1.5 inches. The only thing I have that is that big (besides an adjustable wrench) is a 3/4 inch drive socket set. So there I am with a 2 foot long, 10 lb ratchet with a 1.5 inch socket on it. That nut was still real tight on there, in fact, all the bolts on the rocker assembly were dam tight. I got it all apart and cleaned everything up nice and greased the spherical brearings and hiem joints. Reassembly was a bitch too. The pivot point has to have the bearings adjusted so there is a measured amount of preload or drag on the rotation. Easier said than done! Once you get the adjusting collar where it needs to be with the correct drag, just tighten the jam nut.......yea right. When you tighten the jam nut, the adjusting collar tightens too thereby putting too much drag on the bearings. What I had to do was leave the adjusting collar loose so when the jam nut is tightend the adjuster moves with it to the correct amount of drag. Over and over again I did this about 20 times before I got it right. Then to make matters worse....every time I tightened the jam nut I had to put the spring fork bolt in to keep the whole rocker from rotating as I tightend. Sounds easy enough but every time I did this I had to line up the hiem joint so it would slide onto the spring fork. That hiem joint is an extremely tight fit in the fork and it ***** sideways every time I tried to insert it into the spring fork. What a bitch!!!
I am a pretty good wrench and usually do all my own work on my bikes and cars and have done so for many years. This front end though, was a real pain in the ***. And to think that I have to do this every several thousand miles..
I got the job done after entirely too long and feel the need to vent here. At least I saved myself about $350.00 in labor from what the stealer charges.
Once the fender was "out of my way" I could start to take apart the rockers for cleaning and inspection. The jam nut on the rocker pivot adjusting collar is 1.5 inches. The only thing I have that is that big (besides an adjustable wrench) is a 3/4 inch drive socket set. So there I am with a 2 foot long, 10 lb ratchet with a 1.5 inch socket on it. That nut was still real tight on there, in fact, all the bolts on the rocker assembly were dam tight. I got it all apart and cleaned everything up nice and greased the spherical brearings and hiem joints. Reassembly was a bitch too. The pivot point has to have the bearings adjusted so there is a measured amount of preload or drag on the rotation. Easier said than done! Once you get the adjusting collar where it needs to be with the correct drag, just tighten the jam nut.......yea right. When you tighten the jam nut, the adjusting collar tightens too thereby putting too much drag on the bearings. What I had to do was leave the adjusting collar loose so when the jam nut is tightend the adjuster moves with it to the correct amount of drag. Over and over again I did this about 20 times before I got it right. Then to make matters worse....every time I tightened the jam nut I had to put the spring fork bolt in to keep the whole rocker from rotating as I tightend. Sounds easy enough but every time I did this I had to line up the hiem joint so it would slide onto the spring fork. That hiem joint is an extremely tight fit in the fork and it ***** sideways every time I tried to insert it into the spring fork. What a bitch!!!
I am a pretty good wrench and usually do all my own work on my bikes and cars and have done so for many years. This front end though, was a real pain in the ***. And to think that I have to do this every several thousand miles..
I got the job done after entirely too long and feel the need to vent here. At least I saved myself about $350.00 in labor from what the stealer charges.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 10,232
Likes: 9,271
From: Georgia
You know how to do it now so it won't be so hard the next time.You get a feel for things after 2-3 tries. Service interval can be increased, I've taken them apart with 10k on them and didn't need it. If you wash the bike with solvents a lot I would look into a closer service interval.A pain in the *** is replacing the spherical bushings,not to mention the panic attack you get when you see the price of them.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 2,874
Likes: 8
From: Earth
Well...just got out of the garage tonight from working on the rockers on my springer fork. First, I had to take off the brake caliper and front wheel. Then the manual says to take off the front fender. No problem...the manual gives step by step directions to take off the fender EXCEPT for one important thing.....I have a springer classic which has the little light on the fender. A light on the fender means there is a wire that runs from the wiring harness to the fender to power the light. No where in the fender removal instructions does it address how to disconnect the light from the fender. I looked all over and there is absolutely no quick disconnect anywhere in the wire. So I took apart the light thinking I could disconnect the wires in there and pull the wire out so I could seperate the fender so it could be removed. NO SIR!! My conclusion....it is impossible to remove the front fender without removing the gas tank to access the wiring harness so you can unplug that wire. Unwilling to remove my gas tank, (which I had just put back on the bike this morning) I used about 7 zip ties to hold the fender up and out of my way. I guess I could have cut the wire and installed my own quick disconnect but did not feel like it today.
