Fork Leg

 

After cogitating for a while, I figured if I wanted the piece inside the fork leg to stop spinning while taking the bolt out of the bottom, I needed to put some more pressure on it than what the spring was doing. I thought a piece of dowel rod might do the trick, so off to the lumber yard I went. And as I was about to turn in, I remembered they went out of business recently. Fortunately, the hardware store had what I was looking for. I needed to taper the end of it, though, so I put it in my wood lathe. I got a good start on it and then the belt let go. I finished the taper with a file and sandpaper. I then cut it to length and threaded a hook into the end so I could pull it back out again. I removed the hook, put the dowel into the fork leg and then tightened the cap to exert pressure on the piece in the bottom to prevent it from turning. When I hit it with the impact wrench, the bolt spun right out. I took the cap off, pulled the dowel out and breathed a sigh of relief.

Here's what the top of the fork leg looks like. The snap ring looks even worse than it did on the first one I took apart. You can't even see the holes for the pliers. At some time, and probably for a long time, the forks had water getting in there. I'll get the snap ring and the seals out, clean it up and put the new seals in, then get the front end put back together. A lot of work invested in the front fork assembly. Had I known it was going to be so much work, I probably would have bought a used front end from a dirt bike and been better off, but anyone can do the easy ones.