Hi everyone,

I need to replace the left side headlight mount that slides over the fork leg. This or course means taking it off. Not hard (i assume). I was wondering what the best method for making sure its even again when I put it back on? I have some ideas but wanted some expert opinions  Thanks!

Tom

Just eye it up. It's pretty much flush with the top triple so you're not really gonna be able to get them that far off, plus once you bolt the front wheel/fender and have the suspension in there, it'll all even out.

So should i get it even by eye. Make it finger tight. Then put the wheel on and then wrench on it?

I'm assuming you are talking about aligning the forks to the same height after sliding them out and down from the triple?
Why not just remove the top triple instead? That leaves the lower triple in place to hold the forks in their original positions and all the headlight stuff can be slid up and removed from the forks once the upper clamp is off.

Quote from: tb0lt on April 14, 2011, 08:49:11 AM
I'm assuming you are talking about aligning the forks to the same height after sliding them out and down from the triple?
Why not just remove the top triple instead? That leaves the lower triple in place to hold the forks in their original positions and all the headlight stuff can be slid up and removed from the forks once the upper clamp is off.

Not a bad idea. Ive never done it but hopefully its not that hard.

Yeah that's good thinking, I've always just slide the forks down to get the headlight brackets out, but taking off the top clamp would work too. If you really want to get serious about it you can get a depth gauge, but there's really no need. If forks were rigid it would be more important, but with the springs inside, having one leg 1-2mm off really isn't going to do anything. The bottoms of the fork legs will be perfectly even with the wheel bolted in, one spring may just have an ever so slight amount of pressure over the other, but it won't be enough to affect anything at all.

I need to take my front wheel off anyway so either way will work for me. Somehow the fact that the SUSPENSION will keep the axle level didnt cross my mind until now 

Did you pull the forks out already? Just wrap some electrical tape on each fork leg where it meets the bottom triple, that way when you slide them in you'll now exactly where to stop. Also, sometimes when you pull them out you can see where they were clamped, which makes them easy to fit back in.

Nope, the tear down will be this weekend. Thanks for all the tips!

Now do i want to paint the lowers black while i have them off........ Im getting the headlight powder coated black leaving the chrome ring so lots of black might look good.

I generally just use a vernier calliper, or measure with a ruler.

Job is done. I just eyes the tops and marked with some tape, easy. Here's a pic of the front end apart.