Silverwing Downgrade/Upgrade !!!.

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The Bern
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Re: Silverwing Downgrade/Upgrade !!!.

Post by The Bern »

XP500FUN wrote: I don`t have a vice but my cousin does have a good, secure, and large vice, and hes also tooled up to the eyeballs so better go there to do it.
Cool, my method ....
Bike on centre stand, put a car scissor jack under the subframe (hiding under a rubber flap) just ahead of the oil filter, raise until front wheel is just off the ground.
Remove brake caliper & pipe clamp.
Remove front wheel
Remove front mudguard
Undo hose clamp on steering yoke, lift hose over & to the rear of the yoke (fiddly but 'do-able') tie calliper to handlebar to stop it pulling on the pipes.
Now it's just a matter of undoing the pinch bolts & sliding the legs out, the TOP bolt needs to be removed FIRST this is important because there is a locating groove in the leg, the weight of the leg on that bolt makes it bind & becomes a right bugger to get out (I found out the hard way), now you should only need to slacken the lower bolt, if it's too tight for the leg to drop out simply lever the yoke slit open a little.

OK legs are out, this is where the large vice comes in ;) , get a couple of bits of wood & cut a 'V' in each, now 'trap' the leg in the 'V's & clamp in the vice, with a six sided socket (not a twelve sided as it can round off the corners) & knuckle bar 'crack' the bolt + 1 turn, now remove the knuckle bar & fit a T bar, continue to undo the bolt while at the same time pushing down (the spring is under compressive preload by the bolt, NOT pushing down WILL result in bit flying around suddenly, also there is a risk of injury).
Put bolt & washer/distance piece somewhere clean, lift out spring, remove from vice & drain oil by tipping into bucket (or similar) & pumping to help clear the damper.

Optional ... Flush out any remaining oil by putting 250cc (or so) of 5w fork oil, reassemble leg & pump 15 to 20 times then drain

Put in specified amount of fork oil 7.5w - 15w, personally I favour Castrol or Silkolene but there are many other makes out there to chose from.

Re-assembly is basically the reverse process except that you will need a piece of 8mm rod with a taper ground/turned on one end to act as a locating tool, to get the leg in the right place relevant to the top bolt hole, fully tighten & torque up the lower pinch bolt, remove locating tool & fit the top bolt, pop it back together go out & enjoy :D

Will post torque settings, fluid capacity & other tech 'guff' this evening as my tying finger is now knackered ;)
Have wheels, will travel :D

XP500FUN
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Current Ride: Honda WibbleWing 600 Love it

Re: Silverwing Downgrade/Upgrade !!!.

Post by XP500FUN »

Hi Thanks, thats a great write up, and easy to follow.

I`ll print it out etc too.

I`m going to go with the 7.5W as they are so tough, and all and any easing helps.

I`ll order the oil when I know how much.

Thanks again.

Best Mark.

PS do you think the fork inner legs will have survived about 8K like they are ? OK.

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The Bern
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Re: Silverwing Downgrade/Upgrade !!!.

Post by The Bern »

Cheers, no prob's, getting the pinch bolts out then in again is a bit fiddly, but compared to the time needed to remove masses of plastic panels, it's a 'no brainer'.
Regarding the oil, order a litre (or one & a half if flushing), the initial capacity is 300cc per leg which is then 'fine tuned' by measurement after pumping several times to release any trapped air.
Have wheels, will travel :D

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Globs
Posts: 1557
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:13 pm
Current Ride: Piaggio X10 350

Re: Silverwing Downgrade/Upgrade !!!.

Post by Globs »

The Bern wrote:OK legs are out, this is where the large vice comes in ;) , get a couple of bits of wood & cut a 'V' in each, now 'trap' the leg in the 'V's & clamp in the vice, with a six sided socket (not a twelve sided as it can round off the corners) & knuckle bar 'crack' the bolt + 1 turn, now remove the knuckle bar & fit a T bar, continue to undo the bolt while at the same time pushing down (the spring is under compressive preload by the bolt, NOT pushing down WILL result in bit flying around suddenly, also there is a risk of injury).
Put bolt & washer/distance piece somewhere clean, lift out spring, remove from vice & drain oil by tipping into bucket (or similar) & pumping to help clear the damper.
I can highly recommend using a big cloth to manually hold the leg and an impact wrench to undo the bolts
The leg may kick round (the cloth allows slip to be kind to your hands) but the impact gets the job done without the risk of squashing the leg.

Plus you get a chance to use the impact wrench, so it's a win-win really.

Also check the surface VERY carefully before pumping the leg, the manual pump is a far long stroke than it gets on the bike and any lump sticking out will wreck your fork seal.

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The Bern
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Re: Silverwing Downgrade/Upgrade !!!.

