HELP - Left Brake Caliper Rubbing?!

[humshark]

I hate doing stupid things, but alas I seem to do them every now and then.  I'm hoping this is easy.

I disassembled my front end, removing the forks to inspect and replace seals.  Being my first time ever to do such a thing I was a bit nervous but once I got rolling, everything began to make sense.

NOW - i have the forks back on, installed the front wheel - have the left pinch bolts tightened, and the Axle bolt torqued on the right side, but not the pinch bolts yet.

I go to mount the brake calipers -
-- right one no problem - on in 3 minutes
-- Left one - holy crap - what a pain, and then once it is on,.... The top mounting bolt is rubbing the disc right where the rivets holding the discs separating the outer ring from the inner ring are.  The bottom is so close it looks like it would rub if the top didn't.

I'm going to take it apart again and look around - but I'm myth'd - it all worked when i took it down to start the job..... 

[humshark]

OK lack of sleep is definitely taking it's toll.  I loosened the left pinch bolts and bumped the fork out a little to get my minimum.7mm clearance.  tightened and good to go!  duh!

[DFragn]

OK lack of sleep is definitely taking it's toll.  I loosened the left pinch bolts and bumped the fork out a little to get my minimum.7mm clearance.  tightened and good to go!  duh!

Bumped?
Was that by pumping the forks with the bars to allow the left fork to assume its own position to avoid fork leg stiction?

[Gryphon Rider]

OK lack of sleep is definitely taking it's toll.  I loosened the left pinch bolts and bumped the fork out a little to get my minimum.7mm clearance.  tightened and good to go!  duh!

If by this you mean the left fork is now slightly farther from the right fork than it was before, you have made a mistake.  The cause of the disk rivets rubbing is that the axle head is not seated properly in the left fork.  When seated properly, the left end of the axle (the head) will be flush with the fork.  The distance between the left and right forks is determined by the internal spacer (and the bearings, etc.).

[Ricky-D]

Without trying to beat the subject to death I wish to say the left side fork is not located by anything other than by where you place it on the enlarged end of the axle and held in place then by the pinch bolts at the bottom. It can move laterally as it should.

Tightening the axle nut merely pulls all the components to the right side fork and tightens them all together in a solid assembly. When doing this, the pinch bolts on the left fork should not be tight.

The spacing (of the forks) should be always the same when replacing the wheel to avoid unnatural forces upon the sliding components inside the fork tube and the seals that hold the oil in. Misalignment of the forks is the biggest reason for leaking oil seals.

How do you know what the correct alignment should be?  In a perfect world the best attained measurement would be for the forks to have no restrictions upon them so the forks could then be in their natural aligned position. That would be: No wheel or axle mounted and no fender attached to the forks. Keep in mind the fender does not (should not) have any influence in locating the alignment of the forks.

***

[Warlock]

I hate doing stupid things, but alas I seem to do them every now and then.  I'm hoping this is easy.

I disassembled my front end, removing the forks to inspect and replace seals.  Being my first time ever to do such a thing I was a bit nervous but once I got rolling, everything began to make sense.

NOW - i have the forks back on, installed the front wheel - have the left pinch bolts tightened, and the Axle bolt torqued on the right side, but not the pinch bolts yet.

I go to mount the brake calipers -
-- right one no problem - on in 3 minutes
-- Left one - holy crap - what a pain, and then once it is on,.... The top mounting bolt is rubbing the disc right where the rivets holding the discs separating the outer ring from the inner ring are.  The bottom is so close it looks like it would rub if the top didn't.

I'm going to take it apart again and look around - but I'm myth'd - it all worked when i took it down to start the job..... 

This is where some people makes mistakes. If you do not make sure your axle is flush on the left side this will cause to the rotor to rub. Simple fix. Lossen the pinch bolts and tap the axle till it's flush with the forks. Some axles has a fine little line on the left side and I have seen some without the line.
David

[humshark]

Am i allowed to hijack my own thread?

I quickly fixed the front end and moved on to the rear.  Pulling the wheel, installing new dampers ( Thanks Gary! ) broke a retaining bolt for the dampers long before i got to the 15 ft/lbs - ( Thanks Cool Springs Honda for having a new set in stock! )

Pulled my universal since i keep having this nagging feeling about a buzz i feel in my footpegs - I had a bad left rear bearing that was replaced almost 3 months ago.  Anyway - cleaned the old Universal up and found that it does have a "sticky" spot on one axis.  I pulled out my spare and put it in. 

THANKS to the guys that have posted the EASY way to replace the universal.  The boot wasn't even difficult to get back on with a couple of motions on the swing arm.

Installed new shock bushings - the old ones were a mess.  I CAN"T WAIT TO TAKE HER OUT! 

Heading to the dragon Friday morning.  Thanks again to all of you!

[humshark]

Whoops - almost forgot to answer the question

Bumped?
Was that by pumping the forks with the bars to allow the left fork to assume its own position to avoid fork leg stiction?

By bumping it out - i actually pulled the axle into the left fork a bit more.  I then went through the process of pumping the forks and then tightening everything down.  All clearances are good.  Thanks!  I should learn to stop when i get too tired!