At 45K, I'd just replace the bushings and be done with it. Lots of wear in that time. The chrome will outlast the bushings. Knurl ? I wouldn't as long as I can get new. The tubes spend most of their working life at a position about half way down. I hold them and flex with my hands. No allowable movement. At .007" they would "clink". The stress is from braking flexing the fork backwards under heavy load. That's when there is a lot of wear. Did I mention I do this without the springs in ? Consider how short the contact length is (bushing) to keep all this in alignment. Just make sure the bushing is seated when checking for play.
--- On Fri, 1/1/10, oldschoolgwin <[email protected]> wrote: From: oldschoolgwin <[email protected]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Fork seals part 2: slider bushing To: "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, January 1, 2010, 1:46 AM Dennis, The bike has about 45k miles currently. It was a one owner bike before i got it earlier this year - kept in the garage all its life - the PO took care of it but didn't do his own maintenance. I''m sure the seals had been replace before - not sure abou the bushings. The steps i followed were your older posts on the steps (thanks). 1. Removed wheel, etc 2. Loosened fork tube caps 3. Loosened bottom fork bolt 4. Removed springs 5. Drained fluid 6. Dissassembled all components 7. Cleaned all comps in solvent 8. Assembled fork tube into slider 9. Installed upper slider bushing Halted on installing seal and remainder due to fork play. The way i measured the fork tube / bushing clearance is collapsing the fork tube in the slider all the way (clamped in vise), then measure the total horizontal movement of the tube with respect to the fork slider at the slider bushing location which indicates the diametric clearance in the installed condition. If the tube was compressed half way and the measured (assuming the fork tube is constant diameter - no wear marks) it should have the same clearance. So what would be the movement at the end of the fork tube when the fork tube is collapsed 50% into the slider: similar triangles applies it should be about 0.021" at teh end of the fork tube. I removed the bushing - the inside is completely teflon coated (no copper showing - no scoring whatsoever). The outside of the bushing is about 80% copper showing (looks as if the outside was copper plated and some copper was worn away). I don't think the outside has material worn away from it as it is essentially static while it is seated in the fork slider and it's th inside of the bushing that is the sliding or wearing surface. The outside of the bushing looks like it was ground to that condition after the teflon coating process. Does the bushing sound like it isn't worn based on full teflon inside? Maybe Honda just has a loose tolerance in this design? If the clearance is of concern I could slightly knurl the outside of the bushing and that would take up a few thousands in a heat beat. On Dec 31, 9:47 pm, Dennis Hammerl <[email protected]> wrote: > This bike has how many miles ? Did you remove the tubes from the bottoms ? > It's easy enough to slide off the syntalic bushings and look at them. If they > show scuffing or scarring, it's time to replace. No, there is no spec. .007" > is a ton. Is that at full extension ? That isn't a good check. Half way is. > Now I do it by feel but I expect that less than .003" is more like it. May > ask a polite question ? Would you be so kind as to take us step by step > through what you have done (method) and how ? I've written several times > about fork seal replacement and I'm starting to wonder how you went about it. > I'd just like to get on the same page. I had techs in Florida that could do > the job without removing the tubes from the bike and didn't take off the > caps. That's a bizarre method but it can be done. (flat rate breeds all > manner of things) They'd take off the caps to change oil or springs. > > --- On Thu, 12/31/09, oldschoolgwin <[email protected]> wrote: > > From: oldschoolgwin <[email protected]> > Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Fork seals part 2: slider bushing > To: "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" <[email protected]> > Date: Thursday, December 31, 2009, 10:20 PM > > Fork seals part 2: now that the 6hr fork tube cover bolt saga is over; > > Ok - I cleaned every thing up real nice and assembled back togther to > see how it all feels. > > Results of the wiggle test: With the slider bushing installed (fork > seal NOT installed) i get precisely 0.007" (.2mm) movement (as > measured with a dial indicator) of the fork tube inside the slider > bushing when the fork tube collapsed all the way. It feels like more > than 0.007" but as measured thats all it is. > > It felt tight before taking it apart. I specifically checked how it > felt as i didn't want to find a sloppy fork. I suspect the before/aft > difference is the oil seal / dust seal is not installed and no oil > film in between the slider bushing. > > Is this normal or does this mean the slider bushing is worn and needs > replacing (there is not a spec in the OEM manual for slop assembled)? > > Thoughts? > > Thanks, > > Paul > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en.
