What's the trick for getting the fork legs back in?

burvis · Post by **burvis** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 5:42 pm

I replaced my fork seals on my '67 CB77 which has the aluminum sliders. Now I'm stuck getting the fork legs back into the triple trees. Since the springs are outside, each fork leg is all the way compressed when 'at rest'. The steel fork covers prevent me from feeding the forks all the way up the top. How can I keep the fork legs 'topped out' while I push them up into the triple trees? Scratchin' my head over here... BTW, I read the whole forum on suspension before posting, couldn't find anything on this problem.

clhiller · Post by **clhiller** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 10:16 pm

When I was putting mine back together, I had the same problem. I found a bolt the same size (dia) as the original bolts, but long enough to reach the forks through the triple tree. I screwed it in and pulled the fork up into place.

burvis · Post by **burvis** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:42 pm

Yep, that worked. I'd pictured that idea yesterday, but worried about the availability of a long bolt with the exact thread size, pitch, etc. I took one of the top bolts to tractor supply, and experimented with the test board. I got an 8" bolt with 7/16 threads. It went in reasonably well and I got the forks into place. Thanks for the tip!