What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

My long term project bike took a huge leap forward today with the fitting of the engine and gearbox, it was all harder and heavier than I remembered, but I got there in the end, not bad seeing as I only have one good arm at the moment! This bike is called 'The T'urd' mostly because it was the third commando I'd bought since moving onto dry land but also because its been a pile of poo to build!!!
 

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Shep57 said:
My long term project bike took a huge leap forward today with the fitting of the engine and gearbox, it was all harder and heavier than I remembered, but I got there in the end, not bad seeing as I only have one good arm at the moment! This bike is called 'The T'urd' mostly because it was the third commando I'd bought since moving onto dry land but also because its been a pile of poo to build!!!
Click to expand...
Don't forget the horn!
 
Shep57 said:
My long term project bike took a huge leap forward today with the fitting of the engine and gearbox, it was all harder and heavier than I remembered, but I got there in the end, not bad seeing as I only have one good arm at the moment! This bike is called 'The T'urd' mostly because it was the third commando I'd bought since moving onto dry land but also because its been a pile of poo to build!!!
Click to expand...
Lookin’ good. A huge leap forward like this can do wonders for one’s motivation… strike while the iron is hot !!
 
Shep57 said:
My long term project bike took a huge leap forward today with the fitting of the engine and gearbox, it was all harder and heavier than I remembered, but I got there in the end, not bad seeing as I only have one good arm at the moment! This bike is called 'The T'urd' mostly because it was the third commando I'd bought since moving onto dry land but also because its been a pile of poo to build!!!
Click to expand...
I haven't got a musical bone in my body, but at college I was in a band called "the Gut Bucket Tree and a Turd" (Donny Davis, Peter McCabe, James Murray & me)
I played jewish harp. The "Turd" was James Murray, because he couldn't play anything.
Our repertoire was 2 songs: King of the Road & Side by Side.

Sorry for the derail but... you started it! 🤣

Your bike looks good BTW!!!
 
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Started reassemblings on the street in the spring sunshine with many compliments ( Cool Bike ! ) .
Went to reassemble the complex MK3 primary and noticed all 4 outrigger support studs were loose .
Unscrewed them , cleaned the threads with degreaser , then a bit of brake cleaner to all threads , then a bit of Motoseal Ultimate gasket Grey to the crankcase end stud threads and screwed them back in hard with vice grips on the shafts . Tomorrow I go to buy Blue Loctite and Loctite 510 for the primary . A new 9/16 socket too , old one is worn out .
 
Last time I fettled the Commando, I snugged up the exhaust roses and thought ‘I’ll tighten them properly when it’s hot and running’.

I then proceeded to forget to do this!

So on yesterdays lovely ride, I wondered why I was getting some popping in the exhaust… then wondered why I could hear a jangling noise from the RHS… so I stopped to discover the rose had completely come undone and was rattling around on the down pipe … DOH!

I managed to temp fit it till I got home, no damage to threads, then tightened the suckers PROPERLY on a hot running engine in my normal way, using the excellent RGM rose spanner and a fork stanchion extension bar!

Hats off to RGM for their excellent roses and spanner.

And hats off to Andover, their rubber silencer mounts were the ONLY thing holding my pipe on !

Interesting to think what would have happened if I’d been using the rose tab washers… yes, the rose would not have come out, so the pipe would have stayed secure (ish). But the rose would not have been tight, and I may have not noticed until the loose rose nut had pounded out the threads in the head !
 
Fast Eddie said:
Last time I fettled the Commando, I snugged up the exhaust roses and thought ‘I’ll tighten them properly when it’s hot and running’.

I then proceeded to forget to do this!

So on yesterdays lovely ride, I wondered why I was getting some popping in the exhaust… then wondered why I could hear a jangling noise from the RHS… so I stopped to discover the rose had completely come undone and was rattling around on the down pipe … DOH!

I managed to temp fit it till I got home, no damage to threads, then tightened the suckers PROPERLY on a hot running engine in my normal way, using the excellent RGM rose spanner and a fork stanchion extension bar!

Hats off to RGM for their excellent roses and spanner.

And hats off to Andover, their rubber silencer mounts were the ONLY thing holding my pipe on !

Interesting to think what would have happened if I’d been using the rose tab washers… yes, the rose would not have come out, so the pipe would have stayed secure (ish). But the rose would not have been tight, and I may have not noticed until the loose rose nut had pounded out the threads in the head !
Click to expand...
I also have the RGM rose nuts and associated spanned. I even wrote them a note telling them how much I like their spanner.Nice tool!
Mike
 
Torontonian said:
screwed them back in hard with vice grips on the shafts .
Click to expand...
Ouch!

For studs, put two nuts on the outside end, snuggling them together with opposing wrenches. Use the top nut to screw the stud in. Reverse the opposing wrenches to loosen the two nuts.

Voila. No hack marks and the studs are in firmly.
 
Fast Eddie said:
Last time I fettled the Commando, I snugged up the exhaust roses and thought ‘I’ll tighten them properly when it’s hot and running’.

I then proceeded to forget to do this!

So on yesterdays lovely ride, I wondered why I was getting some popping in the exhaust… then wondered why I could hear a jangling noise from the RHS… so I stopped to discover the rose had completely come undone and was rattling around on the down pipe … DOH!

I managed to temp fit it till I got home, no damage to threads, then tightened the suckers PROPERLY on a hot running engine in my normal way, using the excellent RGM rose spanner and a fork stanchion extension bar!

