Front fork disassembly

[LOUD MOUSE]

I hope I can be of help on this.
As the parts are in line as you show them you will find the tube is machined so only the correct ring will install at that point.
The seal has a steel outer winch in all the years I've remove them I've used a chisel which is 1/8
wide and colapse that steel outer into the center.
Rather difficlt to describee so I hope others can offer the way they remove th seal. ..............lm

After finishing my chores I went back to work on the fork. I got the knock pins out and disassembled it. However I am confused. On the pipe fork there are two grooves for snap rings. On my fork there was no snap ring in the lower groove, one snap ring in the upper groove, and a snap ring just floating on the pipe fork above the upper groove (but below the fork pipe guide). In the parts manual it shows a fork pipe stopper ring, fork piston snap ring, and a fork valve stopper ring. Which is which and where do they all go.

The photos below show the parts I have and the order they were removed from bottom to top of the fork. The photo doesn't show the oil seal because I can't for the life of me get it out of fork seal housing.

As always thanks for the help.

Husker

[G-Man]

Husker

LM is correct - the parts tend to fit in the places made for them. For instance one of the wire circlips locates in a nice groove in the bottom of the top bush. The number of grooves above the bottom bush changed at some time and I had to put an extra grrove in some (early?) NOS tubes when replacing the tube in a later CL77. You may be looking at the later parts list when you describe those extra parts. On the alloy-fork CB77 the seals are in the top of the fork slider.

The steel 'damper valve' fits with the taper pointing downward toward the bush. I have a fork, which hasn't been dismantled, as a guide.



As for the seal, yes you have to ruin it to get it out. If I remember correctly there is a wire circlip hidden down in the muck, holding that seal in the holder. Also there is an o-ring in the bottom part of the seal holder. Looking at your second picture I can see all of those parts but the spare circlip is a mystery....

G

I hope I can be of help on this.
As the parts are in line as you show them you will find the tube is machined so only the correct ring will install at that point.
The seal has a steel outer winch in all the years I've remove them I've used a chisel which is 1/8
wide and colapse that steel outer into the center.
Rather difficlt to describee so I hope others can offer the way they remove th seal. ..............lm

After finishing my chores I went back to work on the fork. I got the knock pins out and disassembled it. However I am confused. On the pipe fork there are two grooves for snap rings. On my fork there was no snap ring in the lower groove, one snap ring in the upper groove, and a snap ring just floating on the pipe fork above the upper groove (but below the fork pipe guide). In the parts manual it shows a fork pipe stopper ring, fork piston snap ring, and a fork valve stopper ring. Which is which and where do they all go.

The photos below show the parts I have and the order they were removed from bottom to top of the fork. The photo doesn't show the oil seal because I can't for the life of me get it out of fork seal housing.

As always thanks for the help.

Husker

[AlanW]

You are indeed correct Graham, the seal has a circlip holding it in place,
Al.

[Husker45]

G-man thanks for the photo, worth a thousand words as they say. I'm wondering how my fork ended up with no circle clip holding the damper valve in place. I had one circle clip in the upper groove and the second circle clip above that one free to slide on the fork tube. This allowed the damper valve to slide all the way up to the upper groove. I wonder how that affected the shock operation. Oh well now I know how to reassemble correctly. I did remove the clip above the oil seal. Off to chisel out the oil seal ( very carefully of course).

Husker

[G-Man]

Husker

You're welcome. Those forks can be confusing. The missing clip above the damper valve means that the valve was moving too far. The compression damping would have been reduced . As for rebound damping it would depend on how far upwards the valve had traveleed beforte it had to reverse.

That little ring just varies the damping rate depending upon which direction teh forks are traveling so it has to move a little.

G

G-man thanks for the photo, worth a thousand words as they say. I'm wondering how my fork ended up with no circle clip holding the damper valve in place. I had one circle clip in the upper groove and the second circle clip above that one free to slide on the fork tube. This allowed the damper valve to slide all the way up to the upper groove. I wonder how that affected the shock operation. Oh well now I know how to reassemble correctly. I did remove the clip above the oil seal. Off to chisel out the oil seal ( very carefully of course).

Husker

[Husker45]

After disassembly and inspection on the fork pistons they are below minimum spec for outer diameter plus had what I would best describe as flats wore on one of them. Based on my review of the parts diagram these pistons should have a part number of 51442-268-040. When I called Nick at Ohio Cycle the fork pistons he had under that part number had grooves instead of knock pin holes for attaching to the fork pipe.

Next I tried western hills Honda. Same thing. The fork piston under part number 51442-268-040 had grooves and no holes for knock pins. And because I am persistent same result with College Bike Store and Floyd's.

So I'm stuck. I want to replace these fork Pistons but either because I have the wrong part number or because they no longer exist under that number I can't find replacements.

Any thoughts or ideas greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Husker

[LOUD MOUSE]

You have the FIRST issue and they are not all that available as not many bikes were produced before they were changed. ....... ....................lm

After disassembly and inspection on the fork pistons they are below minimum spec for outer diameter plus had what I would best describe as flats wore on one of them. Based on my review of the parts diagram these pistons should have a part number of 51442-268-040. When I called Nick at Ohio Cycle the fork pistons he had under that part number had grooves instead of knock pin holes for attaching to the fork pipe.

Next I tried western hills Honda. Same thing. The fork piston under part number 51442-268-040 had grooves and no holes for knock pins. And because I am persistent same result with College Bike Store and Floyd's.

So I'm stuck. I want to replace these fork Pistons but either because I have the wrong part number or because they no longer exist under that number I can't find replacements.

Any thoughts or ideas greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Husker