Rocker spindle question.

pbmw said:

I'm an IPA kind of guy
Haven't really found what I like best in a commercial beer so I brew...
Are there any others here that brew?

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This thread is officially jacked. Taking this conversation about beer to PM before LAB comes a'callin' with his delete button. :mrgreen:

Sorry...
Back on topic.

Or is that Beer On Tap :lol:

Jean

Fellas,

I checked out this thread looking for the thread size of the rocker spindle as I couldn't quite find a bolt to fit. As identified earlier, it is 5/16th 26 TPI (British Cycle). A rare bolt otherwise on a Norton - but - I found that a bicycle axle is that size thread. It is also long enough to make a slide hammer set up. So I suggest you find that old bicycle from behind the shed, strip out the axle and nuts and add it to your box of Norton workshop tools.

I think the banjo bolt for the oil line that goes to the head (that is right in between the two rocker shafts) has the right thread to use to pull the spindle out.

Run your engine a bit. Take the valve cover off to do with the rocker you need to take the shaft off on. Make sure the valve is completely open and there is clearance on the rocker shaft you are going to remove.

then you can pull the shaft, grind the end, blow it off and put it back in.

The bolts that hold the crank together are 5/16 CEI. If you've replaced them, you have some unless you threw them out.

Dave

A slide hammer is easy to make if you have a button die to match the thread in the spindle. Take a length of rod about a foot long and cut a thread at each end (only one end needs to match the spindle). Screw it into the spindle and slide on something heavy eg a piece of large dia bar drilled to fit on the rod. Screw a nut on the rod and you have a slide hammer with which to drive the spindle out of the head once it is heated.
For inserting the spindles I just used a copper mallet. Don't forget to face the flats outwards.

If its a Norton and a Commando then best wishes on the extremes of their variability of fit. Trixie's CHO head 3 years ago I installed spindles and rockers with a helper and we used two heat guns till smoking hot and we almost fractured the spindles trying to drive them home. One went in with its slots too out of line and almost broke a big scew driver with a wrench to twist and scared the spindle slots and about stripped the puller treads to get out and try again, while being careful not to get blistered. Infuriating such straight forward tasks risks damaging parts and tools. Other two heads I've diddled spindles, Peel's replacing the springs with real spacers, and standard back up head, were pretty easy to move or twist, so best wishes just don't spare the heat and takes a while for head to expand from heat soak. If they don't move as expected heat and swear some more.

tyborg15 said:

Fellas,

I checked out this thread looking for the thread size of the rocker spindle as I couldn't quite find a bolt to fit. As identified earlier, it is 5/16th 26 TPI (British Cycle). A rare bolt otherwise on a Norton - but - I found that a bicycle axle is that size thread. It is also long enough to make a slide hammer set up. So I suggest you find that old bicycle from behind the shed, strip out the axle and nuts and add it to your box of Norton workshop tools.

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5/16-26 is not uncommon on pre-Commando Nortons, though I think it would be uncommon on a non-English bicycle.

On a Commando, the frame bits are pretty much all A/F fasteners, similar to our SAE in the states. Gearbox and engine fasteners that were continued from the Atlas/N15/P11/650SS are mostly CEI (26 TPI).

I made a slide hammer out of a piece of rod stock I got from the local home center. Cut a 5/16-26 thread on both ends, capped one end with a nut and fender washer, slid a large socket onto the shaft, screwed into the rocker shaft, tap, tap, tap and out.

CEI taps and dies are available on the interwebs

BillT said:

On a Commando, the frame bits are pretty much all A/F fasteners, similar to our SAE in the states.

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A/F is not a type of fastener. They are UTS or "Unified" (UNF, UNC etc.) so same as, not similar to, SAE.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Thread_Standard
http://www.ring-plug-thread-gages.com/ti-N-vs-UN.htm

The UK adopted the metric system many years ago, so the Unified thread system is no longer used.

Speaking of thread systems, is it true that the US constitution states that the official system of weights and measures is supposed to be metric - resulting from America and France uniting against the British?