Hats off to RGM for their excellent roses and spanner.

And hats off to Andover, their rubber silencer mounts were the ONLY thing holding my pipe on !

Interesting to think what would have happened if I’d been using the rose tab washers… yes, the rose would not have come out, so the pipe would have stayed secure (ish). But the rose would not have been tight, and I may have not noticed until the loose rose nut had pounded out the threads in the head !
Click to expand...
Use Mike's mod. Mine have not come loose for years and years. I stopped checking after a few years.

Post in thread 'Loose Exhaust Lockring (2017)' https://www.accessnorton.com/NortonCommando/loose-exhaust-lockring-2017.23157/post-342700
 
Torontonian said:
Started reassemblings on the street in the spring sunshine with many compliments ( Cool Bike ! ) .
Went to reassemble the complex MK3 primary and noticed all 4 outrigger support studs were loose .
Unscrewed them , cleaned the threads with degreaser , then a bit of brake cleaner to all threads , then a bit of Motoseal Ultimate gasket Grey to the crankcase end stud threads and screwed them back in hard with vice grips on the shafts . Tomorrow I go to buy Blue Loctite and Loctite 510 for the primary . A new 9/16 socket too , old one is worn out .
Click to expand...
Put together the complex MK 3 primary , on the street , 5 people saying "Cool bike " , 2 people saying " It's a Norton ! " . Spring sun , lots of folks parading their babies and dogs after Toronto's worst recorded winter . We cheated and explored Africa yet again . I cancelled trout opener due to a cold I caught in Morocco . Norton work instead , Head refit next , on top of the new long rods / short J.s. Pistons .
 
I had a few bits turn up for the latest 750, enough to build the forks, they were in a right state bent and rusty, but time and a little brute force got the stanchions out of the sliders and the rest was quite straightforward, the damper rod locking nuts were wrong and had pulled down into the springs, I couldn't find suitable replacements so I popped a washer underneath for now and added more items to my shopping list!!
 

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gortnipper said:
Ouch!

For studs, put two nuts on the outside end, snuggling them together with opposing wrenches. Use the top nut to screw the stud in. Reverse the opposing wrenches to loosen the two nuts.

Voila. No hack marks and the studs are in firmly.
Click to expand...
No damage done , no marks . Simply should have picked up 2 of the 4 stud nuts to do what you say .
I'm on the street doing big reassembly work . 3 horny cats , casual walk by types commenting , spring weather changes , plus my drinking beer or wine openly , my neighbour and his friends burning the weed and watching as they repair their bicycles and flip boards .
 
Torontonian said:
No damage done , no marks . Simply should have picked up 2 of the 4 stud nuts to do what you say .
I'm on the street doing big reassembly work . 3 horny cats , casual walk by types commenting , spring weather changes , plus my drinking beer or wine openly , my neighbour and his friends burning the weed and watching as they repair their bicycles and flip boards .
Click to expand...
Sounds like my life in Uni in the 80s working on my old mk3!

Except for the hookers on the corner and the bath-house next door!
 
Fast Eddie said:
Last time I fettled the Commando, I snugged up the exhaust roses and thought ‘I’ll tighten them properly when it’s hot and running’.

I then proceeded to forget to do this!

So on yesterdays lovely ride, I wondered why I was getting some popping in the exhaust… then wondered why I could hear a jangling noise from the RHS… so I stopped to discover the rose had completely come undone and was rattling around on the down pipe … DOH!

I managed to temp fit it till I got home, no damage to threads, then tightened the suckers PROPERLY on a hot running engine in my normal way, using the excellent RGM rose spanner and a fork stanchion extension bar!

Hats off to RGM for their excellent roses and spanner.

And hats off to Andover, their rubber silencer mounts were the ONLY thing holding my pipe on !

Interesting to think what would have happened if I’d been using the rose tab washers… yes, the rose would not have come out, so the pipe would have stayed secure (ish). But the rose would not have been tight, and I may have not noticed until the loose rose nut had pounded out the threads in the head !
Click to expand...
So you didn't lose the sealing washer in the head ? Same thing happened to me but I lost the sealing washer and the pipe wouldn't seat right. Did a world of damage.
 
speirmoor said:
So you didn't lose the sealing washer in the head ? Same thing happened to me but I lost the sealing washer and the pipe wouldn't seat right. Did a world of damage.
Click to expand...
That was my first thought! But no, the sealing washer did not escape.

Which is good as it’s quite old, I reuse them repeatedly !
 
Andy Higham said:
Rear wheel fully tensioned and I popped it in the bike, It seems to eye up in line with the top tube. String out tomorrow.

Front wheel spoked up, set true and more or less where I want it relative to the hub. Just needs final tensioning after checking offset against fork leg.

What a complete B'stard those disc side spokes are
Click to expand...
Hi Andy, I’d be interested to know how the Pender hub turned out regarding the alignment with the front wheel. When I had mine built up I had it done with no offset as to Don Pender’s instruction. It looked like it could have done with some though when using a laser after it was done to see if it lined up centrally.
 
After removing and replacing the original 49072B rectifier a couple of times for testing, I noticed that the top centre bolt had turned. It tested ok, but it is probably on borrowed time and so I replaced it with a modern rectifier and adapted a small 25x25x10mm heatsink to seat it on.

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 

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