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63/64 forks

Submitted by dan_field on Mon, 11/11/2019
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Light Twins

I’m trying to resuscitate a set of late forks, the ones with the square bottom, does anyone know how the springs come out of the slider, I’ve undone everything but no success so far! 

Cheers

Dan 

Submitted by bruce_firth-clark on Tue, 12/11/2019

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There’s a bolt/screw through the bottom of the slider (underneath).  Trick is to loosen some of the bolt/screw then tap the bolt head to loosen the spring holder from inside the slider as it’s an interference fit in the bottom of the slider - good luck

Bruce

Submitted by dennis_thompson on Tue, 12/11/2019

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On my Jubilee there is a bolt through the side opposite the drain plug. It goes through the spring retainer.

Dennis

Submitted by dan_field on Tue, 12/11/2019

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Thanks Bruce,  I don’t know why I didn’t flip them over, they are the same as roadholders and most modern forks ! 

Dennis,  My earlier forks have the bolt across the slider, it was the later ones that foxed me! 

Dan 

 

“Modern” - now there’s an oxymoron for you with these forks!

Dennis - the “square” bottomed forks are/were the later type of slider from AMC where the mudguard stays go through them below the front axle unlike the the earlier types where the stays are fitted above the axle.  Because of this they have a square shape to the lower end rather than rounded.

Submitted by dennis_thompson on Fri, 15/11/2019

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Thanks, good to know.

How late is "later type"?

I don't know what year they changed the forks but my matching numbers Jubilee was, according to factory records, built on 11th February 1965 and it has the 'round' fork ends with the mudguard stay above the axle.

If this is not period correct it could be that the forks were replaced with older ones.

Dennis

Submitted by bruce_firth-clark on Sat, 16/11/2019

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Dennis, I wouldn’t worry about whether your forks are correct - I’m building from a few T chests of rusty parts bought 5 years ago.  Supposed to have been a Navigator but turned out to be a matching numbers Jubilee (NOC dated Dec 65) with a lot of mismatched & missing parts (including no forks or Jubilee front wheel), so from researching the fork aspect I’ve seen 64 & before Jubilees with round bottomed (stays above axle) and post 65 and after with square bottomed (stays below axle) - I wouldn’t be surprised if sometime during 65 they changed them!

It did come with 3 engines (2 complete 250 & 1 incomplete 350), 2 BSA front wheels, some roadholder fork parts (very bad condition) and absolutely no fasteners! So I made the decision to rebuild to as original (externally) as I could find and to “hell” with the expense (sort of).  This is after all a retirement project!

Bruce

Submitted by dennis_thompson on Sat, 23/11/2019

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Interesting comments and good luck with the restoration.  You might need all of your retirement to get one of the engines oil-tight :-)

I had the oil pump on my engine refurbished by an engineering company. The flow rate is good judging by the return to the oil tank but I do not know what the oil pressure is. The problem I had was with wet-sumping after standing for more that two weeks so I fitted a ball valve stop tap to the down side of the oil filter outlet and that cured the problem. I am aware of the danger of running without oil so I have a giant crocodile clip from and old set of jump leads attached to the kickstart that I only remove when the oil tap is open.

I was thinking about adding Roadholder forks to my Jubilee but I never see any for sale at less than a King's ransom.

It would be good to se how you get on with your restoration.

Dennis

 

 

Submitted by dennis_thompson on Thu, 28/11/2019

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Brue,

Your bike is looking great so far.  I see what you mean about the fork ends.

I am a serial restorer, starting a couple of years before I retired at age 63.

So far I have restored three Ducati's, one Harley, one Moto Guzzi one Honda VFR, and the Jubilee.  The Jubilee was the hardest (and also the most incomplete when I bought it) so I am quite enjoying the latest project, a Honda Superdream (1983 two cylinder 400cc) beacuse all the nuts and bolts are standard Japanese thread (almost identical to metric). It may not have the allure of a British bike but parts are cheap and easy to come by.

One observation, on my Jubilee there was a chromed clip on the fork for the brake cable in addition to the threaded hole in the mudguard bracket and that was good because I could not get a standard brake cable to fit if I only used the mudguard bracket - too much free play to operate the brake. It will be interesting to hear how you get on.

Dennis

Dennis, know what you mean - I grew up with British bikes (my first at 16 was a Norton Big 4 combo) but I moved on to Japanese in the early 70’s. This will be my first British recon after a couple of Japanese (Yamaha XS850 - still got it as my summer ride, & a Suzuki 600 Bandit) recons.  Had a 400 Superdream as a despatch bike in London in the 80’s - only remember it had to be revved hard to get anywhere as there seemed to be no torque!  I’ll see how the brake cable fits once I’ve rebuilt the front/rear wheels (part of winter jobs) but I’ll keep it in mind when I get there - cheers

Bruce

Submitted by dan_field on Thu, 28/11/2019

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Bruce just get a fan heater, you’ll be fine in the garage! 

Dennis, I’ve got roadholders on my jubilee, it was why I bought it, the purchase price was less than a set of forks! But it sure handles nicely! Strictly speaking you’ll also need the Navigator front frame tube as the head angle is set differently to reflect the different offset. Of course you’ll also need a full width front hub, headlight ears and fork shrouds! As you say it all gets very expensive.  

Im taking mine off the jub and putting them on the Navigator I’m building, I think it’s the decent brake I’ll miss the most, but then I don’t go much over 50 anywhere anyway.

dan 

Dan - got one but age & creaky bones don’t like it during cold weather plus it’s time for model boat building in my warm converted office untill spring!  Package on way today by the way

Bruce

Hi Dan - dont change the front downtube from a Jubilee fitted with Roadholder, to a Navigator one. I have no evidence that the angle was different at manufacture - I think it was just because the Jubilee was on an 18" front wheel, whilst Navigator was on 19" front wheel. I have not measured the bottom of the head lug to wheel axle distance, but I bet you that is different as well.

The problem of swapping over front downtubes will be that the head steady bracket will be in the wrong place.

Andy S

Submitted by dan_field on Sun, 01/12/2019

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Hi Andy,

The down tube on the jubilee with roadholders is already one from a Navigator,  I’ve had to space the head steady to make it fit. Now I’m building a Navigator and don’t have any other short roadholders, I shall be swapping the whole front end over down tube and all.

While they are apart, I’ll see if I can check whether the head stock is at a different.angle, or if the frame mounting holes are in a slightly different place. 

All the best

Dan 

Submitted by dan_field on Sun, 29/12/2019

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Andy

I think you are right, I can see no differences between the Navigator and Jubilee front frame members except the steering stop and head steady which we already know about, the head angle appears to be the same as do the engine mounting and frame mounting holes. 

Dan 

 



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