Stripping The Front Forks From My Barn Find Triumph Bonneville | T140 Fork Strip Guide | 16

Описание: Stripping The Front Forks From My Barn Find Triumph Bonneville | T140 Fork Strip Guide | 16

In this episode I strip the front forks of my 1975 Triumph Bonneville T140V. I am rebuilding the bike into a restomod desert sled or street scrambler style bike.

Here are some of the tools I am going to be using for this bike:

Imperial Combination Spanner Set: https://ebay.us/gYz85M
Imperial 1/2inch Socket set: https://ebay.us/jylH05
Imperial Allen Hex Bit Sockets: https://ebay.us/iFV0OQ

I bought this 1975 Triumph Bonneville T140V through an eBay auction, after it was imported back from the USA. I managed to register it in the UK within 4 weeks of getting it, and I am keen to ride it in the Spring. Once I had it in my possession it wasn’t in quite as good a condition as I had hoped. But I did intend to do quite a bit to it so that wasn’t really a problem.

I have already stripped the frame and started stripping the engine, in this video I have moved on to stripping the forks. I am not intending to make any major changes to the suspension, but I know that all of the rubber seals in the forks will need replacing, and I can see that the stanchions will probably need to be replaced.

Sometimes stripping the forks can have a few problem points. One being the screw that goes through the bottom of the slider into the damper assembly. There is a special tool that you can use to hold the damper assembly, which if you don’t have makes it difficult to stop the damper spinning instead of coming undone. I have always left the spring in the fork leg under tension, this is usually enough to hold it while you remove the screw. This worked for me this time.

Another problem I have had in the past is removing the end nut off the stanchion where the damper goes through it. I have found this amazingly hard to undo on previous forks, meaning the nut part got damaged and couldn’t be reused. This time I decided to use heat, and although the nuts came out great, the heat destroyed the bushing inside them. I thought that the bush might be available separately to be replaced, but it seems I was wrong. I will have to think about something else in the future. Another issue with taking this nut out is holding the stanchion firmly so that it doesn't turn as you undo the nut. I have found that putting on of the fork clamps onto the stanchion gives you something to hold while you are undoing the nut.

Overall I found pretty much what I expected with these forks. I was hoping that the stanchions would be useable, but I am not surprised that they aren't. I would really like to get them rechromed, but looking at the cost it is more likely that I will buy repo ones. I was a little dissapointed when I found out that the bushing in the end cap of the stanchion isn't available as a seperate part, but it isn't a show stopper, I wll have to be more careful next time when stripping the end nut off. Having looked at second hand stanchions for sale, a lot seem to come with the end nuts still attached, I wonder why?

I am intending to powder coat the sliders, so before I put too much effort into that I need to make sure that the non brake side slider is usable. It does have some marking on the inside from the scrape on the stanchion, but I think that if I smooth that out it doesn't have other signs of being worn. As these forks don't use bushes between the slider and the stanchion there is bound to be some marking, but it is only when it has too much play that it is an issue, there will always be some.

The other thing that I need to think about before I rebuild them is the fork oil. Triumph specced ATF originally, I think that this is around 7.5w I have also hear that people have used 20/50w oil to stiffen up the damping. I am thinking of using a heavier standard fork oil, but maybe fork oil doesn't have the right properties to work in the slider stanchion set up that doesn't have bushes, so I think I will give ATF another look.

For more helpful how-to guides and restoration project logs, visit our blog: https://www.spannerrash.com/

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