Blimmin' Girdraulics

cinquecento

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Non-VOC Member
My Girdraulics have all but seized up.

Following some spirited riding yesterday where I did notice some alarming chatter from the front end which I put down to carp condition of roads and assuming that I had found the limitations of the front suspension. However out today and the bucolic dipping of the front end was all but absent. Checked forks on brake and I can’t provoke any movement at all.

Going to do my homework, would anyone care to suggest what I’m going to find the problem is.

Ps I did adjust the top blade spindle to allow rotation of a dust washer as it did seem a little tight about 150 miles ago.
 

nkt267

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If you put the brake on you will not get any movement in the forks,had a blazing row with the MOT man over this,the forks basically lock up.you need to try to bounce the front end with the brake off, I demonstrated this by balancing on the footrests and bounced the front end.
Can you rotate the dust covers on the top link?.If the spindle nuts are correctly adjusted you can just rotate them,and try slackening the eccentric nuts a little as well.
You could try removing the damper to see if that has siezed..When did you last grease the spindles?,,John
 

cinquecento

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Non-VOC Member
the spindles are greased regularly, as stated I checked the dust cover for 'hand tight rotation' as per the book aboot 150mls ago. When trying to compress the front suspension on the brake , which I ws sure I had done before, and there was no movement I checked the dust cover againand it had nipped up. I easedoff spindle to get rotation in the dust cover and tried the same compression of front with brake on: nada.

I'll check as you suggesst just using imposed load and maybe check damper as well.

Thanks
 

davidd

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If there are any areas that you think the grease is not migrating to, put a few drops of oil on it and let it soak in. The traditional method of checking is to straddle the front wheel while it is on the rear stand and grip the wheel with your legs. Grab the handlebars and twist left and right to make sure everything is tight. To make sure things are not too tight, remove the front wheel and spring boxes. Lift the front end to full bump and let go. Depending on your damper, it should move down to full extension smoothly. You might have to unbolt one end of the damper when doing the check if the damper is quite stiff. I think oil may be the quick fix and the grease should be a longer term fix. If that works just check the rest when you have the wheel of for another reason. You now know why Greg Brillus was interested in a roller bearing front end for the racer!

David
 

mercurycrest

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VOC Member
My Girdraulics have all but seized up.

Following some spirited riding yesterday where I did notice some alarming chatter from the front end which I put down to carp condition of roads and assuming that I had found the limitations of the front suspension. However out today and the bucolic dipping of the front end was all but absent. Checked forks on brake and I can’t provoke any movement at all.

Going to do my homework, would anyone care to suggest what I’m going to find the problem is.

Ps I did adjust the top blade spindle to allow rotation of a dust washer as it did seem a little tight about 150 miles ago.


Are you using a Koni on the front? I've had Koni shocks go bad and lock up solid. Luckily, they can be repaired, but these days, you'd be better off upgrading to something modern.
Cheers, John
 

cinquecento

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Non-VOC Member
standard (Koni ) damper, it's a thought about 'migrating' grease as it did seem reluctant to ooze out on the LHS last time i greased things up. Anyhoos, looks like that's my job for today and thanks for the pointers.

Oot of interest would the roller bearing front end conversion have been needle rollers or would they not have been up to the job?.
 

vibrac

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VOC Member
I always oil my girdralics before races (And I dont use R!) never used grease ( perhaps penright semi fluid would work?) few drips on mudguard but who looks in the paddock?
 

sidmadrid

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Use a trolley jack under the front of the engine and lift it up and down a few times, looking an listening for any tightness.
 

cinquecento

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Non-VOC Member
checked things out as per nkt267 suggestion an there is movement in suspension ie up and down when bouncing on foot pegs, but not quite as much as i was expecting. Tried several times to get top pivot spindle dust cover to be turned by hand but every time on tightning the lock nut the dust cover would pinch up, maybe this is where some attention is needed to stop any binding.

But wht I did find wa that the front damper bottom retaining eye bolts were only loosely assembled, despite nylock nuts theyhad not been done up tight and the damper was rocking to and fro around the bottom pivot.
 
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