Mk3 fork leg swap

Evening all,
In the quest to have the best of both worlds, combining the best features of my Mk3 and it's predecessor, I aim to swap the fork legs to put the caliper behind the RH leg. Has anyone done this by leaving the stantions in place & just swapping the sliders? There's a screw hidden in the bottom of the slider by the look of it, and I'm wondering why I can't slacken that off then slide the slider off?

Anyone done this before?

Ta, Jon.

Boxerfan said:

I aim to swap the fork legs to put the caliper behind the RH leg. Has anyone done this by leaving the stantions in place & just swapping the sliders? There's a screw hidden in the bottom of the slider by the look of it, and I'm wondering why I can't slacken that off then slide the slider off?

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Releasing the damper assembly doesn't free the slider (it will only drop by just over an inch)-as the threaded collar must also be unscrewed and the upper bush shocked out of position before the slider will drop off the stanchion.

What does swapping the brake to the other side accomplish?

mainly the easiest way to get the caliper behind the fork, which is the main point

can the mk3 hub be turned the other way? or does it have a locking ring on the bearing as the pre mk3 hubs? the reason norton swapped from behind on the right to infront on the left was to stop the bike pulling to the left !! dont know if this is fact or fiction but at least one person on here tried it and found it to be true,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,baz

Mk3 bearings are retained by a circlip, so can run either way. The biggest factor for me is the appearance; I can't get used to the caliper dangling off the front of the fork like that! As part of the general birthday I'm giving the bike I wan to change the fork oil, the previous owner had the bike for many years but used it very little, so fluids were seldom changed. I've just drained a few cc' of emulsified Mayo out of the forks...

Boxerfan said:

Mk3 bearings are retained by a circlip, so can run either way. The biggest factor for me is the appearance; I can't get used to the caliper dangling off the front of the fork like that! As part of the general birthday I'm giving the bike I wan to change the fork oil, the previous owner had the bike for many years but used it very little, so fluids were seldom changed. I've just drained a few cc' of emulsified Mayo out of the forks...

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i agree it does look ugly hanging out the front! keep us posted whether it pulls to the left after you change it cheers baz

I have 2 MK3s one standard brake on the left, one CNW on the right....which is a vast improvement in itself, but the point is it makes no difference which side its on, it does not pull one way or the other...it does not look right ahead of the fork leg...in my opinion. If the bike pulls one way or another it has to be some other problem i would think....more of an old wives tale.......Why is it that other single disk bikes do not pull left or right? I will be reversing the other bike soon and adding a M/C that actually works. Makes you wonder if you rode both would you be able to tell which side it was on without knowing?

manx850 said:

I have 2 MK3s one standard brake on the left, one CNW on the right....which is a vast improvement in itself, but the point is it makes no difference which side its on, it does not pull one way or the other...it does not look right ahead of the fork leg...in my opinion. If the bike pulls one way or another it has to be some other problem i would think....more of an old wives tale.......Why is it that other single disk bikes do not pull left or right? I will be reversing the other bike soon and adding a M/C that actually works. Makes you wonder if you rode both would you be able to tell which side it was on without knowing?

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I swapped over the forks on one of my mk 3 Commandos and the bike pulled to the left, specially at low speed, it was very disconcerting. I then put them back to stock and it stopped pulling . I have another mk 3 that sooner or later I will try the same thing with.
sam

trident sam said:

manx850 said:

...more of an old wives tale.......Why is it that other single disk bikes do not pull left or right?

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I swapped over the forks on one of my mk 3 Commandos and the bike pulled to the left, specially at low speed, it was very disconcerting. I then put them back to stock and it stopped pulling . I have another mk 3 that sooner or later I will try the same thing with.
sam

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Sam, without trying to start an arguement, my wife's '84 Honda Ascot with a single disc does pull to the left. M/C and disc both on the right-hand side.

Working on the front end of my '74 MkII; wheel, fender switch pods, and clutch cable off. With the front wheel off the ground, the bars had a very strong tendency to swing to the right, assumedly due to the weight of the master and wheel cylinders being on the right side. Add in the weight of the disc, and it's got to be even more pronounced. My bike does want to go left if I loosen my grip on the bars.
If you look at it from the standpoint of countersteering, a slight tug back on the right grip pulls the front wheel to the right, causing the bike to lean to the left. However, I don't seem to notice this with either (or both) hands on the bars. "Knowing" what it is (I think), I don't stress out over it. Seeing how well it runs down the road and through the turns, I'm not about to change anything.

Nathan

While all this swapping was going on did you reverse the tire rotation also?.............

manx850 said:

While all this swapping was going on did you reverse the tire rotation also?.............

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Yes, I did reverse the tyre.
I still have no idea why the bike behaved as it did

I did the side swap in order to fit a Madass Disc brake to my MK3. There were no pulling to one side issues before or after, just a lot more negative g force after.

Glen