Dear All,
Courtesy of a local quarry depositing rocks on the road my front rim got well buckled.. I was lucky to stay on, says a lot for the BSA S/A frame design.. While sorting the front wheel I rashly decided to check the forks over - the seals had been weeping gently for years..
Everything came apart fine, new seals fitted , bushes checked etc.. Then we come to reassembly.. One of the circlips fitted after only about half an hour of swearing. The second one.... The manual says "refit" , it might as well say "go and climb Everest".. My fingers hurt, my brain hurts and the bl**dy circlip still isn't in.. You can persuade one end into place and whatever you try next the b*gg*r pops out again..
Advice is to make sure one end is half an inch from the little recess - blow that, I just want to get the damn thing in.. It moves around anyway, just before it flies out..
Any tried and tested methods of doing this please??
Thanks,
Adrian
Bristol UK
They are difficult at the best of times, however I would check that the lip on the top bushes are not to thick and slightly masking the circlip groove.
Also if using new circlips there was a batch made a while back from wire just a bit too thick.......................
presumably the round wire circlips not the flat ones with circlip plier holes.
get one end in the groove then instead of trying to get the other end in work around from the first one. I use a thin pin punch or a mid sized screwdriver with blunt end then tap around , keeping away from the stanchion. I start with the first end near the internal cut out.
:) :) :)
I don't know if I can explain this well enuf: - Here goes
Get a 4mm drill and fix it lengthwise on the fork leg Seriously tight with a jubilee clip so that its impossible for it to move. (If a 4mm drill is too thick then use a slightly smaller one)
Feed the back of the circlip as far down into the recess as possible (Think of it as a horseshoe)
Now push the forkleg hard down so that the drill holds the circlip in place
Then easy peesy with a thin screwdriver work around in both directions from back to front and just push the circlip down into place. The drill will stop it from rising back up.
I'm sorry that I cant show a pic but Never ever thought of taking one. Best of luck.
Mike 8) 8) 8)
Many thanks for the replies, appreciated..
The clips are of the wire type, both forks had the same type.. I have a spare floating about that was from an Ariel, it looks a similar thickness but I'll measure & check. These have been on the bike some years now, although it is possible they are the thicker ones. They came out, so I'm hoping the second one will go back in..
I'll try the punch first .. The 4mm drill idea sounds novel, I would have never thought of that !!
Once my finger shave recovered I'll have another go & keep you posted.
Thanks again,
Adrian
Bristol UK
If the top bush is not seating properly or the flange is slightly to thick this will cause problems.
An old circlip in the bits box has wire diamter approx 0.092 inch (13 SWG?)
The photo shows 2 bushes, the one on the left the lip is approx 0.076 inch the one on the right approx 0.094 inch.
:) :) :)
Assuming that you are putting it all back together with the same parts, you should not have a "fit" problem.
The advantage of the drill method is that once the circlip is down in one place it is physically impossible for it to pop out providing you keep the pressure on. There simply isn't enuf space for it to go up past the drill.
Mike 8) 8) 8)
:) :) :)
Hi Adrian
Purely out of curiosity did you get your circlips fitted OK..??
Mike 8) 8) 8)
Mike,
NO !! I have just returned from another frustrating hour attempting this, once again with a bad temper and sore fingers.. I tried the drill method but the clip still sprung out.. I tried a punch, this resulted in a gouge in the stantion that I have had to file flat (punch slipped as clip sprung out!).
I do have a circlip from a mid fifties Ariel which is a similar size. Measuring both the diameter is the same, about 2.34mm. I might try the ARiel one, maybe the tensile rating is lower so the bl**dy thing might go in !!
Mind you once I've done that the forks have to go back in & I don't yet have a puller so no immediate rush I guess.. Thanks for asking though..
Cheers,
Adrian
Bristol UK
Adrian, you shouldnt need to hammer the ring in, but the flat face of the punch can be used to press the ring in...
the flat face should push down where a screwdriver can slip off, this pushes down to the top of the groove then a narrow but thick screwdriver can pop it in.
a pity the current situation as Im in Melksham im only down the road to you
Something wrong here, it should not take too much pressure to get the circlips in place, if you had to hammer them in with a punch how would you get them out in any subsequent dismantling?
As an aside I just had my A10 rebored and used IMD pistons, the circlips which came with them would not go in they just did not have any give and the only way forward was to use a new spare set which I had from years ago.
I ditched the circlips on A10 forks and use the spacers which goes between the oil seal and top bush on the 1966 - 1968 A65 damper rod forks. They fit pre unit forks and save a lot of trouble.
Photo shows A10 forks with the A65 type spacer between top bush and oil seal.
The Ariel circlip is the same as the BSA, there are a number of common parts between the forks.
:) :) :)
When you tried the drill method, did the circlip come up past the drill or did it push the drill up. Pity about this Virus situ or I would have popped over to give you a hand.
Mike 8) 8) 8)
Mike,
In the main it pushed the drill up ! Sometimes I managed to get both ends in using the drill but as soon as I tried to apply pressure the whole lot sprung out ! Am going to try the Ariel clip this afternoon. The annoying thing is that the other one went in easily. They are what was there before, both came out easily enough !!
Thanks for the offers, this virus is a pian in many ways..
Cheers,
Adrian
Bristol UK
on the B40 i put ONE end in the groovethen worked around the ring pushing it down, dont try putting both ends in first
Well, I am happy to report the Ariel one went in fairly easily (well, as these things go anyway). The other one will be consigned to a dark corner somewhere, even though it did originally fit!!
Thanks again for all suggestions and offers of help, much apprecaited.. Just need to decide now which stanchion puller to go for. The broom handle idea doesn't sound very likely to me, especially as I have bought new springs..
Thanks again to all..
Best wishes,
Adrian
Bristol UK
never found the need for a fork puller in the past, cant remember having a probem.
time will tell when I strip the A50
:) :) :) :)
I've got a home made one that you are more than welcome to borrow.
Just send me your address and I'll post it straight away.
Mike 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Mike ,
Mike
That is most kind, thank you.. A good friend who lives along the road has such a thing but not the threaded part that fits into the stanchion. He has a B31 but is really an AJS / Matchless man.. If I can source an old fork top nut he will drill a hole and turn the excess metal off (he has a lathe - ex-RR engineer!)..
That way we will both have one for future use..
If I can't find a suitable old fork nut I'll be in touch..
Thanks again for your very kind offer..
Best wishes,
Adrian
:) :)
Greetings again.
The only thing I can suggest it that maybe you didn't quite have the drill tight enough, I take it you held it on with a serious jubilee clip??. The other thing of course is to make sure that the shaft is bone dry. I can only say that it works every time for me.
I hope it works this time, whichever method you use.
Mike 8) 8) 8) 8)
Mike,
Many thanks.. What did work was changing to the Ariel circlip !! No idea why !
I'm sure he drill would work if I had a decent jubilee clip - I only had a cable tie , which didn't!!
Cheers,
Adrian
:) :) :)
Somewhere I must have an old top nut. I shall try to look it out and let you know. If all else fails gissa shout.
Mike 8) 8) 8)
I managed to install the circlips as follows:
1. Work the circlip into the top groove by hand and screwdriver.
2. Hold one end while pushing the other down into the lower groove.
3. Wrap two or three cable this around the fork leg threads to protect them.
4. Have a pair of small long-nosed locking pliers. (Cheap ones) Grind them to a size when they will fit to hold the lower circlip end in place.
5. Press the rest of the circlip down with a flat screwdriver.