1970 Cl350 fork assembly

C

Cbone

Active Member
Hey guys just pulled my forks apart to replace the fork seals, they are the older style with the tapered top. Seems to me that way this style stays under pressure from the spring they might be hard to get back together.

Does anyone have any tips before I get started on the reassembly.
 
Redliner said:
You mean assembling the forks or putting them back into the trees?
Click to expand...

The re assembly, is it hard to get this style back together? I imagin that I will need something to compress the fork to get the top c-clip above the fork seal back in.
 
Huh? If yours is the tapered kind then the spring is on the outside and therefor wouldn't have any compression until you install them into the trees.

Slide the stanchion into the slider. Place the backup ring and oil seal in the order shown in your manual. Use a seal driver to ram the seal down far enough to completely expose the grooves for the circlip. Drop the circlip on top and be SURE that the entire circumference is seated within the groove.

Once this fork is assembled, take your rear axle out and put it through your tree clamps, thread-down. Thread the bottom of this axle into the top of a fork, and pull it through. As you pull up on the axle, SLIGHTLY tighten down a tree clamp to hold the leg in place. Put the nut on top of the fork leg without dropping the fork out again. Loosen the clamp that you tightened to hold the leg in place. Tighten the fork cap to spec.

This makes it easy to sneak each leg through the trees, headlamp ears and rubber parts attached to that without any trouble.
 
Hey Redliner thanks for the tip on using the Axle. As for the spring, my are the tapered style and they still had a spring on the inside. Someone had told me that the spring on the outside was optional, something that came with the CL models. Is this not the case?
 
Ok, So i was just looking at images of the different years of forks. Now i see what you mean. My forks are not the tapered ones like you are thinking. Mine just tapper at the top where they go into the tree. Meaning that the spring doesn't slide out the top when i remove the top bolt.

Mine are not in this rough of shape but this is the style
s-l1600.jpg
 
try the rear axle ;) being nice and long,you can use it to pull the stanchion all the way up,i am pretty sure it is the same thread
to verify just try the axle nut see if it fits the top fork bolt threads
 
Redliner said:
Ok these should have no spring inside. Only on the outside.
Click to expand...

Oh crazy! Cause l just pulled them apart and there was most definitely a spring inside. J guess this explains why I figured they would be hard to get back together.
 
Redliner said:
Can you post a picture of what you're working with?
Click to expand...

Here are a few photos of what i am working with. the first three are images of the forks from the bike the next three are photos of some forks that i got from @VonYinzer. I was going to switch over to the ones from VonYinzer but i noticed that the fender bolt up differently on these. Any idea of i can use the fork tubes from the new forks with the lowers from the older forks?



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......wuuuuuuuuuuuuh?

No wonder you're having a hard time putting them together.

Don't take my word for it, but I've NEVER seen that fork style with those interior springs. Those have always come with external springs, in my experience.

I've never seen a set of old forks that went together with spring tension.

Assemble the forks without the springs, then find the proper ones that fit externally. Be careful of that rust, it can easily tear a seal wiper. Clean it up, make it smooth, then bust out the petroleum jelly.
 
Redliner said:
......wuuuuuuuuuuuuh?

No wonder you're having a hard time putting them together.

Don't take my word for it, but I've NEVER seen that fork style with those interior springs. Those have always come with external springs, in my experience.

I've never seen a set of old forks that went together with spring tension.

Assemble the forks without the springs, then find the proper ones that fit externally. Be careful of that rust, it can easily tear a seal wiper. Clean it up, make it smooth, then bust out the petroleum jelly.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the insight. You have any idea if I can fit the newer style fork tube into the older lower section?
 
Heh, I unno. I wouldn't think so since one had to fit a spring inside and so used a different type of piston. Why not just get another set of triple trees and a fender and go with the new forks you got? You could just as easily find external springs :)

Make sure your stanchions are straight. STRAAAAIGHT
 
I actually have a set of the outer springs that I can use but the issue is i already picked up a new triple tree and realized the other night that it fits the newer forks not the older ones.

Issue with using the new forks is the front fender mounts diffently.
 
OOOOOOOOOH, that makes things hella easy!!! Just get a new fender!! Many swap easily between models, so find out what fits the later CB350 (or whatever those forks came from).

My uncle is running a CB350 fender on his CB77 restoration because the originals can go for $300 in acceptable shape now 0.0
 
Does anyone know if the lower fork sections of the older and newer cb350s are interchangeable?

Would be nice if I could make something workable from the parts I have.
 
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