Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Damper rod bolt removal

I'm trying to disassemble and inspect my BA front forks. The Triumph manual says loosen the damper rod bolt at the bottom, before deassembly. It must have some sort of locktite on the threads. The damper rod just spins along with the bolt. I've tried it while the fork is assembled, spring and oil removed, with and without pressure, even tried the old broomstick method. Does anyone have any suggestions on holding the damper rod to loosen the damper rod bolt. It seems last one I took apart, in my youth, that it wasn't this difficult.

Here's one way: Drive a tapered broomstick down into the damper rod, flip the entire thing upside down, grab the broomstick with a pair of big channel locks and break the bolt loose. Good luck!

Sorry, didn't read the whole post before answering... You could try an electric or air driven power drill, the one that "hammers" if the above doesn't work.

What Piper said.
I had a real tough one.
Ended up tapering the end of a 7/8 dowel to jam in the rod,
then used air impact wrench.
Yeah, upside down pushing down on the dowel.
The impact seemed to be the key.

Thanks guys, I'll give that a try tonight and let y'all know how it works.

try putting the spring back in and the cap on to hold
pressure on the spring.
this may give you enough hold to break the bolt loose.

Tried that,but I think it had already spun. Then tried it on the fork I hadn't opened yet and it spun also. Any way I borrowed an air impact wrench from work and I'll put a good taper on my broom stick, and see what happens. Thanks for the help.

I had the same problem when I removed my forks to install the lowering kit. This works . Put the broom in the fork and then put a pipe clamp used for wood working on the end of the leg and the other end on the end of the handle. tighten it up and she will loosen up. The end of the damper rod will then be held from turning. Then you can use a reg. socket to loosen the bolt.

Willy

Got them loose. The air impact wrench did the trick. Had to tighten each back up then loosen with the air wrench. The one still assembled came right loose and I used a broom stick with about a 10 degree taper on the other one. Took everything apart, looked them over. Both forks are bent slightly. Everything else looks good. I'll get a rebuild seal kit and a pair of forks. I also plan to go the the progessive srrings. Thans to everyone for your help.

Glad everything worked out! If you go the progressive route you won't be dissapointed.