Straightening Triple Clamps

[shandawg]

Looks like the triple clamps on my ZXR are twisted.

Do you guys know if they can be straightened without weakening them too much, or do I need to replace them?

If I can repair them, does anybody know a good place to get it done?

Thanks

[Jackrat]

Looks like the triple clamps on my ZXR are twisted.

Do you guys know if they can be straightened without weakening them too much, or do I need to replace them?

If I can repair them, does anybody know a good place to get it done?

Thanks

Looks like the forks are just twisted in the clamps.
Loosen every thing off and work the forks a few times,most of it should straighten up or you may have to use a little force.
After you have it all straight check the wheel and steering head bearing.
Also cheak the front axle.

[riffer]

Hey Shannon

Cycleworks are straightening mine down here.

Up your end you could try F1 Engineering at Hamilton.

Good luck mate

[FROSTY:Me]

I agree with jackrat. I prefer to jack the front end up and loosen ALL fork mounting bolts including the axle and fork brace. You will probably hear a cracking noise as it all snaps back into place. You have some pretty butty upside downers that I doubt will have bent your triples.

[shandawg]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I have loosened off all the clamps etc, except the axle (I don't have a big enough allen key), and they're still twisted. Gave it a bit of force too.

Next I'll take the front wheel off and see if that helps, if not, the forks are coming out and I'll check the clamps again.

The good news is that the forks themselves seem fine.

When you take the forks off, what's the best way to support the bike - hang it from the roof?

[riffer]

When you take the forks off, what's the best way to support the bike - hang it from the roof?

Mine currently is in that very position. I have the back end on the rear stand, with a standard car scissor jack right under the bottom of the bike.

Holds it fine.

[wkid_one]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I have loosened off all the clamps etc, except the axle (I don't have a big enough allen key), and they're still twisted. Gave it a bit of force too.

Next I'll take the front wheel off and see if that helps, if not, the forks are coming out and I'll check the clamps again.

The good news is that the forks themselves seem fine.

When you take the forks off, what's the best way to support the bike - hang it from the roof?

Head Stem Front Stand is the best.

[FROSTY:Me]

Hmm now i wonder who it is that has them things for sale??
Oh yea --me lol

[Motu]

I can't see how you could bend the triple clamps without damaging the forks,the path of damage is through the forks to the steering head,any force powerful enough to damage the top clamps will have delt to the fork legs first - unless the designer of the triple clamps was on a tighter budget than the fork designer.Almost cetainly misaligment as the others say,just release tension,wack against the nearest wall and retighten.

[shandawg]

The forks definitely don't want to go straight again without the front wheel coming off at this stage. I had a long plank wedged in the wheel for leverage with all the clamps loosened and it didn't want to go all the way.

I'll be having another go at it this weekend.

[Jinx3d]

Hmm, if nothing is moving, it might be cause its all just stuck, you might need to take the bolts right out and break the "stiction" if you get my meaning.

Sounds a bit dodgy actually straightening the alloy triples tho' doesnt it?

Aluminum isnt that good in fatigue, perhaps you should just get some second hand ones eh?

Worst comes to the worst - you can always get some CNC'd up. They'd look pretty trick too!

On second thoughts (and I hate myself for saying it) - maybe you'd better let a pro look at it. You dont want those puppies falling off do you...

Good luck
Mike

[shandawg]

Hmm, if nothing is moving, it might be cause its all just stuck, you might need to take the bolts right out and break the "stiction" if you get my meaning.

Sounds a bit dodgy actually straightening the alloy triples tho' doesnt it?

Aluminum isnt that good in fatigue, perhaps you should just get some second hand ones eh?

Worst comes to the worst - you can always get some CNC'd up. They'd look pretty trick too!

On second thoughts (and I hate myself for saying it) - maybe you'd better let a pro look at it. You dont want those puppies falling off do you...

Good luck
Mike

Yeah that's what I thought too. I do have the facility to make CNC up some new ones, but i think it's a bit extreme for a bike of this size/value.
The whole lot's coming apart this weekend, so I'll be reporting back on monday
thanks for the advice guys

[shandawg]

Yesterday I slid the forks down through the clamps so they were just sticking out the top of the lower clamp, tightened the clamp, and went to work twisting it back into place. It actually bent bak fairly easily with a bit of weight on it.

My disks are bent, I'll have to start a "Straightening bent discs" thread next.

I swapped the forks, front wheel, guard and disks off my other zxr for the meantime, until I get the disks straightened.

For those of you out there with zxr250's - note that the A model and the C model have different fork bottoms, disk offset, and axle (& bearing) diameter.

[shandawg]

The bitzer