AJS & Matchless Owners Club

It seems odd that there's no movement at all. I know nothing about those forks but do they have a drain plug for the damper oil? If so ........(daft thought coming up)...........perhaps worth removing them as it may be that there's a hydraulic lock.

(Stop tittering at the back, but why would anyone fit forks with no movement?).

I stopped using my G3L for a few years and then when I came to use it again the bushes in the slider had swollen and there was very little movement in forks (although they did move a bit). I wonder if something similar has happened in a more severe way with your forks. The sliders could rotate around the bushes (unlikely on AMC forks as they are tight in the slider) perhaps.

Iain_NCL wrote:
I have just had delivered a Matchless G2 - my first classic bike. .......the front forks are a puzzle. There doesn't seem to be any movement in them at all

P'raps have a word with whoever sold it to you?

Duncan wrote:They look like BSA ones to me.

Hi

I'd go along with that, what I can see of the sliders looks identical to my 1958 Ariel FH which uses BSA A10 forks.

Good info on the Draganfly website:

https://draganfly.co.uk/wp-content/uplo ... scopic.png

The symptoms you describe could be the result of the top and or bottom bushes seizing in the slider and the stanchion rotating inside the bush.

The forks are quite easy to strip, once you have unscrewed the bronze coloured collar there should be a wire spring clip retaining the oil seal and upper bush. Once this has been removed the stanchion assembly can be withdrawn from the slider, (There is a grove in the slider to aid removal of the clip).
Note, if the forks are BSA ones the oil seals and bushes have to be fitted from the lower end, the stanchions are to large a diameter at the top

Regards Mick

Thanks everyone for your help - plenty to work on now. They do seem to look very like BSA A10 forks.

SPRIDDLER wrote:P'raps have a word with whoever sold it to you?

Working on that angle too! Apparently they were working fine before it was shipped - the bike has had very little usage though over the past 10 years.

I am struggling to get the forks out. They seem to be just pushed into the upper yoke so no pinch bolts to undo but they don't want to come out either! Any tips on getting some unruly forks to break free without breaking anything else?

Hi

Mine were problematic to remove too. You have slackened the pinch bolts on the lower yoke haven't you?

I tried a hydraulic puller coupled with heat and shocking with a hammer to no avail:
What got them in the end was shocking the upper yoke upwards, (using the inertia of the fork leg rather than fighting it )

From memory, there is no taper on the top of the stanchion, just a parallel section which mates with the upper yoke.

Regards Mick

Have you drained the oil out? If a previous owner filled them to the top (it's been known!) they would be solid.
Dave.

Having had the forks off, the good news is they aren't seized! They also don't seem to have been overfilled with oil (they had about 250ml in which seems convincing enough if they are BSA forks) and generally look not too bad. The bad news is, having put it back together there's still no movement in them.

I think the springs are overly stiff and/or under too much compression for any movement. I needed a stanchion assembly tool to put the fork tubes back in and putting them in does compress the springs to about 80% of their free length.

Anyone ever seen something like this before? I'm think I need to actually ride it a bit and see how it feels, but presumably I need either softer springs, shorter springs or both!

Very curious!

I have a set of Lightweight springs here. They're 45mm OD 34mm ID x 330mm
Any use to you? I don't need them any more.