What did I do to my CT today?

[MountainMini]

So, the last couple of days I have been working on the front forks. In particular replacing the seals and draining old fluid. Not to much dribbled out! (There was no gush of fluid). 1983 Canadian ct 70. I have the type 5 forks as pictured in the clymer manual. The BIG issue is removing the 6mm hex bolt at the bottom of the fork that screws into the bottom of the dampening rod form the outside. It's installed with thread locker! You go to break it loose and then because everything is round in there it just spins! Hmmm a design guffaw? They say to remove it with the spring in there under tension and or add extra tension then remove it, impact drill if that doesn't work. Non of that works. Or take it to the Honda dealer, nope not happening! What so they can say it's a non serviceable unit, you need to buy new. So I searched the forums. Worked great, somebody had the same issues with this type 5 front forks. I got some great info from 2 brilliant members. "Bc17a. And. Vuldub". You need to stop the dampening rod from turning to remove the hex bolt then you can remove the internals. Used the excellent idea of an easy out attached to 1/4 in socket extensions to hold the dampening rod.

 

[kirrbby]

Thank you for posting this!
I tried this job, and failed, back in August 2014. I finally got some good info (something I might have been able to work with) from a member, right after I had managed to just re-tighten the bottom socket head bolt, and leave the fork assembled. Now I see that the "dampening rod" (and the Allen head bolt) is actually holding the inner leg in.
Until now, I haven't known what/how the inner and outer legs were being held together. Now I know.
It is possible to clean out the fork leg without disassembling it. BUT, if the seal is leaking, those seals are a sonofabitch to remove when you can't use the inner leg to help pull them out.

So when you put them back together, will you use the threadlocker? I'm thinking, chase the threads and get the screw threading in easily while they are out, then add some blue loctite just before assembly.

I still have one set of these forks on my 93, and two more sets packed away. Thanks for sharing.

 

[MountainMini]

Full credit goes to the post and members, I found when I did the search. They got me thinking how I could improvise, and it worked! I believe all 1980's and 1990's CT 70's have the type 5 front forks.

Yes, the dampening rod is threaded inside. I think the Loctite acts as a sealant, so it doesn't leak from the bottom? Not a 100% sure on that. When I cleaned up the bottom bolt and threads it almost looked like yellow Loctite, the weakest kind. I'm gonna go see if I can get some yellow Loctite. There is also a copper washer that goes with the bottom bolt. They call it a sealing washer in the manual. Yeah, there is very little tolerance on those threads. I soaked them in lacquer thinner to remove crud etc. Then used compressed air and they were better.

I was lucky I had an easy out that fit perfectly into the 1/4" square drive end of the extensions. I test fit every thing back together. Seemed to work fine. Might need to put a little pressure on the extensions and easy out the last couple of turns. Then when your done, a couple of righty-loosey turns on the easy out and it comes out. Some swirl marks on the inner diameter of the dampening rod. But I didn't have a lot of options, shouldn't affect anything much. It's that or leaky seals.

It was easy to pop the old seals out with a dull/rounded screwdriver after the hex bolt was removed and I was able to remove everything. Cleaned it all up with brakekleen. Have new Honda seals and dust caps. just need to get some yellow Loctite and some fresh fork oil then I will reassemble soon.

 

[Gary]

On the larger Honda's I have never had a problem using an impact wrench. Spins then right out. Personally the most important thing in a home shop is heat followed by compressed air

 

[69ST]

You might want to partially fill the fork legs, stand them up on clean paper towel and give `em at least an overnight to see if any fork oil seepage occurs. CT70 forks can be real mofo to reseal after the lower plug/screws have been R&Rd. If there is any seepage, you won't have much to disassemble...so that you can re-clean the threads and apply a different, thicker, sealant.

 

[MountainMini]

Thanks for the tips and advice.

 

[bruces]

I haven’t done a set of those ct70 forks yet ,but on other bikes I have stuck a long wooden dowel (broom handle ) inside from the top to hold the dampening rod while spinning the bolt out of the bottom .Works putting them back together as well .

 

[MountainMini]

There tiny. A quarter inch drive extension fits. But a 3/8" drive extension doesn't. So it would have to be around that size. It's awesome all the experienced tips and advice that's coming in! Thanks.

