At wits end trying to remove the trike's forks. UPDATE

[John Schmidt]

I tried to do this last year prior to Inzane with no luck. I have the pinch bolts really loose cuz I need to pull the forks to replace the fork oil and check to see if they're in need of rebuild. Knowing the prior owner, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the factory fork oil at 72k miles. The trike has a 6 degree rake kit on a '99 I/S with a Roadsmith kit and it's really bugging me, I can't get the forks to move. Since the top of the fork tubes aren't visible, I used a rag and used a big pipe wrench to try and turn them to no avail. What am I missing?  

[Avanti]

Who’s triple tree?
Use a wooden wedge to open the pinch after loosening the pinch bolt.

[Chrisj CMA]

Make sure you crack the girl topper cap loose  before removing the fork

[John Schmidt]

Make sure you crack the girl topper cap loose  before removing the fork

I know about that Chris, problem with this rake kit and others I've seen...the top tree is solid and the top of the fork fits up inside. If I can ever get the forks to move, I'll clamp them with the bottom tree after they're out far enough to access the top cap.

That reminds me of a Honda shop west of Orlando some years ago. They couldn't get the cap loose and had half the shop trying to help...a guy on each side of the handlebars, another straddling the front wheel, one guy on a 24" breaker bar trying to loosen the cap. No luck...so I walked over and noticed right off that the top pinch bolts hadn't been loosened so I asked for the ratchet and allen socket, loosened both sides then said "try it now." Easy as pie! The shop mgr. walked over and slapped all of them on the back of the head, winked at me with a thanks and mounted my tire for nothing.

[ridingron]

  That reminds me of a Honda shop west of Orlando some years ago. They couldn't get the cap loose and had half the shop trying to help...a guy on each side of the handlebars, another straddling the front wheel, one guy on a 24" breaker bar trying to loosen the cap. No luck...so I walked over and noticed right off that the top pinch bolts hadn't been loosened so I asked for the ratchet and allen socket, loosened both sides then said "try it now." Easy as pie! The shop mgr. walked over and slapped all of them on the back of the head, winked at me with a thanks and mounted my tire for nothing.    

That was a nice dealership. I bought a couple bikes there. I worked with a couple of their guys at another job.

Owning a 'Wing back in the day, you probably stopped in at Leesburg Honda.


Unfortunately they both changed owners or closed down.

[luftkoph]

That’s a crazy setup I can only imagine the corrosion inside that top clamp, maybe heat it up then blast it with those air duster cans,  that stuff comes out cold, it might break some of the corrosion, how about along with that one of those pipe wrenches that use a fiber strap, put it on the tube and torque on it.

Living in the rust belt heat and more heat are my go to for getting things apart, and if that don’t work I try MORE heat.

[John Schmidt]

  That reminds me of a Honda shop west of Orlando some years ago. They couldn't get the cap loose and had half the shop trying to help...a guy on each side of the handlebars, another straddling the front wheel, one guy on a 24" breaker bar trying to loosen the cap. No luck...so I walked over and noticed right off that the top pinch bolts hadn't been loosened so I asked for the ratchet and allen socket, loosened both sides then said "try it now." Easy as pie! The shop mgr. walked over and slapped all of them on the back of the head, winked at me with a thanks and mounted my tire for nothing.    

That was a nice dealership. I bought a couple bikes there. I worked with a couple of their guys at another job.

Owning a 'Wing back in the day, you probably stopped in at Leesburg Honda.


Unfortunately they both changed owners or closed down.

Yes Ron, actually it was just west of Winter Garden on the north side of SR50. Both it and Leesburg were popular dealers back when.

[John Schmidt]

That’s a crazy setup I can only imagine the corrosion inside that top clamp, maybe heat it up then blast it with those air duster cans,  that stuff comes out cold, it might break some of the corrosion, how about along with that one of those pipe wrenches that use a fiber strap, put it on the tube and torque on it.

Living in the rust belt heat and more heat are my go to for getting things apart, and if that don’t work I try MORE heat.

I think corrosion is probably the issue here. The rake kit trees are aluminum, as are the fork tubes, so interaction between the two is quite possible. I hesitate at using much heat other than possibly a heat gun, mainly due to all the wiring in the vicinity. I do have some of those duster cans and they do blow cold. If I could just get one fork loose it would give me some insight as to how to address the second one. My son-in-law is going to drop by the next day or so and help out...he's a trim and powerful 6'5" and when he said I'm sure we can get it apart, I just smile.

[Avanti]

Put a shaft in place of the axle. Place a 2x4 on top of the shaft than place a small hydraulic jack between the 2x4 and triple tree. Place a small amount of pressure and use a heat gun.
I am guessing you have already used some penetrating oil.

[Bagger John - #3785]

When reassembling, look into a compound called "NoAlox". It's meant for aluminum tubing joints on communications antennas and many radio ops swear by the stuff. Makes for easy disassembly and good connectivity between elements.

