> One further comment: I called the local Snap-On warehouse to find out
> if they carried Whitworth wrenches. I was told by one of their counter
> people that they didn't but that they did carry British Standard
> wrenches which he claimed had the same dimensions but were sized
> differently. He said that the BS (no pun intended) marking was about
> twice the size of the W marking. I assumed that the sizes marked on
> these wrenches were the actual wrench openings.
>
> Roland
> cobra@hpcilsn.hp.com
>
Machinery's Handbook says that the coarse thread is called British
Standard Whitworth and the fine thread is called British Standard
Fine. The goofy thing is that the thread is even finer on this
Armstrong lever damper fill plug bolt. It appears to be be 5/16-27 or
so, whereas BSF is 5/16-22. But the bolt head measures the .525 given
as a max for the BSW or BSF spec in the Handbook.
Re: Shock leaking that started this whole routine: I took out the
shocks, stood each up in the bench vise and popped the cover. The
left one was largely empty. Poured out the old oil and refilled with
30-wt cycle-fork oil. This stuff claims to be OK for British bikes
and has additives to promote seal swelling. I Ultra-Blued the gasket
and reassembled. One of the six screw holes was stripped, so I re-
tapped it for 1/4-20. The right shock looked like it was holding the
refill I had given it OK, so I Ultra-Blued its gasket and reassembled.
I had noticed big-time leaks around this gasket on the left shock, and
much less on the right. Reinstalled shocks and tipped them up. 24
hours later, went back to check. No leaks from either gasket. Ultra
Blue does not fail in this type of application. The left shock had a
trail leading from the round plate which plugs the non-business end of
the shaft. For you MGB and other lever-shock users, Spridgets do not
have a full upper A-arm, one half from either side of the damper, but
only a single arm on the front side of the damper. The back side is
a cylindrical bearing housing with a sort of flush-fitting disc for a
plug. Never had one out, so I don't know how it is supposed to seal.
I cleaned this area up as well as possible and covered it with Ultra
Blue. I have no idea if this will work. Maybe it won't and I'll have
to find out how to remove and refit them to not leak. There was no
trace of leakage on the right damper, but I Ultra-Blued it on spec as
long as I was there. The connection (connexion? British language
experts?) between the reservoir on top and the main cavity below is
two tiny holes. It takes a long time with my Mickey-Mouse rig to fill
the reservoir, and you cannot tell if the bottom is really full. It
behooves one to top up often to be sure that the bottom is full. I
don't know how long it would take for the reservoir to empty 30-wt to
the bottom part, but it could take overnight! I would appreciate any
insight on this from anyone who has had these plugs out or has other
experience with Armstrong lever shocks.
--
phile@pwcs.stpaul.gov In real life: Philip J Ethier
Phone: 298-5324
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