Tools You Have Made to Maintain your Norton

not really a tool I have made, but an adaptation of an existing item.

To unscrew the oil seal collar in the top of the fork legs, I bought a 60mm split clamp and then 'shimmed' it down with a strip of aluminium. This made it easy to grip the oil seal collar and unscrew it without damaging the thing. The oil seal collar is 57mm diameter.



I also bought a couple of 35mm i/d split clamps and a small piece of brass shim strip so I could hold the stanchions securely via the split clamps without risking damaging them.
 
slimslowslider said:
Some more tools.

Nothing new: rubbers to keep push rods in place during cylinder head removal and installing.
Just some pieces of bicycle inner tube.

Tools You Have Made to Maintain your Norton


Primary chaincase inspection cap bit, for in toolkit:

Tools You Have Made to Maintain your Norton


Tools You Have Made to Maintain your Norton


Slide hammer XXXL. Not for in toolkit.

Tools You Have Made to Maintain your Norton


Tools You Have Made to Maintain your Norton
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the back of some C spanners has a curve and thickness to fit those primary inspection caps.
 
gpzkat said:
I did that once, but gradually snipped it all away for polishing cloth.
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Told the missus….her shock at using a “valuable piece of domestic equipment “ ( 🤣) as a bike cover was only surpassed by it being cut up…… I couldn’t help but wind her up !
As I see it both uses are perfectly normal and legitimate 👌 . She is Swiss , - apols @ Cliffa - and a mad Virgo
 
One clothes hanger, 2 tools.
Need both to do resolve a frustrating issue.
Maybe there’s an easier way to do it but this is what I did.
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daveforty said:
pulling up and holding the fork damper rod while the fork oil is poured in?
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A length of oil hose that’s a tight fit over the thread on the rod is all you need for that. Also for pumping it up n down to get rid of air bubbles (which you especially need to do if you're going by air gap rather than volume).
 
It's what I used to replace the Throttle cable at the splitter section without removing the carb cables. Once the splitter is unscrewed the long piece with the small hook pulls the splitter out of the housing enough so one can slip the U shaped thingy ends first through the cables holding them outside the housing at the waist. Then you can put the throttle cable in position and pull the U thingy out and screw the housing back together. I hope that made sense as its a very fiddly job.
 
daveforty said:
pulling up and holding the fork damper rod while the fork oil is poured in?
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Get an old damper rod. Loctite a coupling nut to it.

To change oil or when building forks, let the rod drop, pull the spring, dump in the oil (2 seconds). Screw the tool onto the dropped rod. Drop the spring over it and pull the rod up. Push the spring down a little and grab the bike's rod. Unscrew the tool, put the thick washer on and then the nut.

Takes MUCH longer to drain them than to fill them!
 
marshg246 said:
Get an old damper rod. Loctite a coupling nut to it.

To change oil or when building forks, let the rod drop, pull the spring, dump in the oil (2 seconds). Screw the tool onto the dropped rod. Drop the spring over it and pull the rod up. Push the spring down a little and grab the bike's rod. Unscrew the tool, put the thick washer on and then the nut.

Takes MUCH longer to drain them than to fill them!
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If you don't have an old damper rod then a 3-4 foot length of 80-100lb fishing braid tied firmly onto the threaded section of the rod works just as well.
Allows you to drop the rod, remove the spring and, voila, filling is a fast doddle!
Cheers
 
Greg Marsh influenced fork oil change tool. It’s not an old damper rod but a length of 10mm ally bar from B&Q that I’d been using as a paint stirrer for years now re-employed.
I cut a 3/8 UNF thread on both ends. One end I’ve loctited a long nut on to draw out the damper rod and the other end I cut a thread just to store the two half 3/8 UNF nuts I used to lock the rod while unscrewing the nut on the damper rod.

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L.A.B. said:
Curious as there are no UNF head nuts on a Commando.
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To be fair I didn’t say Commando head nut, it was just one in my box of nuts and bolts. It worked well as a coupling nut as it was long. I’ve edited it now in case someone thought it was Commando. It’s a 1/4w hex head which slips through the spring easily and with a 3/8 UNF thread.
 
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Mark Savage said:
To be fair I didn’t say Commando head nut, it was just one in my box of nuts and bolts. It worked well as a coupling nut as it was long. I’ve edited it now in case someone thought it was Commando. It’s a 1/4w hex head which slips through the spring easily and with a 3/8 UNF thread.
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I used an actual coupling nut as I had some. I probably have and could have used the nut you used. As long as it fits through the spring and works as a coupling nut - job done :)
 
marshg246 said:
I used an actual coupling nut as I had some. I probably have and could have used the nut you used. As long as it fits through the spring and works as a coupling nut - job done :)
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Yes, it fits through the spring fine. I did think I might have had to grind the corners off the nut but there was no need.
 

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