[John Schmidt]

Well...partial success. I used the jack method mentioned above and only the right one dropped finally. Still took some messing with it to get it all the way out of the top tree but it finally gave up. Then I went after the left side, looking closely I could tell it had moved about 1/8"...but wouldn't move any further out so went for my big pipe wrench again. That still took some effort but it finally turned a little and I was able to give it one more shot with the pipe wrench before it broke loose. What surprised me was there's no evidence of corrosion that would have caused the difficulty removing them. Both the trees and the forks are aluminum so no galvanic corrosion(dissimilar metals) was possible. Now, both are out and the fun begins. So far no success trying to remove the caps using either a breaker bar or rattle gun. I place them in a vice with a rag to minimize the surface damage, they simply won't budge...yet. Tomorrow I'll get out my Bernzomatic and heat it up, hope that helps. I'm just glad the upper portion of the fork tubes aren't visible on the I/S, they're buried inside the fairing. I'll eventually sand down and polish the areas marked by the vice and pipe wrench but right now it sure looks ugly.

[Avanti]

If you have an original set of triple trees put the bearing shaft in the vice and then put both fork tubes in and tighten only the lower pinch bolt; loosen caps.

[Jess from VA]

I still remember removing a fork cap to an older Kawasaki and having it launch the spring and associated parts over my 7 foot fence into my neighbor's yard.  And being glad my face was not in the way. 

[John Schmidt]

If you have an original set of triple trees put the bearing shaft in the vice and then put both fork tubes in and tighten only the lower pinch bolt; loosen caps.

I used to have a set, may still be out there...somewhere! I'll have to go on safari in the morning. 

[Speedy Coop]

Is the top tree out of alignment with the lower causing it to bind up? or is it a tight interference fit up top? Hope it goes back together easier than it came apart!

[John Schmidt]

Is the top tree out of alignment with the lower causing it to bind up? or is it a tight interference fit up top? Hope it goes back together easier than it came apart!

Coop, they wouldn't drop out individually, not sure the cause. I did notice one side was lower by just a fraction. I measured the extended portion at the bottom and it was the same, but the distance from the top tree to the end of the upper tube wasn't the same. I don't think that had anything to do with the difficulty of removing the forks but probably did affect the wear on the front tire. Judging by the way it was all put together when the trike conversion was done at the factory, including the rake kit, I'm assuming the newly hired gorilla wasn't fully trained. 

[Avanti]

Double check your triple tree bearing pre- load before reassembly.
Probably you do not need to be reminded.

[John Schmidt]

Double check your triple tree bearing pre- load before reassembly.
Probably you do not need to be reminded.

It's on the "to do" list, especially since it's a 6 deg. rake on a trike. Easy to create spots in the races but haven't felt anything thus far.

[John Schmidt]

Removing the caps ended up being a 2-man job. Took them over to my son-in-law's shop where he has a huge vice that can rotate, locked the forks vertically in them and applied heat...ended up using a lot of heat to break the caps loose. I applied the heat while he worked to loosen them. They did finally come loose with the rattle gun but didn't remove them, waited until I got home and set them in my vice tipped down at an angle with a catch basin below. Just letting them drain overnight, would like to flush them out but not sure what to use. I plan to refill them with less oil to hopefully soften the ride. Right now the way they are if you hit a bump it feels like your elbow ends up next to your shoulder...quite harsh. The I/S left fork takes 24.8oz., figured I'd use 23oz. even. The right fork takes 22.6oz. so thought maybe 21oz. on that side. I'm open to suggestions on whether to use those amounts or maybe less. In the past I used about 1.5oz less in Std. and Tourer forks, the I/S uses different amounts to flying blind on this one.

[Skinhead]

John,

I don't know if it matters to you or not, but I found ATF fluid works just fine in my forks as opposed to some outrageously priced fork oils. 

[Avanti]

1999 Valkyrie Interstate, not a trike!

From my maintenance notes. 

As more degrees are added to the forks the direction of force that compress the springs changes the way the suspension functions. Rather than riding over the bump it tends to run into the bump.

A low oil level and or light oil  weight or a damper that has air left in it will cause the damper reaction time to cycle to quickly causing the fork tubes to act like slide hammers.

20,000 mile intervals.

Drain overnight into graduated beaker.

Left fork
7wt Maxima 125-150
Refill with 22oz

Right fork
7wt Maxima 125-150
Refill with 18oz

[John Schmidt]

Think I've figured out why the forks were such a pain to remove. Just got done changing the oil, really stunk bad after 11 yrs. in there, being heated up by the fork action didn't help. Glad it's out. Went to reinstall them on the bike and the upper/lower trees don't line up, off just a fraction but causes them to bind when trying to insert into the top tree. They go in but not all the way without forcing them so I'm going to loosen the steering bolt just enough to allow them to move ever so slightly. Once the forks are in place I'll lock everything down. I measure the depth of the hole the forks fit into in the top tree and marked the fork accordingly. Simply won't go in that far so loosening the trees are the next step. This one is on the Roadsmith factory since the trike kit was installed by them along with the rake kit. Been a major irritation.