 

[MountainMini]

Dust caps for my 1983 CT 70. Looked online and they are pretty much unavailable. Found some for the 91-94 models, still available. Took a chance and ordered a pair. Mine were toast-see pics. Well they fit pretty good. The difference seems to be in the inner lip of the dust cap. The 1983 version has about a 7mm lip that catches in the groove on the lower fork. The 91-94 only has about a 5mm inner lip, but it works! Hopefully when the fork rebounds heavily it won't pull out? I did a little bench testing and it seems to be fine. There is a little gap in the groove when it gets pulled up. Just thought I'd pass this on.

 

[cjpayne]

Cool that you got those to work. If they pop off, you could use a thick black ziptie to hold them on until they "take a set" and conform or maybe use some heat?

 

[MountainMini]

Thanks CJ I like the zip tie idea.



Got new tires and tubes! Put the rear tire and hub back together. Still waiting for a new front rim to arrive. Here's some pics. Old tire tread depth was 4/32", the new one was 10/32". Old rear tube had rust marks from the rim and had been patched a couple of times, just replaced it. New tires in my province come with a $4 recycling tax each.

 

[MountainMini]

Ok, so I partially reassembled one of the front fork tubes today. Put a thin layer of fork oil on the parts, then inserted the slider, dampening rod and recoil spring and bolted everything in securely using the easy out and threadlocker to seal everything. I'm gonna let that all set-up/cure for 24 hrs before I add any fork oil. After 24 hrs I'll add some fork oil and monitor that for another 24 hrs to see if I have any leaks. (As suggested by racerx).

 

[MountainMini]

I bench tested my main wiring harness with my continuity tester. The kind with a probe, battery, bulb and wire/alligator clip. I was able to get continuity (bulb lit-up) through all the wires! Yeah! Also got the neutral indicator light and turn signal indicator light to illuminate. Only issue I had was with the high beam indicator light, the bulb was toast. Took it out and I did have continuity to the base though. At least this harness wasn't destroyed. That shrink tubing was a little annoying around the base of the bulb though. Even got a low voltage burble out of the horn when I tested it.

 

[MountainMini]

Got some more stuff done today. Got a new front rim the other day. Assembled the rim, hub, new tube and tire. The old one was bent and rusty.

Also got the fork tubes completed. New seals, new dust caps and fresh fork oil. No leaks drips or seepage. When I put them back together I did use threadlocker/Loctite. They're just not back on the bike yet.

 

[MountainMini]

Let's see? Ordered parts and stuff. New shifter forks, pins and clips. Ordered a fix a thread kit to repair my stripped out spark plug threads. Insert type so I can use original size spark plugs. Also ordered some JIS bits for my vessel hand held impact driver.

Partially took apart my cylinder head and cleaned it. Pics later

Recleaned my split crank cases, gears and crankshaft. Then light lubed with wd 40. Then bagged it all up to keep it clean. It'll stay that way until I get the required parts to start reassembling.

Did a little bit of reassembly on the front end. Just 1 pic. Yes the fork dust caps have zip ties on them

 

[cjpayne]

Cool that you used the ziptie idea. Go ahead and move the ziptie heads to the back of the forks. That way they dont snag the tire when installing and maybe pop off(frustrating). Also, if your ridding in some mud or something gets caught between the tire and fork.

Some weeks ago, I had a motor apart and was bagging the parts and spraying them with WD40. Racerx(I think it was), suggested squirting those parts with oil to go ahead and pre lube them when bagging. Something you need to do already when reassembling and it saves that step, making things quicker/easier during reassembly.

Be sure and label those bags, such as the intake rocker and exhaust if your going to reuse them with the same camshaft.

 

[MountainMini]

Ok will move the zip tie.
I’ll pre lube all my bagged parts going forward. I did label the rockers and guides, exhaust and intake. Everything looks pretty good. In the head too. Pics later.

 

[cjpayne]

Ok will move the zip tie.
I’ll pre lube all my bagged parts going forward. I did label the rockers and guides, exhaust and intake. Everything looks pretty good. In the head too. Pics later.

Go ahead and replace the exhaust valve seal while your in there. Also, check the rockers for flat spots and the adjustable tappets for excessive wear. I've never seen bad rocker shafts in these, but check the rocker/shaft for any slack. They should feel tight, but smooth.

 

[MountainMini]

Ok I’ll check them all out. This list will help keep me busy. I’m sure I’ll have time. Looks like my shifter forks will be delayed in shipping. Not going to be shipped until Feb. 6. This sucks. (Partzilla)

 

[69ST]

FYI...some arms have shallow faces grooves (one per rocker face) that follows the centerline of rocker shaft. These should not be confused with worn specimens. If there's wear, it'll be apparent. When in doubt, post detail pix...