Usd forks strip down

[Blue]

Is it much of a job to stop down 90L forks to replace stantions? Removing the knuckle from the bottom? Where would one get said stantions from?

[fatblokeonbandit]

Short answer, YES.......

 

I did a set years ago, the tubes were £100 each back then, and getting the knuckle off was a right bastard!!!!!!!!!!!

Tiny grub screw to remove first, mine was rounded so drilled them out, Its a really fine thread and the ones i had were lock-tighted on, tried allsorts, but couldn't hold the tubes tight enough, in the end I stuck the knuckle in boiling water and then stanchions  in a big heavy lathe at work, an old wheel spindle in the hole and a 6 foot scaffolding bar, 2 fat blokes and it turned eventually! 

I did look at Phillpots fork re-chroming  service, it was expensive but i think if I was doing it again I might get them to do it for me, mainly as I dont have access to a big lathe, to hold the tubes anymore..

[Joseph]

If you're replacing the chrome tubes it makes it a bit easier because you don't have to worry about buggering them up

Foot in a vice, heat on the threaded area, screwdriver through stanchion hole with extension lever, it should come quite ok

I've done a couple of USD forks like this

https://youtu.be/wADxhvP40Rw

[Blue]

Got a big lathe at work, got heat. Its either do it or look for some good replacements then sell these cheap as need doing. Going the 2nd route may end up costing about £100 in the end if they are ok.

[fatblokeonbandit]

If you have the kit, its worth a go.

And id like to see those blokes in the video, stick a 30 year old slingy fork in that piddly little vice and undo it with a 6 inch punch!!!!!!

[TonyGee]

yeah I agree with F.B. i did one leg on my ET (gsxr1100L forks) and it was a bitch of a job, tighter than a tight thing  I nearly popped my dodgy heart !!!!!!  never again. 

[bluedog59]

If you've got the kit to do it properly then it's not too difficult but you have to treat it as a"one chance" job. Clean the grub screw out and make sure your Allen key is a good fit and in all the way, heat the knuckle up to free the thread lock and make sure the leg is secured before you attempt to undo anything. If you're not totally sure you can do it I'd go with FB's option and pay a little extra so somebody else runs the risk of sorting it out if it goes tits up.

[TonyGee]

tip, I had an old 600 bandit bottom yoke that I used to hold the stanchion and held it in a vice.  

[Joseph]

Hey it's not because you couldn't do it that it can't be done 

But seeing thats its over £300 for a pair of stanchions from brooks, then you've got the seal and bush kit that you will want to buy OEM, it would be more cost effective to fit a K fork than do a full rebuild of the crap that they came with back in the day.

K forks even fit in the stock yokes

[Captain Chaos]

At work I rebuild a lot of forks (did 14 sets this week ) and upsd ones are a bit harder, but not much. Getting the grub screw out is the hardest bit. Then as said heat it up and unscrew the tube (I put the tube in a vice, "lock" it with a pin through the holes, then use a front wheel spindle to unscrew it).

In the bottom of the knuckle is also an o-ring and a washer, clean it all very well and lube the o-ring.

Cleaning the thread before reassembly is very important. If you will replace the tube anyway, cut the thread on the old tube axially and use that to clean up the thread in the knuckle. The new tube should screw in very easily by hand. Use red loctite on final assembly.