Steering head dissassembly/reassembly

[Rick]

This is a YouTube video that show the process with a honing machine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw0-vPhRuCo
A friend once had a Sunnen hone with adapters to mount common expanding laps- like these:
http://www.acrolaps.com/
It worked great- had to keep abrasive slurry out of the recirculating oil system.
This could be done with a barrel lap and a drill press or even a hand held drill- especially if you just need to make an egg shaped hole round again.
Having the pinch bolts means you wouldn't even need and expanding lap/mandrel- you can just gradually tighten the pinch bolts. This YouTube video show a gunsmithing technique that might be an answer if you had a spare piece of tubing around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWv7SiBheV0
I think a forum like this should be a place where people can discuss things without ridiculing each other.
Rick

[kmev]

I think a forum like this should be a place where people can discuss things without ridiculing each other.
Rick

Really, what's with this place?

[wcorey]

Sounds to me like machining would be somewhat overkill, if the tubes go in at all it's likely only small by a few thousandths or less and usually just a few high spots or paint/oxidization.
If it were me (and I have a milling machine) I'd use a sanding drum and go 'roundy 'round a few times with a 1" drum on a drill press. A hand held drill will also work fine, a drill press just makes it easier to keep straight.

Cheap drum sander set, probably also available at your local hardware store.
http://www.amazon.com/EXTRA-LONG-DRUM-S ... 760&sr=1-2

If someone were to do it on a milling machine, a boring head is what most would use. While plunging with an end mill would be a little less setup time, in my experience the chances of having an end mill that's the exact size is pretty slim.

Bill

[JimF]

I appreciate everyone's advice. All of it was good.

I think it time and money were of no concern, having a machine shop shave a few thousandths out and leave me with perfectly round holes perfectly positioned would be the absolute best way to go.

I'm not sure what a good machinist gets per hour but I am thinking two or three hours once it fits into his schedule and the results are perfect.

I appreciate the offer to send it to Joe and have it done for free. I won't dismiss that just yet, but that's a big imposition too.

I think though that since I am just a few thousandths off, and since summer is almost half over and August is a stone's throw away, and because I don't think this is dimensionally critical I will take a hone and try to remove just a touch of material in each hole and get the top clamps to accept the fork tubes.

If the hone fails my fall-back plan will be to pass the top clamp on to Joe for machining.

[joe46ho]

Jim,
BIll is right, as far as you trying to do it yourself, there are many methods you could try, I guess I just assumed you had decided to take it to a machinist. Also one thing I and others ignored (since none of us have the parts in front of us to measure) Is the actual dimensions NOW and what you need them to be. This is important, because you wouldn't want to spend hours sanding on it, any more than you would want to spend $$ at a machine shop if you didn't need too. Let me know if you need me to help, if it is a very small amount you might even try ( a variation of what bill suggested, with the sanding drum) and use a fine flap wheel mounted in a drill press, or in a drill, or 1/4" grinder, etc... I can't say iv'e ever done this on a triple clamp, but I use this method regularly on equipment at work where the attachment securing pins, or sheave roller pin bores are damaged, burred, etc...and I just need to take a tiny bit off... You can get various size flap wheels at home depot, or any hardware store...

[joe46ho]

Bill is also correct on the fact that, having an end mill that would bore a 32mm nominal i.d. hole is kind of odd, I just happen to have one, and even buying it direct (from japan, ebay) it was still very expensive. A machine shop in your town, even a well equipped one, may not even have one... I am also kind of the king of overkill at times , but I would never even attempt a job (especially on someone elses rare motorcycle parts) If I wasn't confident I could produce good results...

[JimF]

Once I got the top steering crown opened up a bit, the re-assembly with clip-ons started to go fast.

My axle bolt has a shoulder - does it face outward? I could see it facing inward if the shoulder is supposed to go inside the fork lower, but there was a washer on it when I took it apart which would not have allowed the shoulder to go inside the lower.

I suppose I could look at the M1...

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