Dissasembling first Norton (N15CS), 16 y/o son is intrigued....

gpzkat said:

Trying to do one thing, even if it's small, each day. I removed the dowels because both sides had them and I was able to punch out the ones with access from the back. Removed the cylinder barrel studs easily and took a look at all the threads, which look fine. I think this is a winner, ready to push onward. Pleased to make an eBay purchase that was exactly as described and even pretty clean. I met a guy at a local show who has a P11 and says he has some parts that I could use, fork legs and rear rim especially, will see.

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Unusual to mee to see such nice mating from cases not mated at the factory. You have been very fortunate.

gpzkat said:

Since the rear Commando wheel I got is 19", I will see if I can sell it and get an 18 to stay with what the N15 had. I have taken apart the rear N15 hub except for the bearings. They're not budging. I have another bare hub that looks identical so I don't need to sweat it.

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Have you applied some heat to the hub? Heat to 120 deg C / 248 deg F for 30 minutes. Hub is probably corroded. If this doesn't help, there is a method of splitting bearings.

-Knut

possm said:

Before you pull the 18" N15 back wheel apart measure for rim positioning for re-spoking as I have searched for this information without success, Commando rear wheels are all offset to one side, and the part numbers for the wheel spacers are not recognised by Andover or RGM's website.

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Post-54 all Matchless full width hubs have centralised spokes. That includes the post'64 models with Norton hubs as well, so no offset. This has been a recurring topic here, easy to find.

-Knut

gpzkat said:

I met a guy at a local show who has a P11 and says he has some parts that I could use, fork legs and rear rim especially, will see.

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Cycle parts off a P11 won't fit your G/N15. Forks were different (Teledraulic vs. Norton Roadholder - Teledraulic are better off-road w/two way dampening, early N15s had similar set-up); Rear wheel is different (P11 had a straight-spoke Matchless hub, G/N15 had a Norton hub - again, the Matchless parts are superior for off-road riding). Except for the drivetrain, handlebar, clocks and petrol tank are the only identical parts between the two models.

-Knut

Boy I sure screwed up the telling of that - he has a couple Nortons including a P11, he has a Commando fastback too. He had a Commando TLS wheel and also a disc off '73 complete. I took the latter.

The rear bearings aren't budging, but since I have another nice drum that's already bare, I'll go with that. I have some tennis elbow going on and need to reduce stresses.

The Commando front I just got has a stuck bearing retainer. I read up that it is right hand thread like the rear retainer I took off earlier to get to the stuck bearing fun. I thought I felt it move clockwise just a bit on my first try, but since then it's not budged. It made me question whether it really is right hand thread, given it felt like I just locked it into place firmly! I should have used a marker on the edge so I could tell if it really did move. My pin spreader is useless, it just bends and/or shreds the soft retainer. For the front disc cover plate I made a tool from drills which fit snugly, but still was only 2 contacts. For this front retainer two won't do. I need to drill fresh holes and make a 4 pin tool, pretty easy as I've got something similar I can mod. I expect/fear this thing may need surgery to extract, I leaned on it with a lot of leverage and Pffft, nothing.

I always use penetrating oil and heat, sometimes many cycles if stubborn. Then I drop an ice cube on the center sometimes, or some other way to contrast the heat on the appropriate part.

Progress update: I had some fun cleaning up stuff. It's a budget build and I'm doing as much as I can myself. Not sure about those valves yet. All in good time.