Once the fender was "out of my way" I could start to take apart the rockers for cleaning and inspection. The jam nut on the rocker pivot adjusting collar is 1.5 inches. The only thing I have that is that big (besides an adjustable wrench) is a 3/4 inch drive socket set. So there I am with a 2 foot long, 10 lb ratchet with a 1.5 inch socket on it. That nut was still real tight on there, in fact, all the bolts on the rocker assembly were dam tight. I got it all apart and cleaned everything up nice and greased the spherical brearings and hiem joints. Reassembly was a bitch too. The pivot point has to have the bearings adjusted so there is a measured amount of preload or drag on the rotation. Easier said than done! Once you get the adjusting collar where it needs to be with the correct drag, just tighten the jam nut.......yea right. When you tighten the jam nut, the adjusting collar tightens too thereby putting too much drag on the bearings. What I had to do was leave the adjusting collar loose so when the jam nut is tightend the adjuster moves with it to the correct amount of drag. Over and over again I did this about 20 times before I got it right. Then to make matters worse....every time I tightened the jam nut I had to put the spring fork bolt in to keep the whole rocker from rotating as I tightend. Sounds easy enough but every time I did this I had to line up the hiem joint so it would slide onto the spring fork. That hiem joint is an extremely tight fit in the fork and it ***** sideways every time I tried to insert it into the spring fork. What a bitch!!!
I am a pretty good wrench and usually do all my own work on my bikes and cars and have done so for many years. This front end though, was a real pain in the ***. And to think that I have to do this every several thousand miles.. I got the job done after entirely too long and feel the need to vent here. At least I saved myself about $350.00 in labor from what the stealer charges.
Once the fender was "out of my way" I could start to take apart the rockers for cleaning and inspection. The jam nut on the rocker pivot adjusting collar is 1.5 inches. The only thing I have that is that big (besides an adjustable wrench) is a 3/4 inch drive socket set. So there I am with a 2 foot long, 10 lb ratchet with a 1.5 inch socket on it. That nut was still real tight on there, in fact, all the bolts on the rocker assembly were dam tight. I got it all apart and cleaned everything up nice and greased the spherical brearings and hiem joints. Reassembly was a bitch too. The pivot point has to have the bearings adjusted so there is a measured amount of preload or drag on the rotation. Easier said than done! Once you get the adjusting collar where it needs to be with the correct drag, just tighten the jam nut.......yea right. When you tighten the jam nut, the adjusting collar tightens too thereby putting too much drag on the bearings. What I had to do was leave the adjusting collar loose so when the jam nut is tightend the adjuster moves with it to the correct amount of drag. Over and over again I did this about 20 times before I got it right. Then to make matters worse....every time I tightened the jam nut I had to put the spring fork bolt in to keep the whole rocker from rotating as I tightend. Sounds easy enough but every time I did this I had to line up the hiem joint so it would slide onto the spring fork. That hiem joint is an extremely tight fit in the fork and it ***** sideways every time I tried to insert it into the spring fork. What a bitch!!!
I am a pretty good wrench and usually do all my own work on my bikes and cars and have done so for many years. This front end though, was a real pain in the ***. And to think that I have to do this every several thousand miles..
I got the job done after entirely too long and feel the need to vent here. At least I saved myself about $350.00 in labor from what the stealer charges.
Thread Starter
|
Tourer
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 349
Likes: 1
From: Poconos, PA
You know how to do it now so it won't be so hard the next time.You get a feel for things after 2-3 tries. Service interval can be increased, I've taken them apart with 10k on them and didn't need it. If you wash the bike with solvents a lot I would look into a closer service interval.A pain in the *** is replacing the spherical bushings,not to mention the panic attack you get when you see the price of them.
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