Hitchcocks Forum

OK, here's one for the fork strippers and builders amongst us.



Can the fork bottoms/ends/sliders from a set of early leading axle C5 or B5 forks be fitted to a set of classic Bullet forks with the older style damper assembly inside? The reason being that the standard C5/B5 forks can't be filled with oil from the top like standard Bullet forks, and I want to use these sliders in particular but don't want to have to take the forks out of the yokes and turn them upside down when it comes time to change the fork oil.



Yes, I do KNOW that the complete fork assemblies are interchangeable if you have the ones from the right year with the external thread on the top of the stanchions. With this in mind, an considering that the stanchion outside diameter is the same, what I'm after is a way of using the 2009-2011 sliders with the pre EFI (1988-2008) stanchions and damper internals, so that I can avoid a major front-end strip every time I want to do some basic maintenance.



Please note this does NOT concern the EFI Electra forks which are the same as the Electra-X forks, and still have the old-style internals.



Thanking you in advance,



A.

Don't know but.....Would it not be possible to put a drain plug in the existing file?

May be one day RE will design an Upside-down fork?


Then you could drain them from the Bottom Ok, but probably you would have to remove them to fill them?

As far as I know DRAINING the C5 forks isn't the problem, it's re-filling them without removal or possibly resorting this sort of action.





Apologies to Bullet Wisperer for nicking his photo.




I suppose the clever answer, short of modifying the fork internals to allow common sense oil changes, would be to replace the allen screw at the bottom with a hollow screw fitted with a sprung-loaded ball valve and a BSP union for a hose-tail that would allow fresh oil to be pumped in with the forks in situ.



Meanwhile, if anyone who actually knows the answer to my question would care to reply, it would be nice to hear from you!



A.

Oh dear...







Someone on the US forum posted an article about a fork strip of the C5/B5 version a while ago, I found the link to the pictures in case anyone finds it helpful. Apart from being aware that the top cap screwed into the fork stanchions is on a LEFT HAND thread, it's also worth noting that he needed an 18" extension bar for his socket set together with a chunk of 10mm or 14mm hex bar fitted to a socket of the same size to hold the damper assembly on the inside when unscrewing or tightening the allen screw at the bottom of the fork slider.



https://get.google.com/albumarchive/117 ... MCp4ZfToAE



A.

I think the American is confused.
If he is unscrewing the fork leg from the top with a hex bar this is similar to the Bullets.
This is not a left hand thread but has to be unscrewed unticlockwise from top as this is the bottom of the thread (if that makes sense)

Now I'm confused!
Right hand thread unscrewed from the "bottom" is clockwise.

Sorry, I should have been more precise.



The early C5 stanchions still have the standard right-hand **external** fine thread at the top of the stanchion (on the outside) for screwing into the classic Bullet casquette or whatever other internally threaded top yoke you mat be using. The reason you turn it anti-clockwise to screw it into the casquette is because you are looking at the back of the female thread, effectively.



Like the earlier fork legs there is a steel cap fitted to the top of the stanchion, with the 1/2" hex recess for the fork extractor tool and a threaded hole for the slotted plug which plugs the 'ole in the casquette when the fork leg is fitted, but **unlike** the trad Bullet fork this cap has no hole at the bottom of the hex recess to let you pour the oil through, and this cap has to be unscrewed from the top of the stanchion if you want to change the oil. THIS is what our American friend claims is on a left-hand thread, on the inside of the stanchion.



With me so far? Good, now just to confuse things RE India also brought out a fork design with a plain top stanchion, as used on the latest C5 models with the non-leading axle sliders as well as several home market models. This also has a steel cap on top of the stanchion which screws in, but there's a vid on Youtube showing an Indian mechanic stripping a set of these forks, and the steel cap is on a right-hand thread, as it unscrews anti-clockwise.







A.