Fork tube bushing puller

[51Hog]

I am looking to buy or rent a puller. Can anyoue point me in the right dirrection?
Thanks,

[VintageTwin]

There is none. I tried to call Kent-Moore the original manufacturers in the past with no results. You have to use a long chisel to get the lower bushing to peel. Sometimes the bushing is worn so thin you can't get it off the slider wall to pry. You might call Bill's Cycle in PA, they rebuild forks and can maybe steer you in the right direction.

[51Hog]

It is very hard to believe that someone does not manufacture a puller long enough and skinny enough to pull those inside bushings. Not necessarily a Harley tool. Not necessarily a fork bushing tool. I can make one. I am just tired of re-inventing the wheel. It seems that I have always spent $1.00 to earn a Dime.

[VintageTwin]

Yes, you will spend a dollar to make a dime. These are the coolest motorcycle's on the planet. The only problem is the "Beatles Hate Their Fans" syndrome.
The people that make the parts for these Knuckle and Panheads hate the fact that you might have the facility to actually build one, so the manufacturers do everything they can to rank your play. You not only have to fight to build them, you have to fight the manufacturers that make the parts.
The manufacturers hate us. The last thing they want, is to see you actually riding a collection of parts they made. Go fig-ya.

[Panacea]

If you find one please post where, I need one too! My front end rides like a cement truck. I've experamented with diferent oil levels and weights with no results. Mike

[51Hog]

Nice bike Pan.
Just put some 80/90 in there---If your tranny runs a little low you can always hook a tube to the fork drain and use some to top off the tranny---
I will let you know what I do.
Were I down in the lower 48, I would probably take the forks to a shop.
Freight to and from a shop from alaska is terrible.
I have located New tubes with bushings for under 300.00 for the pair.
Good Luck

http://www.jpcycles.com/catalog/2008Har ... g/0749.asp

[Panacea]

I was just looking at the V-Twin site, they want 250.00 to install and hone a new set of bushings, the bushings alone are 85.00! Plus the shipping to New York and back. Mike

[VintageTwin]

Do it or ship it to Bill's. You have to hone both bushings. Long mandrel. You want someone that does it all the time. The Hell Cajon H-D dealer that did my upper bushings in '89, said, "we don't have a hone for the lower bushings". (apparently anyone qualified with air impact and a long chisel can remove the lower one)
"What will happen if I ride it with only the upper bushings replace and honed to exact specifications?", I asked.
The lead mechanic thought for a moment. "The forks will begin to pound on rebound".
"What will happen next? Will it wreck the forks inside?", I queried.
"It will only get louder", he replied.

[A street]

51 hog, I was born in the territory of Alaska and I know you have to find different ways of getting things done up there. It can be done if you have a lathe, a press, and a lot of time and patience. The big trick is to find someone with a reamer and sunnen hone with a long enough reach to get to the bottom of the slider if you are using new bushings. Last year I did my bushings in a unconventional but completely successful way. I took a set of sliders that someone had cut the fender and brake mount off of and finished with a belt sander. They looked more like aluminum tree branches than sliders but had bushings with reamer and hone marks indicating that they had never been run. I cut them up at the right places to give me the bushings and let me see the important measurements. I made a puller using 1/2" all thread and a turned disc that is pivoted on the all thread, slipped thru the bushings, tipped flat under the bushings and pulled up. There is a space in the bore under the bottom of the bottom bushing that the Harley bushing puller fits in. It's less than .200 thou. long. The bore is about 1.750 so you need to turn a disc from cold rolled steel 1.735 dia. and .300 thick. It needs to be domed [dome down] so it will tip into place under the bushing. You want as much contact surface as you can so as to not distort the bushing [it's only about .060 thick]. The edge needs to be about .150 thick and tapered about 10-15 degrees to tip and fit under the bushing and above the end of the counter bored bottom of the slider. Get to the .300 thickness within .400 of the edge for strength. Drill a 9/16" hole thru the center. Grind the sides of the disc and elongate the hole with a file or die grinder so it will tip on the all thread and fit thru the bushings when on the all thread.
Maybe a very strong washer will do the same thing but strength is the most important thing here and I bent a strong washer trying to get a top bushing out. Put a nut on the bottom of the all thread so if things get hung up you can remove the all thread if you have to, and shake the disc out. Turn a stepped cap to fit the top of the slider to center the all thread and so you don't mess up the seal surfaces.
Put the disc on the all thread and drop it thru the top bushing. Pretty obvious what to do here. The top one comes out without much fight but the bottom one is another story. It's 3" long and has probably been in there fifty years so you might need heat. I used two bottled propane torches on opposite sides constantly moving with the tension really cranked on the all thread.
The slider only needs to expand microscopically. Too much heat or too much on one side could warp the casting so be careful here. The first time the bushing moves it sounds like you won a game on god's own pinball machine. Then crank the shit out of the top nut again on the all thread and repeat with the torch. It took me about an hour to get each bottom bushing out . I cleaned the bore very well with a wire brush on a die grinder to make it easier to press the donor bushings in.
I won't go into all the details of how to turn the bushing driver but if you get this far you can probably figure it out. I made mine from a bronze boat propellor shaft. There are drawings of the bushing driver and the concept of marking the depth stops in Harley manuals etc.. Before you start to remove the bushings figure out how to measure the depth and placement of the bushings accurately. It is VERY important to stop pressing the bottom bushing in before you bottom out or you or the next guy will never be able to grab the bushing to change them again. It is also important to make a "guide collar" for the driver to fit through and get the bushings started correctly. If you start it wrong, all is lost. The collar fits where the seal is pressed in. I was able to give a steady press on my old mechanical screw press [DON'T HAMMER THEM IN] and when done my tubes fit great. Maybe a thou or two clearance and no side to side wobble at all. Lucky me. Saved a bunch of dough and saved some high soul old sliders.

