WDG3 teledraulic problem

FerG3 · Post by **FerG3** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 10:20 am

Thanks all of you for your advice. I bought myself a decent vice and a heat gun and sure enough the tube came free after 10 minutes of heat and much whacking with the rubber mallet. Oh well, I needed a beefy vice and the heat gun will come in useful. The problem was that the tube was very badly rusted where the bakelite bush sat. Nowhere else - in fact the rest of the tube looks quite new. I bought this as a restored bike, and can only assume that somehow it has got water into the leg and it sat idle for a long time - I think it had been an abandoned project, so this would fit. The leg is too badly pitted in this 2" long section to re-use, really so its £60 for a new one!

Fergus

lawrence · Post by **lawrence** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 8:00 pm

John
I don't think the pitting would affect the fork action unless it is very very severe. Ask Jim at Jampot Spares for his advice beore simply ordering one. He will give an honest opinion.

Lawrence [}:)]

Biscuit · Post by **Biscuit** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 12:04 am

Tut tut Lawrence, if the pitting, severe or not, is in the plastics bush area, the the fork leg will be passing through the oil seal (or what ever means they used in 1943) like a fiddlers elbow, and the oil won't stay there very long.

FerG3 · Post by **FerG3** » Wed Sep 29, 2004 4:45 pm

Yes, Alan, this was my reasoning too. I think the bike has sat for a long time and mositure somehow collected above the oil seal within the slider extension. Back in action, the rusted section was "grabbed" by the bush as it sank below the oil seal (the tube was seized in the loaded state). So, yes, if I left it like that the pitted section would quickly ruin the new seal I will fit. This is a common problem of course on newer bikes where the stanchions are exposed and the normal solution is to have them re-ground and re-chromed. In this case, it is likely cheaper to fit a new tube for £50 than mess about with trying to reclaim it. However, being a Scot, I will keep the tube and make further enquiries to see if it could be fixed up as a spare.

Fergus

Colin F · Post by **Colin F** » Wed Sep 29, 2004 7:55 pm

quote:Originally posted by Lawrence Howes

John
I don't think the pitting would affect the fork action unless it is very very severe. Ask Jim at Jampot Spares for his advice beore simply ordering one. He will give an honest opinion.

Lawrence [}:)]

Always think about the way the parts were made, British Industry never spent more money than was needed![:p]
The fork tubes were hard chromed then ground to size, this gives you the idea that maybe they need to be perfectly smooth [8D], if not why go to that extra expense rather than just using "cheaper" drawn tube.

I'll give you credit for not suggesting "to fill with plastic padding" and sand smooth as I have seen elsewhere!! That was an accident waiting to happen!!! [:0]

Biscuit · Post by **Biscuit** » Wed Sep 29, 2004 8:13 pm

Interesting that Colin, I have seen that method advocated in a Haynes manual relating to the Honda CB125 TDC - an interesting little machine, my first experience of Jap 'crap' although it was'nt any where as crappy as I was led to believe!!! I investigated having my G11 legs re-chromed and ground around 1998, and the quoted 'ball park' was three times the cost of new legs. Just found a website, www.ixion.org.uk/faq/forks.html, which advocates using araldite for filling pitting.

Colin F · Post by **Colin F** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:45 am

I had a look at the website Alan, and to be honest I was not impressed [:(!] They made comments such as turning the fork legs so that MOT examiner could not see the repair.
The also advocated putting gaiters to cover the repair, saying that MOT examiner was not allowed to disassemble the bike during test.
This gives me the idea that the authors believe that this type of repair could cause problems on a MOT test.[:(] If this is the case I would suggest that there is a problem with it.
I would reiterate that if you have a badly pitted fork tubes, replace or get them replated and reground, it's your life on the line if they fail under braking!!

Biscuit · Post by **Biscuit** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:49 pm

Ah Colin, it was'nt a method I was advocating, or indeed doing it myself, just that there are those that do. I also think that they were considering minor pitting, such that would allow oil leakage, not deep wastage that would compromise the integrity of the fork leg.

Colin F · Post by **Colin F** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 10:13 pm

I would suggest that filling the minor pitting would be more of a problem, if there was deep pitting it is more likely that the "filler" would hold in position, shallow pitting is more likely to come lose and I would suggest that this is more dangerous and more likely to jam the leg.
I don't think that anyone would try to repair a leg that was so waisted as to affect the structural integrity.
Plus how can anyone "sand" the filler to be as accurate as the original grinding of the leg?