LOOM & ELECTRICS (FORKS)

I test fitted the stanchion into the lower leg, it took quite an effort to get it in and it wouldn't go in fully. Realising it should not be this tight or difficult to insert I tried to remove the stanchion but it was stuck fast. I made a tool, using threaded rod, nuts and washers, I put the top yoke nut onto the stanchion with this rod going through the centre of the top nut. I gripped the end of the rod in the vice and repeatedly rammed the whole leg away from the vice, with great effort. Every time the movement was stopped by the rod the stanchion moved up a little bit. Until the lower bush came off the bottom of the stanchion, the stanchion was out but the bush was left behind.

I made a tool, well several spring loaded expanding efforts that would rest behind the stuck bush and allow an attempt to remove it, non worked. I cut through the bush with a modified diamond hack saw blade, it had to be modified as the bush was slightly lower in the leg than the restrictor which I also couldn't remove.

The lower bush is the same size as the I/D of the lower leg. I could either make the bush smaller, this should be easy as it is brass or make the inside of the lower leg wider. I decided to make a tool, I used the lower bush that I cut in half. I soldered two legs to the inside of the bush, then welded a 10mm drill bit onto the insides of the legs. The plan being to use grinding paste and sand paper held in place by the slot in the bush to form a kind of reamer.

Once all the parts were removed I could see that these are in fact, longer dust excluder sleeve nuts, only they look different to how they do in the parts diagram. I thought that they may also be a custom modification like the external fork springs. Later I found an advert on Ebay for a set of T20C competition fork stanchions and lower legs, the image had the same longer sleeve nut, therefore I guess it is a standard part. The upper bush normally sits in the top of the lower leg, as you can see from the images the upper bush is located in the top of the longer sleeve nut.

I have since found a picture on Ebay of a Tiger Cub with what looks like the sleeve nut in the parts catalogue, so I guess there are two types of long sleeve nut available.

The extra external spring modification consists of what looks like a spring and lower spring cup which has had a washer braised to it. This has been used to locate the top of the spring. I believe these parts are from the external spring version of the T20 heavyweight forks. The bottom is a large washer and a piece of pipe that is used to raise the seating level of the spring to near the top of the competition dust excluder sleeve nut.