fork seal holder

hello roadholder shorts are all the same  navigator are roadholder shorts  and see noc lightweight parts for roadholder seal holders  yours  annaj 

Hi John,

Just to add to Anna's sage advice I have used a set of stainless steal fork seal holders from the NOC shop and whilst expensive they fitted perfectly and look really good.   That said I found it is important to use the correct tightening tool rather than a strap wrench, when I started to use a strap wrench it started to dent the metal which is quite thin above the thicker threaded area.   Good luck with the fork rebuild - I found I had to 'fettle' the top bushes which were about 1/2 mm too long.   It meant once the seals were firmly pressed into place and the seal holders tightened down there was a 1/2mm gap between the holder and fork slider.   I removed the seal and top bush and carefully ground them down by 1/2mm so when I re-assembled the forks the seal holder tightened neatly down on the slider without a gap.   I hope that makes sense!!!   Nick

I've always thought that there should be a half mm .020" gap when the seal holder is tightened. To make the paper gasket tight, so oil don't creep out between the oil seal and the threads. Once had to fit double paper gaskets to get the fork oil tight.My three roadholder forks all have a gap.

Am I wrong? Mike

Very interesting Mikael, I thought the gap was just a typical example of minor manufacturing inaccuracies in the thickness of the top bush and oil seal.   When I measured the different seals I sourced from the NOC and Norvil there were variations which could add up to 1mm.   In the end I fettled the bushes so I didn’t have a gap or any oil weeping past the paper seals - to me it is more aesthetically pleasing - perhaps I am too OCD!   Nick

Carefully compare the lenght of the holders. I had some on my Navigator which were too short,

barely covered by the fork shrouds .

I guess these were for the early Norton Commando Fastback

with rubber gaiters on the Roadholder forks.

If an item is screwed into another to clamp a third item, there has to be a gap between the first two to ensure the third item is properly clamped.

Hello has for the fork seal tool the NOC shop sells them to but I made my own some time ago and they work real well even on over tytend seals.  Yours Anna j

You are right about clamping rigid components David, I noted that the oil seals have a thin rubber face which compresses slightly as the seal holder tightens down on them.   I fettled the top bush just enough so when the seal holder is tightened down hard the seal, paper gasket and bush are securely clamped and the gap between the slider and holder is negligible.    3000 miles on and there is no sign of weeping or the holder working loose so it seems to have worked!   Cheers Nick