front suspension

[carryall]

After riding around I finally found the source of a rattle that's bothered me.  It's where the two 3/8" rods with the springs around them, come up thru the plate.  I put a couple of plastic bushings in from the spring side to quite it down.(see pic)  Originally was there a bushing in it and mine was forgotten by someone, or do they all rattle there?  Also, just out of curiosity, why did they use a nut with a little wire sticking out of it on the backside of the front pivot bolt/bushing?  Nylock nuts not "invented" yet?

[admin]

No bushing from the factory. I don't notice it rattling when I ride, but I am sure it does a little.

[oil-lamp]

There are a few that have bushings in them. My 56 has them with nuts on top and I have a second one like yours that came with them in there also. It wouldn't be hard to make a few I would think.

[pd]

My '57 is like Reese's '56 . I added a flat washers just under the nuts to limit any damage to the nut and the fork cross member .

[oil-lamp]

I was talking to Wayne today He has the bushing made up already you can just get some from him.

[illMATTic]

I was thinking about stacking some rubber washers on top of mine. It would take up the space and keep it quiet as well.

[Mike Sal]

My '57 has bushings.
Mike Sal

[Mike Sal]

I noticed that my springs were not compressing when I rode the bike.  I knew the springs were a little snug on the rods, as the powder coat paint was thicker than the original enamel.  I ordered a new set of springs from Wayne as he has his re-pops made a little larger in diameter for just this reason.

When I took the suspension apart, I found that the true root cause was the bushings were stuck to the powder coat & wouldn't budge.  I had to use a bearing puller & the arbor press to get them off.  I couldn't easily drill them out to make more clearance, because they are hardened (why I don't know).  So, I just made some new ones on the lathe tonight. 

Waynes springs were a little longer than the originals also, so I'll have to push a little harder to compress them to get the nuts started where the rods come thru the top plate.

I included a pic of the original bushings.
Mike Sal

[pd]

I wonder why powder coat has to be so thick ?

[Mike Sal]

I think to get a minimum coating onto some areas, others get plenty of coating.  Since it's an electrostatic process, nooks & crannys are hard to get coated properly (the faraday effect where the magnetic fields collide in corners).

I made the new bushings out of brass, since I had some stubby pieces handy they already had a hole about the right size thru them....once painted no one will know.
Mike Sal

[pd]

I'd just leave the brass to patina . Paint will get scrapped and expose the ruse , anyway .