I was hoping I would be able to take the main spring off my forks and replace it without having to dismantle everything. The old spring came out without to much trouble.

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Getting the new spring in the same place wasn't so easy as it's a bit longer, but compressing it is proving impossible..! Plus I'm stretching the damper springs as well. I didn't want to take these off if I could help it as they took 2 of us a lot of swearing to get them on the first time. I was hoping it was possible to fit the forks as one unit? As you can see, the top yoke has a long way to go before I can get a nut on it.

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The book says this;

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And I'm assuming that means compress the spring with levers. The only way I can see that this compresses it is like I have the wooden levers here...

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There's no way I can lever down on the top and the bottom to stop the bottom yoke coming out and the bearings falling everywhere and do up the pinch bolt until I can get enough thread showing on the stem to get the nut on. I'll have to wait for my son to come in from work and get the missus to help as well.... or am I missing something here..??

I thought I'd ask before I do something wrong, there may be an easier way that I can't figure out? I'm already ruining the paint I've just sprayed on it. I may have to take the damper springs off as the new main spring is going to take a lot of compressing. I know I can get them on after even if it isn't easy. Any advice gratefully received, thanks

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

If you have to do it that way then you could maybe use small type ratchet straps between top & bottom yoke (one each side) ?
.I've assembled a few girders in my time & always with the yokes/ head races left in position.
Then fit the spring by taking the top fork links out... That way you use the bikes weight to your advantage to bring it all inline to slide the top links in.

That's a good idea Fred, if I can get them in there that will mean I can do it on my own.

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

I always assemble girders as Fred. With the steering stem in place first. Then the bottom links, then the spring, then the top links. The side check springs come last Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

I may have to take it all apart if this doesn't work. The book describes how to fit them as one unit, but doing it with the paint intact is another thing Thanks for you advice.

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

Hi Dave, have done this last year for a friend, and I would never undo the top yoke! do as Fred an Ron say, use ratchet straps, might have some pictures, email me if you want them, but I undid the front bottom spindle, as I had to change the friction disks anyway.

Was a bugger of a job, but persevered in the end, bike is much better now, old spring was like an elastic band!!

Cheers,

Lex

ps, make sure the spindle has a chamfered end, so it will engage in the link!

email (option): welbik@wel***.net

Never mind all that...What's a Norton man doing with a Triumph timing cover and a Meriden sign on the wall?....Ian ...

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Be careful Dave I suspect you are making a sort of mechanical hand grenade?

Rob

email (option): robmiller11(a)yahoo.co.uk

When I read the manual and it said about using levers etc I was a bit concerned. Then I felt how hard it is to compress the spring while at the same time stretching the dampers I thought I'd better ask some advice here, so thank you all for your input. I'm also a bit worried that if I get the stem up enough to tighten the pinch bolt then put the top nut on, it may strip the thread on the stem and nut trying to do it up with that much pressure..? I think I'll take it all apart, which will give me chance to touch up the paint as well.

Ah Ian, I've had 3 tridents over 30 years and the one I have now is lurking in the corner of the garage feeling a bit unloved. The timing cover is off an early TRW and the Meriden sign came from the factory when it shut down. I drove there for a look with a couple of mates and the securiry guard let me drive my car in. The place had had all the machinery taken away but there was lots of stuff lying about. The sign was on the floor of one of the buildings. There was a wire cages with wooden blocks with the shape of a trident timing cover barrels etc. The blocks were black and the shape carved in them red. They were the casting moulds for the Trident engine, I wonder what happened to them..? The security guard didn't care where we went, all the expensive stuff had gone. There was a half machined crankcase still in a jig lying on the floor and things like that. An interesting but sad day.

The next time I went there for a ride on my Trident, the builders had knocked it all down but any bike bits they found they'd put by the gate. People had had all except a Trident sidestand that was by the gate post and an early Triumph wheel that had the sproket welded on. I've still got the sidestand.

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

Hi Dave,should have grabbed them patterns,as i always say "better looking at it,
than looking for it"
cheers Rick

email (option): richardholt@rocketmail.com

It was the same when I went to Small Heath just after BSA had shut down..There was all sorts scattered about on the floor...Everything got put into skips and was scrapped (including most of the factory drawings going back to the early 1900s)...

If the contractors dropped something they weren't too bothered about picking it up...I got a pile of new A65 brake plates, some B50 engine parts etc. etc....Interestingly, I found a new Francis Barnett enamel tie pin as well...and they were never part of the BSA group, so I don't know how that got there...

My mate got the toilet seat from the executive toilets...!..Sat on by some famous people I suspect... ....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Hi Dave,should have grabbed them patterns,as i always say "better looking at it,
than looking for it"
cheers Rick [/quote]

It was a large wire cage Rick, I had a Mk11 Escort, there's no way I would have fitted all the moulds in the boot. It did cross my mind to grab the Trident timing cover mould as it's so distinctive. If I thought the moulds were going down the tip I would have, but I thought someone would buy them all and produce spares maybe and as a Trident owner I wouldn't be doing myself any favours


My mate got the toilet seat from the executive toilets...!..Sat on by some famous people I suspect... ....Ian [/quote]

Famous and useless arses

I'm too young to have gone round the BSA factory, I think it was 82 when I was at Meriden, so I'd have been about 19. I'm glad I went there but seeing the end of an era is a sad thing.

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

I guess the Trident patterns were one thing that got out of Small Heath intact at the end...Until the demise of BSA all 3 cylinder engine variants were made there...

I had a friend who worked at BSA until the end and he told me he remembered all the special parts, prototypes and Goldie/B50 parts etc. from the competition shop and its cellars, which were used for storage, going into the skips....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Alan Clews (CCM) bought all the B50 stuff didn't he. but maybe that didn't include the comp shop :/
I spoke to an ex BSA test rider last year (who emigrated after the factory shut & returned here later) he said that as an employee near the end he was offered lots of stuff cheap & bought a few competition dept parts for a fiver.

