Front shock help

K

keith-ct70k1

New Member
Looking for some help guys. I am restoring a 1970 ct70ko and have a little trouble with the shocks. When the shocks are mounted the lower fork or slide half is cocked to one side and not aligned to the wheel. When looking at the shock the holder or cushion spring upper (item 8 parts manual) is not in the proper alignment does anyone know how to get these removed from the spring. Some other questions would be is this normal and should I just twist the fork and mount the wheel or would another solution be to remove the lower fork align it and try remounting. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Keith
 
6

69ST

Well-Known Member
The fork legs should have virtually no slop. The nylon lower slides and upper piston slides (also nylon) are shot and need to be replaced. A complete fork rebuild kit for this model can be had for about $60 and is simple enough to install. You first remove the upper retaining bolts from the upper tree, then unscrew the aluminum retaining caps at the bottom of each upper fork leg and the lower fork legs simply pull out.

There's a roll pin (split dowel) that holds bottom section of the inner (lower) leg to the upper section with the spring. It also retains the upper piston slide, which is a thin ring of gray nylon over a metal base ring. Once you have the fork guts degreased & cleaned, you be able to see how they go together. The only tricky aspect of a rebuild involves r&r of the roll pins.
 
steampick

steampick

Member
Careful when you take off and put on the aluminum retaining caps, though. There are little notches in the cap that accepted a special Honda tool that would allow you good purchase on the cap to turn it. I've seen a few people go at it with vice grips and the like, and crack the cap in two.
 
6

69ST

Well-Known Member
Most of the time, I've been able to unscrew the caps by hand, no tools needed. In those uncommon instances where they've become semi-bonded to the upper fork threads, a strap wrench has always worked well. Best place to grip is the flat shoulder where where the small hole is located, it gets covered by the boot anyway. The dedicated single-pin spanner tool is hard to source. Anyone wanting a spanner, but unable to source one, may be able to make do with a shock preload adjusting tool. The smaller ones are about the ideal size.

Any type of pliers or pipe wrench will chew up the soft aluminum and should be avoided unless you're going to toss the caps. It may be possible to use channel lock pliers if you protect the flat shoulder with rubber hose; this is tricky at best. Once enough clamping force is applied to turn the caps, they may be distorted or crushed.
 
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