Hitchcocks Forum

Afternoon all,

Hoping someone can shed some light on this for me. Just changed my fork seals (2007 iron head), re-filled with oil etc. but was unable to put the threaded cap back on the top of one of the legs. On closer Inspection, the fork leg isn't lining up with the hole in the casquette, so preventing the cap from screwing into the fork.

I've removed and refitted the fork leg again, just to make sure its going in right, and it certainly seems to be - screws in without a problem. Am I missing something?

The cap screws into the casquette? Check that the O rings that effects a seal for the cap is not stopping the screw plug (cap) from starting?

Thanks for your reply Tim. The cap screws into the top of the fork leg. There is a non-threaded hole in the casquette above the fork leg, for the cap to go through; my problem is the hole doesn't line up with the fork leg properly, so is stopping me screwing the cap onto the leg. Unless there's something I'm missing, I suspect the hole has been cast/drilled slightly off, in which case there's not much I can do, other than widening it or running a tap down it.

Make sure pinch bolt in top nactile is loosened screw fork tube all the way in then tighten pinch bolts at top I found this centred mine after renewing O rings. See diagram below Copy & Paste.
http://www.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/pa ... amp_Casing

Tim, Indian bullet casquettes don't have a thread like the Redditch ones.

Thanks for the tip Paul. Tried with the pinch bolts nipped up and loosened to see if there was any movement, but with no joy. I'm starting to think the answer might have to be a new casquette - and that the fork seal I just replaced wasn't leaking at all!

Just a thought. Have you got a bent leg/stanction? Perhaps it lined up before, but now it has not indexed to exactly the same location. Try rotating the tube and looking at the threaded end to see if there is any circular motion. Chris.

Note for Chris Tindal, many Indian casquettes DO have threads for the fork stanchions to screw into, I think it's only recently they changed the design of the stanchion to plain tops instead of threaded. My Electra-X had a threaded casquette, and the cafe racer alloy fork yoke from our hosts is marketed as being suitable for the EFI C5 models up to about 2011/12. I understand the factory now use larger O/D stanchions and have ditched the leading axle forks, though the latter seem to have reappeared on pictures of the new Himalayan domestic prototypes. A.

Adrian, I meant the two little chrome caps at the top of the casquette, not the forks themselves.

Thanks for your all your input chaps. I've finally managed to get the cap seated (although I'm yet to test ride it, so it might still be leaking!). I found by loosening off the fork leg, I could screw down the cap until it met the casquette. I then tightened the leg a bit more, then the cap, until they were both seated. Hopefully should be OK. I am now slightly worried that Chris may be right and I have a bent leg (the bike, not me). I'll see what happens on the test ride...