Yes, you're right Fred...Clewes bought most of the B50 parts that were left. My pal had quite a few drawings, including a full sized one for the swinging arm A/B Series frame...Also many of the parts lists and catalogues from 1911 until the end...

Before he died he acquired more or less the full set with only one or two missing...It was a fantastic archive which I tried to buy from his estate but unfortunately I was beaten to it by an a*****e who managed to convince my mates wife it was worthless and then helpfully took the lot away for her...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

I guess the Trident patterns were one thing that got out of Small Heath intact at the end...Until the demise of BSA all 3 cylinder engine variants were made there...
[/quote]

I was surprised to see the Trident moulds there Ian, I was expecting Bonnie stuff. The cage was waist height and full, so maybe Bonnie moulds as well. The interesting thing was the mould for the head or barrels, as there were seperate red strips that weren't connected to the mould, they must have slotted in and been the spaces between the fins when cast.

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

I've tried all the techniques, including getting the wife and extended family over to assist with me in the meantime getting in an even fouler mood as the struggle continued and my language became ever more "colourful".......

As for side "check springs".....Ariel's are a doddle..........but 16H's....the opposite !!!!! Better stop now or the "colourful" language may re-appear...........

email (option): sjmwdbikemad@aol.co.uk

I guess the Trident patterns were one thing that got out of Small Heath intact at the end...Until the demise of BSA all 3 cylinder engine variants were made there...
[/quote]

I was surprised to see the Trident moulds there Ian, I was expecting Bonnie stuff. The cage was waist height and full, so maybe Bonnie moulds as well. The interesting thing was the mould for the head or barrels, as there were seperate red strips that weren't connected to the mould, they must have slotted in and been the spaces between the fins when cast.[/quote]

They sound like chills.
these get put into sand moulds to control the heat dissipation for a variety of reasons like ;-
To ensure complete filling of the mould.
To control the grain size in a particular region ( bore for non sleeved cylinders )
To initate earlier solidification thus the orientation of the grains.
To prevent a "split line" where the left side and the right side meet

email (option): wariron@tpg,com,au

To get back on topic, although I think the casting stuff is interesting too!

Here is what I did:



Cheers,

Lex

email (option): welbik@wel***.net

Thanks for that info Trevor

I didn't get chance to look at the bike over the weekend so it was my job for this afternoon. I wasn't looking forward to it as I would probably need 3 hands to hold everything. The bike was jacked up on a bit of wood under the sump guard and wheel out. Disconnected the damper springs, I didn't take all the links apart as it only needed the side damper spindle taking out and swivelled the plates out the way. Then I could get the top yoke on properly and do up the steering spindle nut. I then put the wheel back in so I could alter the position of the forks with the jack and leave my hands free. The side plates pulled into their place on the forks without any trouble and the spindle slide back in. That was quite painless and no swearing involved. That must have taken about 10-15 mins

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Just the dreaded damper springs to get on now, as you can see they've got a way to go

I played about with the jack to see if I could get the springs closer to the pin holes and as weight went on the bike the closer the holes got. I got my Missus and one of the boys to sit on the bike to push it down but still not close enough. My Missus said if you had it on the bench you could ratchet strap it down Well done Wend (she has her uses )

Swapped the bikes around and got it on the bench and strapped it down. The holes got within 10mm of each other. I remembered how I did this last time after all the swearing. So with one person pushing the spring down I used 2 different sizes bars (drill bit shafts) one just thinner than the damper pin and the other thinner again. Put the 2 bars in the 2 holes each side of the spring and pull down with the other person pushing down on the spring as well. You can do it enough to get the thinner bar in, then lever that bar in the hole so you can get the larger bar in the other side, then lever that enough to get the pin in. Use a rubber mallet to knock the pin in at the same time as levering on the bar. You have to make sure the bars are on the right side so the pin goes in the side you want it, so thinnest on the outside. This worked a treat with no problems and job done amazingly quick. I only had to set up the damper spindle as I didn't touch the rest.

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Thank you to everyone for your suggestions and advice, I'm glad I posted this before carrying on with what the manual was saying. I did have a look at fitting ratchet straps around the top and bottom yokes but couldn't get them on there.

There's a big difference in the length of the new and old springs, so the bike should be great on that bumpy Bayeux road now

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

Well done Dave!!

Cheers,

Lex

email (option): welbik@wel***.net

I really need to meet this Wendy and shake her hand. The women who breaks off work to come home and wake you at 10.30 with bacon butties in bed.......Then helps you fix your bike Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

You'll meet her soon Ron, but she turns from Stepford wife in the week to Weekend Wend on a Friday nights

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

Here's a picture of her, just for you Ron

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email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

Oh that Wendy! Tell her I like to be woken a lot earlier than 10.30 with my bacon sarnie Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Typical Ron...... Mind you, Vee loves him to bits !!! (for some odd reason)......must be the size of the collection.......

email (option): sjmwdbikemad@aol.co.uk

I'll tell her to get extra bacon in then Ron
That picture was when we went to Spain on the bikes

I'll have to watch she doesn't ride off into the sunset with him then Steve

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

Dave, just a thought but your check springs do look to be quite stretched and the casting of the patent details on the top links is quite crude...they couldn't be Indian top links with a badly angled spring lug, could they ?

It is a cow of a job. I used a ratchet strap and a long lever.

No Rik, they're definitely genuine. The springs look stretched because they are, the new spring is 8 1/2" and there's no weight on the bike as it's on the jack. When it's back on its wheels they'll compress again. You can see the angle of the side plates no longer points upwards like they used to.

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk