Servicing front suspension

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Luke Turner

Luke Turner

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Jul 1, 2019
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Hi all,

I noticed that when taking the Commando off the centre stand, rolling her forwards a little & squeezing the front brake that the forks would compress with a hiss of air but not spring back up. They only extend again if I put her on the centre stand & thus take some weight off the front.

I don't know when they were last serviced, if at all.

Is it worth buying one of these overhaul kits from Andover along with a pair of new springs?

https://andover-norton.co.uk/en/shop-details/16905/fork-bush-seal-kit-14-items-

Any tips, tricks or words of wisdom?
 
Sounds to me like a good inspection is in order before you start buying parts.
 


Decent 5 part mini series from Peter Charlton (not sure if he's on here) of servicing the front forks.
 
Norton front suspension is so easy to pull apart and service and it seems to be one of the most neglected part of maintenance on our bikes, a full pull down and replace anything that needs replacing should be part of all annual servicing or every 3 years without failure, the oil get moisture inside them as well dirt and crap in the seals if you don't have a good set of gaiters more problems can happen, because they are always working they need to be looked after and good quality oil used as well and changed regularly is very important to keep everything working right with less wear and tear.

Ashley
 
Maybe a Lansdowne conversion from Don Pender while you're in there as well. Money well spent. A great improvement.
 
Luke Turner said:
Hi all,

I noticed that when taking the Commando off the centre stand, rolling her forwards a little & squeezing the front brake that the forks would compress with a hiss of air but not spring back up. They only extend again if I put her on the centre stand & thus take some weight off the front.

I don't know when they were last serviced, if at all.

Is it worth buying one of these overhaul kits from Andover along with a pair of new springs?

https://andover-norton.co.uk/en/shop-details/16905/fork-bush-seal-kit-14-items-

Any tips, tricks or words of wisdom?
Click to expand...
Take a look at the nyc kit it's advertised in the for sale section ,I doubt you will find better
https://nycnorton.com/product/fork-bushing-kit/
 
2 thoughts: First is to disassemble and service the existing forks. New fork seals, gators, fork fluid and new bearings if not in spec.
Maybe even new fork tubes if badly worn and corroded. THAT will get you, hopefully, a front end that operates as designed, which
INHO is pretty mushy. Nice soft ride for old folks riding on smooth gentling curving roads at 50 mph. You wanna jump up a notch or two and discover firm, road tight handling, try the Landsdowne conversion. Various upgrades go on and on as far as your bankroll can absorb.
BUT, back to your hissy sounding front forks: Something is dreadfully wrong. At best you need fork fluid added. Read your manual.
The springs may or may not be toast. Take it all apart. It's not that hard.
 
lazyeye6 said:
2 thoughts: First is to disassemble and service the existing forks. New fork seals, gators, fork fluid and new bearings if not in spec.
Maybe even new fork tubes if badly worn and corroded. THAT will get you, hopefully, a front end that operates as designed, which
INHO is pretty mushy. Nice soft ride for old folks riding on smooth gentling curving roads at 50 mph. You wanna jump up a notch or two and discover firm, road tight handling, try the Landsdowne conversion. Various upgrades go on and on as far as your bankroll can absorb.
BUT, back to your hissy sounding front forks: Something is dreadfully wrong. At best you need fork fluid added. Read your manual.
The springs may or may not be toast. Take it all apart. It's not that hard.
Click to expand...

The Lansdowne conversion is much more comfortable than standard.
 
It sounds like a lack of oil so a complete strip down is best to replace bushes and seals. I used Andover for stanchions as the Norvil ones I had were not uniformly round.

There are many threads on here about fork mods to improve compression and rebound damping. I haven't tried the highly regarded Lansdowne kit (yet) but have used the covenant kit from RGM. It improved the compression damping but did nothing for rebound.

However, JS engineering in the USA has published some worthwhile mods to improve rebound damping on here and at https://jsmotorsport.com/js-motorsport-technicalmore-norton-fork-upgrades/
I have used these and my forks no longer top out.

I use 20 wt oil per the manual but as ever on here, there are tables of oils showing viscosity as not all 20 wt oils are the same.
 
Thank you all for your input! This jobs on the list of things to do in a couple of weeks time after the last show of the season.
 
I went with the Cosentino Engineering upgrade and am more than satisfied.
 
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