I thought about one of those DNA test thingies but on reflection have decided that it's easy to tell that I've got Scottish blood in my system - see fork puller tool details below.
I took out my Royal Star front wheel to get a closer look at the bent spokes (see earlier Splodger post) and dropped the forks so that I could fit shiny new headlamp brackets.
Fork replacement requires a puller to draw the tubes up into the top yoke but all the pullers I looked at cost about £30+. For a tool that I only want to use once, it semed a tad expensive. In the spirit of classic bike enthusiasm, I improvised!
I already had a 10mm X 1m length of studding and a few nuts and washers of various size in one of the toolboxes. What I needed was something to engage with the inside dia/thread of the fork leg. An expanding plug would do the job and I found almost the exact fit with a plumber's expansion plug. It cost me £2.81 from RS components. Part no 253-6321.
The studding cost £3.12 from B&Q.
I used the square plug and shaved some off the corners so that it was cosy fit in the top of the fork and expanded the plug by spannering a top nut until it gripped enough. Fed studding and fork leg through both yokes. Added top washer and 'tightening' nut then pulled up fork plus studding/plug via a spanner on the top nut and Bob's (Jock's - can I say that?) your uncle. The brass fitting in the pic is just a spacer from my plumbing toolbox to make sure that I pulled up to the top of the yoke chamfer. I didn't cut the 1m studding length to make handling a little easier so it took an extra 15 seconds to run the nut down!!
Hope this helps someone to save a penny or two.
Very professional! My bodge was to take a rusty old fork nut and file the hexagon off it then run some 3/8" cycle thread rod through it with a lock nut to screw int the fork leg. A bit of flat steel and a nut and instant puller. Have had it for rather a lot of years and it's invaluable.
Another stingy Scot.
Both ingenious. My simple solution was to cable tie the fork stanchion and pull it up until I could fit the fork nut....3 mins....and I'm not even a Scot!