Hi Everyone:

New bike to me, leaking fork seals so I pulled the forks off. I made sure to loosen the allen head bolt underneath (that holds the cartridge) before removing the fork caps (this seemed easier than I thought it would be). But I cannot for the life of me get that allen bolt out. I've reassembled the fork with max preload, turned the assembly upside down and put my weight onto it and the allen head bolt just spins. I'm stuck and would appreciate any ideas on how best to proceed. I think I can hear stuff spinning inside the fork tube. I'm worried that something is broken and the lower part of the cartridge is just spinning away.

 

Do you have an impact tool? If not, take it to a shop and see if they can get it out. Many times the rapid hits of an impact driver will get them lose.

 

Thanks, yes I used an impact on it but it's just spinning. I'm now wondering if putting a longer spacer over the spring (i.e. more load) might help?

 

More info: it was tight enough when on the bike to hold oil. I tried tightening but it just spins in the other direction. Is there any way to hold the cartridge from inside other than using spring pressure?

 

I would reassemble the forks with spring and spacers and tighten the cap, that should hold it to allow you to remove the bottom allen bolt

 

Hi,

Yes, done that with preload at max. I'm going to hit the bolt with a propane torch to see if that works. Maybe someone slathered it in red loctite at some point.

 

Good luck with that, you may eventually need to drive something like a broom handle down into the leg to see if it can be wedged enough to come apart if the heating does not work.

 

OKAY! Heating the bolt worked. Whew.

 

Fantastic, well done persevering with it

 

So it turns out the OTHER side was even more problematic to disassemble, heat alone on the fastening bolt didn't work.. I had to find an appropriately sized washer, scar it with radial cuts from a cutoff wheel (to make some sharp edges) then position it between the clean spring and lower seat. I used max preload and placed all my weight on the fork to get as much load on things as I could, then it finally loosened with an impact gun. There doesn't appear to be that much thread sealant on the fastening bolt, not sure why this task was so hard. Seals on hand but I decided to change bushes and those are on order. I'm also changing out fork springs, maybe those are a bit weakened.