Steer head removal

[natemoen]

Has anyone tried to use a length of pipe and cut notches (like the top of a castle) to fashion a tool for this? I think there is something in the Clymers manual for that.

You could but it seems like way more work than it is worth. A channel lock pliers works great!

[TomB]

I did just that, trouble is general pipe is soft, it lasted about a minute before mashing up

I have a set on a frame that WILL NOT come undone, they're together bloody solid, I was trying to get them undone without resorting to the hammer and chisel route as I wanted to keep them neat. So far I've used a pair of decent quality C spanners that fit perfectly and hammered hell out of em, but no movement from each other, yep they slowly screw themselves up and down the tree stem but won't come undone from each other

Even the C spanners have seriously bruised them so I don't s'pose the chisel can make them worse now.

[Yard Dogg]

Find a friend with a torch and heat them. Nothing can argue with heat.

[DGXSER]

Heat may have an offsetting effect. While the nuts will expand to loosen the grip on the threads of the stem, they will expand into each other forming more pressure/friction to overcome to get them to separate from each other.

[fredintoon]

they slowly screw themselves up and down the tree stem but won't come undone from each other
Even the C spanners have seriously bruised them so I don't s'pose the chisel can make them worse now.

Hi Tom,
most likely the C-spanner bruising has locked them together even if they weren't locked before.
Just keep turning the locked pair until they wind clear off the tree stem.

[TomB]

I thought that as they were moving Fred, trouble is they move so little with each hammer blow by the time I wound them the full height of the thread they'd be mashed beyond recognition

I'd been moving around all the notches giving them all a bit of work trying to spread the damage but they're all starting to look bad.

I considered cutting one to save the other too. Its a spare frame I have not an actual project (yet ) I'll go back to it over the xmas break, see what I can make of em.

Happy Christmas folks

Tom





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[Yard Dogg]

You could use some 1/4" flat bar stock and grind out 2 spanner wrenches with a square tab on the end of them.

[TomB]

Thats what I've been using, but not home made, the correct C spanners for the job, I've had lengths of pipe on them to get a HUUUUGE amount more leverage but no movement.

I've been doing motorcycle restorations and custom builds for customers for years and never had any this tight before.

Thanks for the ideas

[bikerphil]

After you are done destroying them, new ones are still available from Yamaha. It looks like a million different bikes use the same nut so finding some at a breaker shouldn't be too hard.

http://www.powersportsplus.com/parts...-25033-00.html

[TomB]

HAHAHAAA!!!

Yep thats a pretty extensive list

[Yard Dogg]

Well, availability shouldn't be a problem.

[TomB]

Hi Tom,
Just keep turning the locked pair until they wind clear off the tree stem.

Well I had time over the break and weighed up the job, Freds idea was the best suited. As hammering the C spanner was causing damage I picked the least bruised slot for a good fit for the C spanner and used a long piece of pipe for extra leverage and wound the pair off together.

Thanks for the ideas lads, especially Fred

The nuts are still in good enough condition to re-use.




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[jetmechmarty]

Buy two of these from Mike's XS. They're only $13 each and you can use them to adjust spring preload an many shocks as well.

[TomB]

Wouldn't have got a length of pipe on for extra leverage with one of them Marty


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[jetmechmarty]

I understand your dilemma, Tom. With new nuts on there, those wrenches should do the job. That being said, I posted that for others reading the thread.

I'm happy you got the job done. Fred is often the one to come through when the job gets tough.