I've done a silly thing... (forks) *mission accomplished*

[*nick*]

So I have some new hard chromed fork tubes with new bushes, progressive springs, new oil seals, seal holders, gators etc and I'm just finishing up the last few things on my B33 for a show it's in this weekend, today I'm assembling the forks but forgot to put the gland nut on the bottom of the fork tubes before I slid them into the legs. I've just taken the tubes out of the legs and noticed the lower bushes are both still in the fork legs and I can't get them out  

*exploded diagram*

The motorcycle gods are laughing hysterically at me now. I can't seem to drag the bushes out with the fork tube as there's clearly more friction between the walls of the fork legs and the bushes than the inside of the bushes and the fork tubes, yes they were liberally oiled before installation as were the legs.

Dear god what do I do now, I'm jumping hurdles left right and centre trying to get this bike ready for the show, i don't need this!

regards,
Nick

  

[Brian]

Could be a tricky one Nick.

They shouldnt be able to jam in too tight though so try this to start with.

Get a good piece of wood, tip the fork slider upside down and bang it down hard on the wood, might have to do this several times.

By any chance do you have an old seal holder ? If you do cut it off about 1" above where the seal sits and screw it fully onto the leg. Do the same thing but this time bang in on a piece of steel or something hard.

The idea is to "shock" the bush out of its place.

[*nick*]

tried that Brian with no success unfortunately 

I covered the bush in a light 10W oil then placed a big piece of hardwood on the garage floor with a folded up old heavy duty dirt bike inner tube on that so as to not damage the fork legs, i gave them a good wallop with the rubber mallet but no such luck, the bushes wont budge.

Now i've got a long strip of thin road bicycle inner tube down one fork leg with a glob of super glue on the end stuck to the inside of the bush, i carefully put it in there with a long screwdriver, I'll let it cure for a few hours then hopefully that adhesive will give me enough purchase to drag it out of the leg by pulling on the strip of inner tube.

The only other idea I could think of was a very long thin rod with a hook or 'L' shape at the end as the bush is not at the very bottom of the leg i could get something in under it and pull it up and out. I haven't found anything in the garage that fits that description though.

-Nick

   

[Brian]

Walloping them with a rubber mallet wont work Nick, the shock is coming from the wrong direction.

If the bush isnt at the bottom you should be able to get a piece of steel with a hook on the end under it to pull it out.

What you need is a thing called a slide hammer.

If it doesnt come out head down to your local garage, as in mechanical repair place, they should have a slide hammer and it should come out quite easily.

[*nick*]

super glue on the inner tube didn't work. I think you're right Brian, I need a long pointy thing with a strong hook on the end, it'd have to be small though as the bottom of the fork legs have that cast in pin at the bottom which locates the fork tube and there's not a lot of room.

[duTch]

 I do 'silly' things most days, starting when eyes open.... til they close..
 Just (don't) watch the 'sling-shot', could be a headache, more->
   
  I've had a similar situation today, different application but the remedy wouldn't work on yours as I had access from the other end, and my slide hammer wasn't long enough!
 A slide hammer can be improvised, as I did, with a length of threaded rod (Booker Bar), nuts and big washers and old piston pins from a truck or similar. Be good if you can get a two prong tool in there(diametrically opposed).
  Scratchin me head on this one, good luck, dutch

[RichardL]

Barring success from easier approaches....do you have an old stanchion you could sacrifice? If so, you mignt try slitting the end into six or eight tines. Create a tapered plug wiith a tapped hole on center to take a threaded rod that is long enough to get a grip on. After the tines are spread, grip the exposed end of the rod in a vise and pull on the leg, etc. (or some variation on this concept).

Richard L.

[bsa-bill]

sounds like a plan Richard though I can see a catch 22 in it as pressure applied to the tines will be transferred to the bush making it tighter, worth a shot though.
I'd be more in favour of the hook approach, thinking along the angled spoke path

[RichardL]

Maybe I should have added, "swab the inside of the bush with mineral spirits." That way, the force required to create static friction should be less than that to expand the bush. From here in Chicago, it's hard to tell how close the bush is to the bottom of the leg. Might be very difficult getting a purshase with a strong enough hook. If using that method, and there's room for a nut at the bottom, I would go with the largest diameter washer that would fit through the bush, maximizing the area on the end of the bush where the pulling force is distributed. Also, you'd want to use a fairly fat threaded rod. If none of this stuff works, take advice from someone who actually knows something.

Richard L.

[Stephen Foster]

Have You considered filling the forkleg with lead shot then pounding this down with a rubber mallet ?

[RichardL]

This is getting fun. What about chopping up some dry ice and pouring it in. The bush will have higher rate of contraction than the leg. This might get it loose enough to slide to a more reachable position. Do this on Halloween night, so if it doesn't work, you will at least get some spooky fog.

Richard L.

[muskrat]

 There's a thought. Pour oil in till it's 1/2 way up the bush. Plug the end of the stanchion and insert into the bush and give it a good whack. The pressure of the oil might move it.
Cheers

[Stephen Foster]

Jim ,
Thats similar in principle to My suggestion ..probably better as the oil is less likely to damage anything .
This was My thinking re lead shot .

[RichardL]

Muskrat,

How would you suggest plugging the end of the stanchion? If you plug it at the top, you will just compress air? If you plug it at the bottom, it will need to be with something smaller than the ID of the bush.

Richard L.

[chaterlea25]

Hi Nick,
Another approach???
If you remove the oil drain screw maybe you could poke at the bush from underneath ??
Did you forget to fit the retaining nuts ?
In that case the bushes may have gone down to the very end which would be an unworn part resulting in them getting stuck
Rather than your glue experiment I think I would use some solvent spray to degrease the bushes and the ends of the stanchions a  drop of loctite on the stanchion  and sit it into the bush and leave it set , then hopefully pull them out 

HTH
John