Different angles on front forks

[Jules]

Hi, well having looked hard at the wheel centreing issue I have found that I have leading and trailing fork legs. I've tried taking a photo to show what I mean. It looks like the steering head/yokes are twisted somehow - again interested in anybodies thoughts about how to fix or even measure this?? thanks

[NickSR]

Hi Jules
Can you try the following:
1. Slack off top yoke pinch bolt.
2. Slack off bottom yoke fork leg pinch bolts.
3. With the handle bars and front wheel fitted you can grip the front wheel between your legs and push/pull
    the handle bars to line up the fork legs etc, then tighten up pinch bolts.
As you do not have the handle bars and wheel fitted, may be you can put a bar through the wheel clamps.

If this does not work then may be check for damage?

Regards
Nick

 

[alanp]

Yep, my money's on Nick's answer, but also make sure the tapered top of the tubes are seated properly in the top yoke bores.
Alan

[bsa-bill]

I agree with Nick and Alan but before you do that might be an idea to slacken the fork top nuts and tap down to free the forks from the top taper just a tad then turn one stanchion  at a time and see if it makes a difference if not you can then rule out bent stanchion

[Jules]

all good ideas guys, thanks - I have actually tried swapping the legs side to side and it made no difference, and before I try the loosening and tweaking suggested, I might just try bottoming out the yoke bearing again. I thought I had it bottomed out but on close inspection today it actually looks "high" on one side ie its not standing up the same amount all around the housing, even though I gave it a really good tap down. Any experiences on this please, could this cause the type of problem I'm seeing do you think? The legs are straight/new because the old legs had been VERY badly bent by the prior owner, could the top or bottom yoke have been bent do you think? when I slide the legs through the lower yoke clamps, one slides nicely through and into the taper in the top yoke, the other (the leading leg) is tight, as if its not quite aligned.......... cheers

[bsa-bill]

Sounds like your on the right track Jules, probably the bottom yoke twisted, plenty of them around but difficult to tell by looking at them whether their better than you have

[NickSR]

Hi Jules
I agree with Bill, looks like its a yoke problem, if the old legs were bent then there has been a sudden stop some where in its life.

I guess its the bottom yoke, top yoke could be checked on a mirror if you do not have metal flat surface plate.

Sorry can not help with head bearings, but again I would thought it would have needed to sit square.

You could try a posting on the forum Wanted/Sale for a bottom yoke.

Regards
Nick

[wilko]

Had the same thing on a Matchy twin, it was a twisted bottom yoke.