I’d like to disassemble the steering enough so that I can get to the headlight ears and turn signal holder. Is there any chance I’ll screw up the steering alignment or any other gotchas? I was planning to do this all from the top and not touch anything else except the handle bar, fork damper, fork cap and nut. Also, any recommendations on progressive springs and fork oil weight? I’m a weekend backroads single rider.
No problems, you're OK. The machining of the triple-tree (the lower yoke) and the straightness of the fork tubes is what counts. If these are good (if the bike has never had a front-end wreck) then, even if completely disassembled, the front end will want to go back together straight as an arrow.
It's only when one of the tubes gets bent, say 1°, that the front end must get tweaked off to one side simply to reinstall the front axle. In the 50's and 60's this was an issue because the tubes were small, and therefore bent or knocked out of alignment easily. In the 70's fork tubes started to get massively larger to give better handling. The greater diameter greatly reduced the incidence of bent tubes and misalignments.
Try Bel-Ray 7W or 10W fork oil. Typically 250cc in each empty leg. A 1L bottle is 2 fork oil changes.
Springs are not usually the issue, it's more the pre-compression on the springs. If the springs are still matched lengths, then you can get rid of the nose-dive effect by adding shims (flat washers) or spacers between the top of the spring and the crown nut. Usually an added distance between 1/4" and 3/4" is enough. Save yourself $100.
► Springs control the amount of travel. Oil controls the rate of travel.
However, you might want to also consider this...
At this point it would be silly to stop. You've already done 98% of the hard work. Why not...
• With 2 bolts you can remove the 2 fork tubes (with the legs still on). That allows clamping the legs in a bench vise. When the tubes are spun from this position it's VERY easy to see if the tubes are bent, because they'll visibly wobble. You got to do that to look at the fork boots anyway.
• Then, with 1 more nut you can drop the triple tree out of the frame and re-pack the head post bearings. Nothing you can do will cost so little, yet improve the handling on the bike so much. I can virtually assure you that the grease in your head post bearings is old and oxidized. Drop the bearings, wash them out, replace the grease, and you'll be very glad you did. You'll be so happy, you might even want to send me money. ?
Hope this helps.
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
you’re absolutely right i’ve gone that far i really should check on the tubes and grease the bearings. thanks very much for the help.
More info and photos for you HERE.
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
thanks for the link. that will definitely help.
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