A10 forks...scraping noise

[maxwelton]

I think I have an interference problem with the seal holder and the upper fork shrouds on my '54 A10. The seal holder is one of the stainless jobbies sold these days. I bought the bike as a basket many years ago, and I put it back together the way I found it, but I never had the chance to ride the original so had nothing to compare it to. The stanchions are new and are not bent.

I guess I'm curious as to whether I can use a bit of friendly persuasion on the shrouds to try and eliminate the interference, having loosened the pinch bolts. I fiddled for a bit tonight and got it better but not perfect...I need another warm body here to prevent me from tipping the machine over, hopefully my neighbor can come by tomorrow.

Has anyone else run across anything like this, or am I just all thumbs?

Roger

[Rusty nuts]

Max,

 You may get away with slackening off pinch bolts & jiggling about a bit.
Is there evidence of contact between seal holder & shroud?
Lube up the shroud inners/springs with plenty of grease if you can.
As long as the forks work OK (no binding under compression) it's more likely just the springs rubbing against the shrouds.
I had to adjust the pinch bolt hole in one shroud on my A7 as it pulled the shroud out of line in relation to the stanchion.
Hope this helps.

[muskrat]

g'day max,
              my '51 A7 does it too. I have readjusted many times, and gives relief for a short while. Our front ends aren't as rigid as more modern bikes and are under a lot of stress with todays speeds and breaking, flexing quite a bit. Do as Rusty nuts suggests, I don't bother too much any more. It's just part of the orchestra of sounds called riding old bikes.
Cheers

[maxwelton]

Thanks. It's definitely better if I break the taper a smidge and loosen the pinch bolt, but I don't really see a way of getting it much better and have everything be tight. I put a bit of grease on the springs but didn't pack it in when I reassembled, I guess that would be a good first place to start.

I love having to take apart something I just reassembled...

[maxwelton]

I went out and took the front end apart (I just dropped the whole assembly after undoing the brake cable) and really packed the springs with grease. Made a HUGE difference. Thanks for the suggestion!

[alanp]

I know this may (will) sound stange but when I had this problem, after trying everything in the book I turned the spring up the other way (top to bottom) and the noise disappeared forever!!

[Rusty nuts]

Works really well on much maligned plungers too.
Pack springs & shroud inners with as much as possible.
 Periodically wipe off the excess grease that works it's way onto the chromed inner shroud & never worry about rust again!