I searched, but it seems every post related to swapping triples involves a front end swap. That's not what I'm looking for.
I want to swap out my lower triple for the one I was sent with my new forks. I put my new forks on last week, and I have a very slight leak in the same fork as before. It's my belief that in my wreck, the lower triple was tweaked. I believe this because once I put the left fork in (dunno why, I do the left fork first), the right fork goes through the lower triple, but needs to be pushed/pulled to one side to go through the top triple. When I say pushed/pulled, I mean I had to put a screwdriver in the opening for the wrench, and push against the triple to get enough leverage to get it to go through the opening. Plus, I now have a minuscule leak in the fork seal on the same fork as before. It's my belief that the tweaked triple is putting enough force on the fork slider to deform the fork seal, and allow a small amount of seepage.
I have the new lower triple (I have a new top too, but it needs the ignition drilled out, etc, and I'd like to avoid doing that if at all possible, so I'm gonna do the lower first, and see if that fixes my problem. If it doesn't, then I'll swap the top). Other problem: I left it outside the other day, and I just realized it got rained on.. so the bearings are probably trash, right? Can I swap the (perfectly good) bearings from my current triple, or will I just damage the bearings by trying to remove them? Or do I need to buy a completely new lower triple?
Cliffnotes:
How exactly do I swap the lower triple? (I understand I'll need to remove wheel/forks),
Are the bearings on my spare lower triple trash if they got rained on?
If they are trash, can I swap the bearings from my current triple?
If no to the swap, do I need to buy a completely new lower triple?
If yes, does anyone have one for sale?
Thanks guys.
Just gotta say, even though I can't help you, in a world of L33t speak and the like, it was refreshing to click on a thread and see proper punctuation and some manner of composition.
:)
Thanks!
Why can't you just swap the upper triple with the lock still installed? Or is it bent?
Removing the triples...Assuming the fork tube are already removed. Remove the bolt in the upper triple. Remove the handlebar clamp and upper triple clamp as one unit. Remove the nut, a spanner wrench is best or you can use a screwdriver to tap it off. Hold the lower triple as it will fall as the nut is removed. Once the stem & lower triple is out, you can lift out the top dust shield and upper bearing that was left in the frame.
In the rain...As long as the bearing had some grease on them they should be fine. I have cleaned bearings that looked trashed and regreased them and they work just fine. Removing the lower bearing is difficult without a puller. If you need to, you could try a driving a chisle or something similarunder to pry it up.
use cleaner of choice to remove grease from lower brg. my fav is carb cleaner...cheap stuff from autozone/o'reileys...
inspect rollers for HUGE rust deposits. If HUGE...replace....if tiny...glop on a large qty of grease and install
also
really spend some time and inspect the chrome tubes for nicks and scratches....400-800 grit and oil if you find any
Great to know guys, thanks. I have carb cleaner here, and can pick up some automotive quality grease later today. Something like axle bearing grease work? Same method as packing one of those, too? Grease in palm of hand, work it in, repeat ad infinitum?
Also, re: nicks in the fork tube.. there was a tiiiiny imperfection in the first set of forks, which was what I THOUGHT was causing my leaking, but this second set came to me with the seals in perfect condition, with no leaks, then I rebuilt them (I installed sonic springs, figured I'd do a rebuild while I was at it), and I got the same kind of leak as I had in the first set of forks, which was what made me think I might have an issue elsewhere.
As for the top triple, the "new" one I have came from SPC terry, and he had his ignition removed, but theres the remainder of some screws that need to be drilled out to install mine. (Not sure on the specifics, I haven't looked at it, and I'm not sure how the ignition mounts.)
Thanks for the quick responses guys, I posted this at 4:30AM right before I went to bed and have my answers by 11:15, when I wake up, so that I can go work on my bike. Y'all rock.
I used white lithium grease on my front end :dunno_white: seems to work fine :thumb: Yeah I got tired of trying to figure out how to get the damn ignition of non-destructively and went and found mr. hacksaw and went to town :icon_rolleyes:
Easy way to remove the lower inner-race without a puller or butchery:
First brake the cage, either saw or chisel through it and let the rollers fall off.
Place the stem vetically in a vice with the shaft pointing down, USE SOFT-JAWS.
Play heat quickly and evenly around the inner race from a plumbers gas-torch, at the same time anther person gently taps the race off with a hammer and a chisel or drift placed under the top lip.
Bearings of that size and application have an interference fit of about 0.01-0.02mm. The applied heat causes the race to expand and overcome the interference. 10 secs max is all it needs. Get it right and it will practically fall off on its own!
DONT overdo it, or the heat will soak through to the shaft causing it to expand as well as the race. The race wont come off if they have both expanded.