Post by The Bern »

Globs wrote:
The Bern wrote:OK legs are out, this is where the large vice comes in ;) , get a couple of bits of wood & cut a 'V' in each, now 'trap' the leg in the 'V's & clamp in the vice, with a six sided socket (not a twelve sided as it can round off the corners) & knuckle bar 'crack' the bolt + 1 turn, now remove the knuckle bar & fit a T bar, continue to undo the bolt while at the same time pushing down (the spring is under compressive preload by the bolt, NOT pushing down WILL result in bit flying around suddenly, also there is a risk of injury).
Put bolt & washer/distance piece somewhere clean, lift out spring, remove from vice & drain oil by tipping into bucket (or similar) & pumping to help clear the damper.
I can highly recommend using a big cloth to manually hold the leg and an impact wrench to undo the bolts

That's 'all well 'n good' but how are you going to hold the leg & tighten the bolt to te recommended torque ???????????

Also & more importantly when undoing the bolt, when it comes free of the leg, will you have a third hand to stop the componants from flying around & possibly causing injury ?, furthermore as the bolt gets progressivly closer to the end of it's thread there is a very real possibilty that the tread will be stripped from the alloy bolt due to it being 'loaded' by the spring.
Have wheels, will travel :D

Flyingpanman
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Re: Silverwing Downgrade/Upgrade !!!.

Post by Flyingpanman »

Here's a YouTube video on an Italian Silver Wing video (other useful vids also on this channel) showing how to do front forks...

XP500FUN
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Re: Silverwing Downgrade/Upgrade !!!.

Post by XP500FUN »

Hi thanks, going to go for it myself, I rang the local small and good Bike fix chap and he said he would put fork seals in at the same time and strip them right down while on.

£80-£125 was the price range.

I mentioned flushing the oil out but he thought a toal strip down was better.

It it was £80 inc the oil and seals I would go for it with me dickie hip but quite a difference.

That was him using 10w he thought that would be enough.

I suppose he has to price up the seals and not sure if they maybe need bushes.

But still struggling after buying it so its call my cousin time today.

Best Mark.

PS good vid thanks too.

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Globs
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Re: Silverwing Downgrade/Upgrade !!!.

Post by Globs »

The Bern wrote: That's 'all well 'n good' but how are you going to hold the leg & tighten the bolt to te recommended torque ???????????
Interestingly I found that the top fork clamp means that the main bolt is totally locked by the pinch action holding it into the fork, so it doesn't need to be particularly tight on the leg. However in general most items are stiffer to undo after a while than to do up, so I don't see that as a great problem: it certainly wasn't when I replaced the fork seal on my SYM 300.

BTW The reason I needed a new seal was pumping the old oil out without checking the smoothness of the leg all the way along first: hence the note to be careful before pumping.
The Bern wrote: Also & more importantly when undoing the bolt, when it comes free of the leg, will you have a third hand to stop the componants from flying around & possibly causing injury ?, furthermore as the bolt gets progressivly closer to the end of it's thread there is a very real possibilty that the tread will be stripped from the alloy bolt due to it being 'loaded' by the spring.
When I did mine I put the base of the fork (the axle end) on the floor, put the nut gun (impact wrench) on top, pressed down slightly to neutralise the spring force and undid it. No chance of any danger.

It's easier with someone else holding the fork so you can keep both hands on the nut gun - but as shown in the video above, there's not much force there, half what's needed to hold the front of your scooter/bike up: it's not the front strut off a big car :)

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The Bern
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Re: Silverwing Downgrade/Upgrade !!!.

Post by The Bern »

The video is excellent for showing how to 'prime' the oil & clear the air. Interesting though is that when he takes the spring out it's closed coils up (wrong way according to WSM) but good man that he is puts it back the correct way. But it's crap showing a professional workshop tightening the cap nut with an impact wrench, there is a torque setting in the manufacturers workshop manual, it's there for a reason.
Have wheels, will travel :D

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The Bern
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Current Ride: Silverwing 600
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Re: Silverwing Downgrade/Upgrade !!!.

Post by The Bern »

Globs wrote:
The Bern wrote: That's 'all well 'n good' but how are you going to hold the leg & tighten the bolt to te recommended torque ???????????
Interestingly I found that the top fork clamp means that the main bolt is totally locked by the pinch action holding it into the fork, so it doesn't need to be particularly tight on the leg. However in general most items are stiffer to undo after a while than to do up, so I don't see that as a great problem: it certainly wasn't when I replaced the fork seal on my SYM 300.

BTW The reason I needed a new seal was pumping the old oil out without checking the smoothness of the leg all the way along first: hence the note to be careful before pumping.
The Bern wrote: Also & more importantly when undoing the bolt, when it comes free of the leg, will you have a third hand to stop the componants from flying around & possibly causing injury ?, furthermore as the bolt gets progressivly closer to the end of it's thread there is a very real possibilty that the tread will be stripped from the alloy bolt due to it being 'loaded' by the spring.
When I did mine I put the base of the fork (the axle end) on the floor, put the nut gun (impact wrench) on top, pressed down slightly to neutralise the spring force and undid it. No chance of any danger.

It's easier with someone else holding the fork so you can keep both hands on the nut gun - but as shown in the video above, there's not much force there, half what's needed to hold the front of your scooter/bike up: it's not the front strut off a big car :)
Carry on & do what you like to your own machine ... Torque settings are there for a reason so I like to use them
Have wheels, will travel :D

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