[Robert Luland]

Vt I've been sending mine to bills for the last twenty-five years. He's got the right tools and experience to get the job done the right way the first time around. That puller head is more precise than you can believe. The catch on the end has to be .064 on the money to grab these thing and that's no guarantee. I've done it in the past scoring it with a saws all blade tack welded to something but it wasn't worth the time wasted but I can turn ya on to some helpful tips when it comes to the glide front end. The bushing to tube relationship is important. With out that seal the hydraulics don't work. I've seen a lot of people on the forums complaining about their front end banging back. Some buddies of mine back in the eighties did some experimenting. Our conclusion was simple. Original tubes are hard chrome plated. If you look at one closely you will see what looks like a cross-hatch pattern similar to a newly rebuilt engine cylinder. This forms a seal to the bushing. Every front end that banged back we found had show chrome tubes. That smooth finish leaves no seal. Forking by Frank can still give you the good tubes. I also found that I don't like the way the factory reamer finishes the job. I prefer to have the bushings pulled and inserted by some one else but that's were it ends. I prefer using a dingel berry hone with honing fluid. You can get one from McMaster-Carr for twenty bucks. Using this hone also leaves a cross-hatch on the bushing surface. Well that's it for today's science project. Bob and Katie Dog.

[Robert Luland]

A Street I got to give ya the Yankee engineering award of the year for that one.

[VintageTwin]

The bushing to tube relationship is important. With out that seal the hydraulics don’t work. I’ve seen a lot of people on the forums complaining about their front end banging back. Some buddies of mine back in the eighties did some experimenting. Our conclusion was simple. Original tubes are hard chrome plated. If you look at one closely you will see what looks like a cross-hatch pattern similar to a newly rebuilt engine cylinder. This forms a seal to the bushing. Every front end that banged back we found had show chrome tubes. That smooth finish leaves no seal. Forking by Frank can still give you the good tubes. I also found that I don’t like the way the factory reamer finishes the job. I prefer to have the bushings pulled and inserted by some one else but that’s were it ends. I prefer using a dingel berry hone with honing fluid. You can get one from McMaster-Carr for twenty bucks. Using this hone also leaves a cross-hatch on the bushing surface. Well that’s it for today’s science project. Bob and Katie Dog.

Wow. That Indiana Jones dude's got nothing on you and your friends. Inner Sanctum. That's heavy stuff. George, the lead wrench at Hollenda's was right in part. Having a worn lower bushing would slam eventually and further, slick tubes like you mentioned, and not being crosshatched to a perfect hone,....of course. Thanks for that and the tip to Frank's. He should advertise those facts in a little story about "The Hydra-Glide Forks".
This hobby-build stuff is starting to get fun, once the mysteries are cleared up. Help us push for 3.5 gallon tanks. More fun. Un-corked fun.

I have to read A-frames post through again slowly. All the information you can learn, the more choice.

[fourthgear]

For 85 bucks and shipping , I'd send mine to Bills , any time . I sent mine with a set of new after market tubes and the bushings and tubes were hand fitted . I also think there are other things that make them go bump, one is poor fitting or just junk damper assemblies( I got mine from JP cycles ). It took me a while and a lot of trial and error to find out they work fine with heavier wt. fluid (30# ) .I have my old ones and wondered if you could rebuild them or if I had to do it again , go to the later model set up, (Showa )tubes and all.

[Robert Luland]

Fourth gear not to stick it to ya but your wrong. The only reason they bang back is lose of hydraulics. The heaver hydraulic fluid is just filling a void (creating a false seal). Bob

[VintageTwin]

I agree with Bob. I've been studying this problem collectively over the years. His information connected the dots to the whole picture for me, with a solution. That's sweet . More good will come of it. It's been a mystery that has stumped us all. I never cottened to heavy fluid being the cure or the reason. My mind can be changed with new facts, but I want to see Frank's step in an make it readable NOTICE on all their literature. Frank's catalog is about as exciting as Easterns®. Mostly part numbers. I want to see some story about the reason for fork banging and the manufacturer tell it to us.