Tools You Have Made to Maintain your Norton

fiatfan said:
Do you have a pic showing in place? It´s early sunday morning, can not for my life grasp how to use it......
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Tools You Have Made to Maintain your Norton
 
robs ss said:
Now, I'm sure all you experienced Nortoneers out there will know this one but...
There's a great socket, readily available, to remove the top nut on the forks. It has the advantages of:
1. rounded corners - so doesn't damage the hex-heads.
2. fitted o-ring so doesn't scratch polished nuts (no - not those ones!)
I was going to take a photo, but the ebay one is probably better
Cheers
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Snap On sockets employ a feature referred to as "flank drive". Pressure is applied at the flats, not the corners, so fasteners are not damaged.

https://www.snapon.com/Snap-on-File...lyreimaginedFlankDriveXtraFDXsocketsystem.pdf
 
Tools You Have Made to Maintain your NortonNot all tools are pretty. Found this in my Norton drawer. Something pissed me off that day and I needed an extra deep 1 1/2 socket LOL
 
robs ss said:
Now, I'm sure all you experienced Nortoneers out there will know this one but...
There's a great socket, readily available, to remove the top nut on the forks. It has the advantages of:
1. rounded corners - so doesn't damage the hex-heads.
2. fitted o-ring so doesn't scratch polished nuts (no - not those ones!)
I was going to take a photo, but the ebay one is probably better
Cheers
Click to expand...
The fork nuts on my MKII are 1-5/16 not 1-3/8.
 
Mac Tools & Matco Tools have a similar feature to prevent damage to the corners of hardware on their 6 point sockets. Note the under cut at the corners of the sockets shown in the links below.

Mac 3/8 drive 6 point sockets info

Matco 3/8 6 point info

Bonney Tools [Bonney Forge Corp] now defunct, are nearly identical to the Matco brand. They also offer this feature.
 
Well yesterday I rebuilt the primary.
Used a local tree stick to jam into the chain slurpings with the new CNW sprocket kit . Used same tree branch to stop all movings for the rotor nut at 70 ft. lbs. torque as well as the clutch center nut torque at 40 ft. lbs. using a different (harder) steel washer behind the clutch nut with blue locktight. Mk 111 starter circlip behind it all of course , thinned down a tad for tight fit in slot. I have a home made tool made of a sintered bronze clutch plate and a steel plate drilled twice and bolted together to achieve the CNW new center clutch lock to basket chainwheel. Thanks tree branch tool. Grow , prosper tree stub.
 
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Impromptu tools
One time I was coming back from an NHIS (Loudon NH) vintage bike race day with a few MC friends. My bike started to ignition misfire 75 miles from home . So I pulled off to the side of the road. I removed the points cover to inspect and detected corroded dirty points on one side. What to do? I looked all around and I picked up a little thin smooth flat pebble. I rubbed it on the points to clean the grayed tungsten points. Bingo runs like a top. I told the guys, to their amusement, I was leaving the pebble "right there" on the side of the road in case the next guy needed one!
 
Impromptu tools:
A rock and a tree branch can be used to hammer a loose exhaust rose nut tight enough to get home. BTDT.
 
I used a big rock as a centre stand to lift the back wheel off the ground while traveling, when I converted my Norton to the Featherbed frame back in the 80s I had no stand at all for over 30 years, you be surprised in what you can use to hold your bike up without a stand of any kind even my helmet lol.

Ashley
 
I didnt measure it, it was just a matter of filing it off a bit at a time until it fitted 'nicely'. ......not a very scientific approach I know..... I think getting the thickness right is more important, so that the tool doesnt dig into the edge of the slot of the plug.
 
daveforty said:
I didn't measure it, it was just a matter of filing it off a bit at a time until it fitted 'nicely'. ......not a very scientific approach I know..... I think getting the thickness right is more important, so that the tool doesn't dig into the edge of the slot of the plug.
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Wow! Talk about doing things the hard way... For very little money, you could have saved yourself a lot of time.

Andover Norton Inspection Cap Tool
 
But it's fun to make your own tools, I have done it also. I really don't think he spent much time making it. I enjoy seeing what people have come up with. That's what the the thread is about.
 
Speaking of impromptu tools aluminum foil is a great thing to carry. I blew out a spark plug on 850 100 miles from home, wrapped the plug threads with a couple of wraps of aluminum foil and rode all the way home without any trouble. I had the head repaired but I will continue to have foil in my tool box in case someone else needs it.
 
Chewing gum is/was good for sealing a leaking fuel tank etc., it has a long life too. I've never tried on modern ethanol polluted petrol though.
 
chaztuna said:
Wow! Talk about doing things the hard way... For very little money, you could have saved yourself a lot of time.

Andover Norton Inspection Cap Tool
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:) it was would have been 35+ years ago when I made that thing, ( I bought my Commando in Sept '83) so the time is long gone. And I probably made it on a quiet Saturday morning at work.... I actually made two, one to keep at home and one to carry in the bike's toolkit. So far as doing things the hard way, we all have Nortons dont we?

I also made a smaller version for taking the plugs out of the primary case on my T140.

edit; I notice on another forum a contributor has posted regarding brake bleeding, and using an item the thickness of the brake disc to hold the pads apart while the caliper is off the bike. This is exactly what my other home made tool is for.
 
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Some obvious ones but the 3/4 inch ball bearing with a flat is for tapping the inner rocker shaft socket to take a bit of "play" out.
The second picture is of the "professionally" made wheel bearing lock ring tool from AN which broke first time of use putting a lockring IN. If you look carefully I think the pin was split before it was even sent out. I should have made my own...sigh!
20210306_094626.jpg
20210228_103209.jpg
 
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