Installed the forks and head bearing

It has been a few months since I did anything, and so I finally got off my behind and got the forks installed. I started out by getting out the bearings and ensuring everything was there. I decided to use All Balls bearings as they are a taper bearing and not a ball bearing. Picture of the bearings is below. Notice they come complete with the top and bottom seals. They are a great kit and a great product and I highly recommend them.















Next was to get the bottom seal and bearing race on the bearing. It was very easy to get the seal onto the pipe, but the bearing is a press fit and I didn't have a driver. I had purchased a piece of pipe for the job, but didn't want to damage the bearing so I didn't use it. Instead I did a very patient tap on one side-tap on the other side approach. It took quite a while and a couple of rest breaks for my hammering hand, but eventually the bearing was seated - see the photo's below.

Next was to drive the seat into the top and bottom of the head on the frame. I had purchased a driver set for this and it went very easy. The final step was grease and then putting it all together. I have the Nighthawk manual of course, so I read that section and used the exploded drawing to get the order of parts correct for the installation. I first greased the bottom bearing and race, and then did the top bearing and race and put the pipe into the tube in the frame. I then added the seal and other parts, and screwed on the top nut for a finished install - sort of.

Once the top nut is installed then you install the lock nut and the sealing nut, and then you put on the top of the triple tree, and then the final locking nut. All of this needs to be setup properly as well. Once you have it all installed and mostly tightened down you need to get the book and read the final steps. This involves installing the forks and then setting the lock nut so that the proper pull on the front of the forks makes them move. This means you need to tighten the top bridge nuts so that they are putting enough pressure on the bearings to keep the forks in place until met with a set force. This force was 2.5 to 4 lb, so I used a fishing scale and hammer/punch, and slowly tightened the nut until the reading was right. It is at just over 3 pounds at the finish of this exercise.

The last step is to tighten the top nut to a torque of 70 to 90 foot-pounds. The top nut is a 32mm nut, but I happened to have a 1-1/4 socket that did the trick. And the job is done. Now to complete the install of the forks and get a front wheel on and I'll be darn close to a rolling chassis. Photo of the forks installed below. More coming soon I promise.

Cheers. CJ